I have to say that the following reply from a student who went to Sophia may disappoint you, if you want to study at Sophia University, but this is a very honest opinion from just one of many students who have studied there. I'm sure that other students have different opinions, and you know the most important thing is how *YOU* are going to set a goal (of studying in Japan) and how *YOU* work for it. I'm sure this students have achieved his goal in Japan. It is a good oppotunity for you to think about why you would like to study in Japan and how. Hope this message will be a help for you. (I put some translation for you in blakets.) -Matsumoto

1. 4 in highschool, two at U of M. mochiron [of course], hito ni yotte chigau kedo [it depends, but], daigakku de ni nen gurai ga ii to omoimasu [I think 2 years in college is good].

2. 1 year.

3. I want to be in TOKYO.

4. with rent included, maybe hachiman, ka kyuman gurai kanaa... [about 80,000 yen or 90,000 yen]

5. I didn't want homestay or to live in a dorm, so I found my own apartment with two friends I met at school. It was difficult, and
expensive, but I didn't want a dorm or homestay lifestyle.

6. I took Japanese, JPN art, Tokyo Urbanism, Jpn Literature twice...I still don't know what credits might have transferred

7. Japanese was hard.

8. nope.

9. Sore wa sou kamoshirenaine...[It might be true...] At Jochi daigaku no ichigaya ni aru "hibun" (hikakubunka) no CAMPUS de everyone spoke kono yoo na hanbun english hanbun japanese, you know, ne? It was kind of hen. [At a campus in Ichigaya, everyone spoke half English, half Japanese (mixed) like this. It was kind of strange.]

10. Well, I absolutely enjoyed every day of living in Japan, but I didn't like my school that much. I didn't like the campus, or the classes, or the students... but that's just how I am, so maybe other people would enjoy it a lot, but for me, the school part of my life was totally unimportant compared to enjoying my time in a foreign country. Study abroad programs are kind of ridiculous in the first place I think. You pay a huge sum of money to go to another country and experience things, yet once you get there, you can't do anything but study ... It just doesn't make sense to do that, so I concentrated on learning all I could on my own outside of school and having an amazing experience, rather then being able to write the kanjis for "international trade embargo" on Monday's test or
some crap like that.

2. I studied for about one year, from September 2002 until August 2003.

3. I went to Sophia (Jouchi-daigaku in Tokyo) through Bilateral Exchange. I chose this mostly because it wasnﾕt as expensive at CIE.

4. These were my expenses (approximately): Housing $450, train pass about $150 every three months (itﾕs cheaper if you buy three months at a time, but not by much), food about $200 depending on how much I cooked at home and how much I went out, although it didn't seem to matter that much, and phone about $50 depending on whether I went over my minutes. I would suggest either getting a job while there or saving up a lot of money before leaving. It's very expensive as everyone says (there's a reason one of the first words anyone learns in Japanese class is takai) but you'll get used to it. If you can get a job teaching English, which you probably can, they will pay you a lot of money for not too much work. It's hard though because your boss won't always understand if you want to take time off or work fewer hours. One of the nice things about teaching English (or another language if you happen to know it) is that it doesn't require you to know any Japanese; usually they prefer if you don't.

5. I lived in an apartment/dorm sponsored by Sophia. It was an ok place to live, and out of the choices they give you I would say it's the best one, if you are a girl. It is far out of the way though, and you canﾕt stay out too late unless you want to stay out all night because the last train is at about 12:30. If you're a guy, live in the dorms. The girls dorms close to school are run by nuns and the girls who stay there have to get up at around seven thirty every morning to clean. You canﾕt stay out past 10 without special permission and if you want to spend the night out you have to fill out a form a day in advance, and even then you have to find someone to cover your cleaning duties. They sponsor activities which interfere with coursework, and often times the plays and whatnot are set right around midterms and finals and they won't let you get out of responsibility because you have to do homework, you have to find a way to balance both. All of the girls that I knew that lived there moved out as soon as they could. The best option I think is to find an apartment on your own. There are plenty of resources, especially if you know Japanese, or someone living there, and it's not as hard as they make it out to be. The home stay option seemed to be luck of the draw as I knew people who were really happy with their families and others who were equally unhappy.

