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MEXT Scholarship (Graduate Students) 2017


You will absolutely be fine! If living expenses are stressing you out the most, maybe contact places like LeoPalace - they're small apartments, but they do (IIRC) come with utilities and internet and are pretty affordable. Your university will also have a housing section, to assist with finding accommodation etc, so you can go to them once you're there and they'll help you find a place within your budget. Another option would be an independently-run student dorm, like Kyoritsu Maintenance. They vary in price but usually include all utilities and meals.

Also, you'll be a student! Japan lets international students have access to student discounts. So you can get a student kippu for your travel, and National Health Insurance will only be about 1500 yen a month. There are also so so so many options for phone and data depending on your needs - you may easily be able to get away with just using a Skype number. Please don't stress! Japan has a reputation for being very expensive but there are definitely ways to live on the cheap and still have a good time.
 
Hi, if I can live comfortably in Tokyo and afford my annual return ticket (I'm from Asia though) with the same stipend amount, I'm sure you'll do just fine in Kobe, unless you need to send money home . But then, you can always look for part time job if you need extra money.

As for accommodation, try look into this: Hyogo International House - JASSO
The rent is not written in its English page but if you check out the Japanese version here it's 35k yen per month (you are charged another 35k yen as entrance fee though when you move in).

Hope that helps!
 
dauntless said:
Yeah that's right, but we only get 144k. Do you think that will be enough? Or you have your own savings?
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I have my own savings but I will try to save as much as I can, here is my monthly expenses table:

rent+ breakfast + dinner 99900
Electricity Charge 5400
IP tel + internet 3890
lunch 19500
Sunday's food (month) 5200
cell plan 4000
transport (Takadanobaba-Waseda) 3020
Transport (Higashifushimi-Takadanobaba) 8930 ( don't know if there is a student pass for the Seibu railway).

according to that we would be over the 144000 month allowance for 5840 yens :S and I'm not even sure if there are stiil costs I need to consider.
 
Hey, thanks for the replies! It did help put my mind at ease somewhat. Some followup questions though:

Salpies

Salpies said:
I saved a lot of money by not eating meat, cooking in bulk & eating lots of hot pot. You can buy a portable nabe plate and a rice cooker (super cheap second hand) and basically live off these two things.
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Nice idea! I am actually going to bring over a rice cooker I got from a Japanese exchange student years ago when I was still in university. Hardly ever use it to cook rice now, but something tells me buckwheat might not be a readily available option in Japan. And by nabe plate do you mean a hot plate, like a mini stove? Is it actually cheaper to use one over a gas stove, provided I have access to a gas stove?

Kiraboshii

Just checked Leopalace and they do have apartment options that seem somewhat workable on my budget. If I'm still going to be stuck paying 45-50k for a place, I'd rather have it be a furnished apt than a share house... Thanks for the pointer. I never figured actual apartments would be cheaper than sharehouses.
 
Kamiyan said:
transport (Takadanobaba-Waseda) 3020
Transport (Higashifushimi-Takadanobaba) 8930 ( don't know if there is a student pass for the Seibu railway).
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Student passes in Tokyo are usually via Suica or Pasmo. Seibu railways uses Pasmo, and from a quick look at the Takadanobaba station guide, they have a pass office at the station. They will also cover multiple rail providers IIRC - mine was Tokyu/Tokyo Metro and I know people who used Tokyu/JR. I can't say with 100% certainty that student passes will be there, but I can't imagine why they wouldn't, especially with Waseda so close! You'd want to get an IC card anyway for travel, since they do shave a few yen off the ticket price when you use them.
 
Kiraboshii since you have studied in Japan before, any idea if students are allowed to renew their dorm stays? I noticed dorm periods are only for 1 year. I'm considering getting an apartment by my 2nd year, but apartments usually go for a 2-year lease so with an assumption that my scholarship gets extended for a Phd, that won't be a problem. But worst-case scenario, I would need a place for only the remaining year of my current scholarship.

I actually really prefer to stay in my own apartment, but I think I'll consider it only if I have a better idea of my living expenses after the first year. My dorm rent is around 25k I think... which will hopefully leave me some stipend savings for other things aside from my monthly living expenses.

Does anybody have data on estimated student living expenses? I found one, but it was for 2011 (JASSO), so I assume prices have gone up since then.

And, does anybody have alternative ways of getting our luggage to our dorms? I just found out that my dorm won't accept luggage sent directly from the airport since I haven't moved in yet. But, I will have to take like 5 different trains to get to my dorm so it would be a struggle to bring my luggage with me.
 

Some services allow you to postpone the delivery date up to 2 weeks, so you can receive the luggage yourself after you've moved in.

Or if you know someone who lives somewhere near your dorm, you could get it sent to their address instead.

I guess the airport is pretty far from where you're studying and you'd have no reason to return there, otherwise you could leave some of your luggage in a coin locker and return to get it later.
 

I prefer to use a portable nabe cook top, though you can definitely buy a nabe pot for a gas stove. That sort of pot is cheaper than a portable one, but I like to sit at the table with it though and put things in as I'm eating them. You can buy kimchi broth really cheap and I like to add udon noodles at the end, it's super delicious. Aah, this is making me really excited to move back to Japan haha.
 