6. I took Japanese and some other courses to supplement my degree. It was definitely not easy to get credits transferred, it took forever and nobody would tell me anything. I would recommend not worrying about getting any specific credit for classes while you are there and just taking whatever you want. If you want anything to transfer, bring all of your coursework back just in case you have to prove the class you took was appropriate. If you do not want to take Japanese classes donﾕt go to Sophia because they will force you even if you are fluent.

7. The classes were not difficult at all. At Sophia the classes in English are not very well structured, and they seemed mostly to be for the purpose of preparing the Japanese kids for taking classes in a country where English is the native language, or for rounding out an English education for them. They were all about high school level difficulty (not including the courses on the Japanese language). I did not take classes in Japanese, so I'm not sure about how difficult those were.

8. It's pretty much the same as it is here, if you are nice to people they will probably be nice to you. It's easy to make friends if you live in an apartment or dorm, that's one of the advantages over living alone or doing home stay. Sophia reminded me a lot of high school though, there are a lot of people who group together and tend not to be too open to making new friends. Try not to get too frustrated, and just be friendly. Joining a club helps, it's a good way to meet people that you wouldn't meet on campus and a good chance to practice Japanese since not all clubs have members who can speak English.

9. In Tokyo English was spoken more often. All of the kids that were at my school had to have a good grasp of English since all of the classes were in English but they did not have to be able to speak Japanese, so the default was English. I have heard that at Hiroshima and smaller colleges Japanese was spoken more, but I do not know. On the other campus of Sophia Japanese was spoken more because many of the students didn't speak much English.

10. I don't think I would unless you have a lot of extra money or are fluent in Japanese. The classes at Sophia were sub-standard, and the advisors were terrible. I had a friend who was talking to her Japanese advisor to try and get a letter from her explaining the placement test system, and the woman did not understand why she should help her, even though she was an advisor and this was her job. This was a common occurrence there. If you want to learn Japanese you should look online, because there are other schools which are much better structured around learning Japanese. The only good classes at Sophia for learning Japanese are the intensive language courses and even those lack properly trained teachers. The housing is not arranged well, and they do not give leeway for students who want to take time off to travel. If you want to travel around Japan or South-East Asia then you either have to take time off from school and suffer the consequences (which in most cases means failing the course since you can only have a limited number of absences excused or otherwise) or you have to wait for a break. There are many other programs which are much more centered on the international students. Sophia was not, it was a program to allow the Japanese students a chance to practice their English.

1. I studied for 4 semesters. I think this is just the right amount. The genki textbook covers alot basic and daily use Japanese, so if you want to be able to communicate right when you get to Japan, I would suggest about 2 years. But I know people who only took 1 year and came back fluent. It all depends on where study and how hard you work.

2. I studied for about 1 year. I would say everyone should stay the full year- that's when you really start geting comfortable with everything.

3. I decided on Sophia because they had the most variety of culture, literature, history, and philosophy courses on Japan. I was also intrigued by living in Tokyo, one of the largest cities in world. Going to Sophia was a bilateral exchange through the university, so the tuition is the same price. Otherwise you have to do CIE and that costs $25,000, which is way over priced. There is very little difference in CIE and the bilat exchange program. I guess the biggest difference is that in CIE your grades and GPA gets transferred back to the U of M. This could be bad or good, depending on your study habits in Japan (which I can guarantee will be much lower than in the states).

4. Monthly expenses...well I maxed out my credit card about 3 or 4 times while in Japan. If you want to have fun, you're going to be spending alot of money. If you go to Japan you're going to travel, and travel inside Japan tends to be more expensive than going to somewhere like SE Asia. So be prepared. Look for some deals on airfare- they are out there. A friend and I flew to Okinawa and $350 was a very cheap deal. This is getting off topic but you've got to go to Okinawa. Go to the little islands that you can only get to by boat. I recommend Zamami-jima. We went there in November, and there were very little tourists, and it was still hot, and the snorkeling was incredible. Ok sorry, back to monthly expenses. It depends on where you live. A dorm is cheap. Apartments allow more freedom, but they can run anywhere from $700-$1000 for a studio the size of your closet. If you have friends, especially Japanese friends, you will be going drinking on the weekend. Izakayas are cheap, but usually western style bars are not. Food was one of my main expenses. It is not cheap. Especially if you want to cook...eating out is almost the same price. Fresh food in Japan is really expensive.

My advice: get an english tutoring job right away. The minimum is 2000 yen an hour, or about $20! Girls can charge more an hour, but they tend to have to deal with businessmen who want to take them on dates. But with just a few hours a week you can have some spending money. Go to senseibank.com or one of those sites.

5. I lived in an apartment, by myself. But on my program I went with two friends, and one of them was just two doors down. But we also had help from a japanese person to get our apartments. If you dont have someone helping you or dont speak fluent japanese, it is almost impossible to get your own apartment. Some places dont even rent to foreigners. Leopalace is one chain that does, but you still need help getting one of those. I got a discount on my monthly rent because I paid everything up front, and after utilities (paid by the company), it was around $900 a month. But I was also right near the heart of Tokyo, only 5 stops from the massive Shinjuku-eki. Being that close was really nice. I rode the train for 15 mins to get to school! But living by yourself of course means you have no one to speak japanese with. If you like freedom, then the apartment is the way to go. If your main concern is picking up japanese and interacting with japanese people on a daily basis, then I would suggest homestay. The bad thing about homestay is your host family could live a 10 mins walk away from school or up to a 2 hour commute each way. That was enough to scare me off...I would say the average was a 30-45 minute commute each way for the students I knew. And they are building new dorms as we speak.

6. I took two lit courses, one on modern japanese fiction (meiji-1945, which is not offered at the U of M), and also classical japanese lit. The work load was equal to a U of M course. The modern class was just as tough as a U of M course, and the classical lit was tough too, but the lowest grade you could get seemed to be a C. I dont think that professor failed students, a fairly common practice in Japan. The best class I took was class on Kukai, a Buddhist monk, taught by Professor Robouam. He's kind of one of those guys who you either love or hate. It was the most difficult class in my college career, but just as
rewarding. We learned to read kanbun (old chinese way of writing japanese), and translated an old Buddhist text and came to understand it throughout the semester. We also learned extensively about Buddhism as a whole. I also studied with Prof. Robouam, learning the Shingon Buddhism style of meditation. Some people think he is crazy, but whatever the case, he is one of the smartest people I've met. The Japanese language classes were terrible. That's the nicest compliment I can give. Terrible. I didnt take beginning japanese there, but everyone said how god awful the text book was (Situational-Functional Japanese). 3rd year japanese used the same text book as the U of M does, but they fly right through it. And they don't have discussion sections; actually you do hardly any speaking in the classroom at all. It's all about reading and kanji. I've never been so bored in my life, truly. There are a few good japanese teachers there, but any skill of teaching they have is lost in
the monotonous, boring, and unhelpful lectures. Everyone gets bored and the classes get out of control. It's certainly a different approach than what we have at the U of M. So basically if you're main concern is learning japanese, don't go to Sophia.

If you are an ALL Japanese major, your credits will transfer to your major with no problem. I dont know about CLA though, but it seems like it takes forever.

7. It all depends on the professor. Some require above and beyond normal requirements. Others require hardly anything at all. All upper division courses require a paper atleast 10 pages, if not 15. And there are many professors who will fail you. It use to be easier, but Sophia has toughened up.

8. I only had a handful of Japanese friends, because at hibun, the "comparative culture" campus is separate from the main campus of Sophia. To make friends with real japanese people from japan, it's a little tough. They are the minority on campus. I got to know a handful of people through friends and my girlfriend, but it was harder to meet japanese than I expected. Most of my friends were other international students and other americans. I don't regret that, they were a great group of people, but we always spoke english of course! I never got into any clubs, but I'm sure it's a good way to meet people. Sometimes full time Japanese people at Sophia avoid getting to know exchange students, because they have seen so many come and go. And just a note- the students all form cliques at the start of school, but after awhile everyone gets to know everyone. The school is so small, and you see the same people everyday. It's comparable to high school. Everyone even has the same lunch hour. But it did make for some very close friendships, but also the whole high school thing got old after awhile.

9. You don't need japanese to survive at Sophia. Actually you dont need it to survive in Tokyo. So you really have to be disciplined and focused to really improve your japanese. Alot of students speak about half and half. Everyone there is proficient in English, so even Japanese people there re mixing their speech. If you get to know some Japanese people there, they are really interesting and friendly people. Japanese there are from all over the world.