Thanks! I didn't know they allowed delayed deliveries. Will look into that. My last resort was to have a friend accompany me from like tokyo station all the way to the dorm to drag one of my luggages...lol
 

I'm not sure - this is something that's probably dependant on the university you're staying in and their own internal policies.
 
AruanM said:
Can you share the details? What day are they going to send us? Everyone's asking me that, and I don't really know yet. Thanks!
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I received them too!

I'm flying off on the 2nd of April and arriving on the 3rd of April in the early morning (Narita). So excited!!

Anyway for those that are worried about lagguage, shipping them from the airport is quite cheap (Around 1700Y for a 25kg bag).

Also, did anyone look into smartphone plans yet? I am quite worried, in my country smartphone plans are VERY cheap, while in Japan it looks very expensive. I was thinking of going with the BIC one (should be around 2000Y month for 5 GB).
 

That feels really cheap for my country haha. Everything is expensive in Australia (especially Sydney where I live) that even Tokyo doesn't feel too bad for me.

So exciting to receive your ticket though! I can't wait to get more information.
 

Did your sensei/uni ask you for the best travel time or something, or was it the embassy who picked the flight details? Or are we all required to be in Japan by Apr3?

I was wondering if I can be in Japan by Apr 5, instead. Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but do you guys have any idea if this is this possible?
 

Sakuyahime, despite not having received the tickets yet, I have been informed by the person responsible in my local Japanese consulate that a tourism agency working for the Japanese government chooses the flight conditions and just sends them the tickets. Therefore, it is difficult to have control over this matter. Since the official academic calendar starts on April 5, I believe most people will be set to arrive in Japan earlier than that.
 
April 3rd wouldn't mind to delay my departure by a week haha, enjoying work too much at the moment but i hope they we get the books details early i cant sit in the middle aisle for such a long flight!
 

Ah, I was hoping I'd be able to delay my flight as well as my university graduation is April 7th, but it doesn't look like that'll be possible. I'm a little disappointed
 
My flight is also from 2nd-3rd April. I have to change in Helsinki since I'm going to Kansai airport.

As @AruanM already said, the consulate is sent the tickets by a travel agent. Actually I was surprised they sent the information this early, because when I asked before they told me they would know in mid-March.

Sakuyahime said:
I was wondering if I can be in Japan by Apr 5, instead. Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but do you guys have any idea if this is this possible?
Click to expand...

If you pay for the ticket yourself you can arrive on a different day. But since you need to arrive before the terms starts, check with your embassy to make sure there's no problem.
 
Salpies said:
Ah, I was hoping I'd be able to delay my flight as well as my university graduation is April 7th, but it doesn't look like that'll be possible. I'm a little disappointed
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Salpies, I'm not very familiar to the Australian practice, but wouldn't it be possible for you to appoint a representative to act on your behalf and conclude graduation formalities?

Should you still prefer to be there personally for your graduation, you could consider paying for your own flight to Japan. I believe that they can allow this, if duly informed. And considering the distance from your country to Japan, it might not be abusively expensive (I'm in Brazil, and would not be able to afford that right now). Hope you can somehow make it =)
 
OMG, you guys have your tickets! OMG OMG OMG!
-The people at my embassy told me that the Japanese government and the Universities discuss the arrival dates, and that it isn't uncommon to actually arrive 1 o 2 days after classes start.

On another topic, has anyone started looking into mobile phone plans? I've found a couple of companies that have really good plans, but they require credit cards for the payments. Only the tourist plans or short term ones (less than 60 days) accept payment at convenience stores and the plan prices are much higher. I wrote to one of the companies Y! Mobile to ask if it could be a foreign credit card and they said no
 

Japan is a bit behind when it comes to credit cards. You'll need a Japanese bank account anyway, so you can always ask for a debit card when you do that. Also, most retailers are just annoying and they will actually accept foreign debit cards for credit card payment.

I had no problems with my B-Mobile monthly sim using my Australian debit card! It was all set up online so no talking to sales assistants at all.
 
Back in my first month in Tokyo, I looked around at Softbank, Docomo, Y!Mobile, and AU, and Docomo was the only one that would allow me to pay with my JP bank card. This is because I needed to buy a new phone, and I could either use cash to pay the full price up-front, or use a Japanese credit card to pay it off monthly. The other companies required a credit card for the monthly option, but Docomo let me use JP bank card. However, if you can use cash to pay for the entire cost of a new phone up-front, no problem.
Now that I've got my Docomo plan (w/ iPhone), I plan to let my contract expire this year and switch to IIJMio SIM card (data+voice) for about 1200/month.
 

The monthly sim payments are much more expensive than the yearly plans, also I do not want to use my home country card since I would also be paying exchange rates, but I might consider geting a monthyl plan just for the first month while I see what I cand do in Japan.


I didn't know docomo accepted debit cards, I will into that, thank you. I'm also planning to get a sim-plan, I have a new phone that is unlocked and I want to keep using it
 

I asked a friend in Japan who was a former scholar regarding the credit card requirement, she said it's not required since the bank account will suffice, and when we arrive, the school will help us open our account anyway
 
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