10. If you've read this whole thing, then you probably already have an idea of whether or not Sophia is for you. Did I have a good time? Yes. The biggest drawback is the japanese classes and using actual japanese. If this is your main concern, go somewhere else, somewhere smaller. If you want to learn about lit, philosophy, history, etc., then I would say Sophia is the best choice. If you want hands on cultural experiences, again, I would say go to something smaller where those might be more accessible. Tokyo is quite a world of its own. If you dont mind riding in trains and lots of people, then Tokyo will suit you
fine.

11. Random thoughts: Don't go to Tokyo if you are claustrophobic. It's a narrow city. It's beyond fast-paced, which can be stressful if you're not use to it. Shibuya is the loudest, brightest, busiest places in the world, I think. Tokyo is the City of Concrete. So be prepared! But overall you can have a great, fun experience in this city! I learned something new everyday.

1. 2 years, but 6 semesters worth. I took Japanese over the summer.

1. I had studied Japanese for three years, six whole semesters at the U before I went to Japan. It's hard to compare to other levels, but I think I was at a rather good level to appreciate the experience. The reason for this is that, I had learned enough of the grammar that I could say anything I wanted to, and so I was ready to absorb as much vocabulary as possible, in addition to that adapting to a more 'natural way of speaking'. Also, I think my kanji was at a level that I could start recognizing it in vocabulary and begin to understand new words I hear by guessing what kanji might be in them, and learn more kanji by looking around. So in that way, I think that going to Japan at this level was an advantage. (As a side note, however, I should remark that for the placement when I got there, while my grammar was good, I was put into a lower class than I expected because they placed a lot of weight on kanji knowledge, which I think was less than some other universities)

2. I studied there for 11 months (2 semesters). I did not come back the entire time, but it still felt like it ended too soon.

3. I honestly did not do much research. I saw that there were two exchange programs, one with Hiroshima University and one with Sophia in Tokyo. Someone recommended Tokyo, because it was in Tokyo, and that is why I went.

4. In addition to apartment rent, I spent around 800$ a month on food, utilities, and entertainment. (This was given by my scholarship, which was very helpful). My advice is of course that Tokyo is expensive. Also, since living spaces are small, it should be noted that socializing with Japanese friends costs a LOT of money, compared with the U.S.

5. I lived in an Apartment arranged by Sophia University. The apartment building itself was full of entirely foreigners. So I got the benefit of living alone (in a very small apartment), but with other english speakers around. This was a good and bad thing. It was good because it was comfortable, but it was bad because it didn't encourage more learning of Japanese. It was particularly a problem because it was EASIER just to hang out with the english speaking friends because they were close by and did not require effort to talk to them. So if that crutch weren't there, I think it's easier to practice the language. That's why I would encourage going with a host family instead.

6. I took the Intensive Japanese course that was offered both semesters, which met for three hours every day. In addition, I took Japanese History (ancient - 1800's), Japanese Literature (Tale of Genji, etc.), and a Japanese Translation course. I have not yet transferred my credits. However, ALL makes it difficult to apply study abroad credits to a major, so I am not expecting much. (I did not choose to study abroad with credits in mind)

7. In general, the classes were much less intensive than U of M courses. However, the Japanese Language courses I took were Intensive, and I am glad I chose them instead of the regular option. Also, the translation course I took was aimed at a higher level of Japanese than I had, but I took it anyway and learned a lot. My advice would be to spend more time outside of classes experiencing the culture.

8. Definitely School Circles. This is very important I think. Outside of my circle, it was very difficult to make Japanese friends. This is also true because the classes I took were in the 'international campus', which was taught in english and consisted of mostly non-japanese. So getting out of that section took some effort on my part. However, in the circle I joined, everyone was very open and nice. Also: a cell phone was pretty much required for any social interaction, so that is recommended. The cell phone was also useful for my Japanese level, because I could spend as much time as I needed to understand what my friends were saying (everyone primarily used email). Beyond that, just being open and friendly to everyone I met often had surprising results, and I met a few friends from entirely random encounters.

9. Since Sophia had the international campus separate from the regular campus, it was hard to escape English. English was everywhere on the international campus. Also, since I was living in a gaikokujin apartment, there was a lot of English there as well. Beyond that though, the Japanese friends I made in circles primarily spoke in Japanese. Also, as of this semester, the international campus is being moved onto the main campus, so that will mean closer proximity to more Japanese being spoken. But of course, the entire japanese campus had little to no Japanese being spoken, and so almost all of the clubs and circles were in Japanese.

10. I recommend it with a caveat. What I got out of the program was the experience of being in Tokyo, of being in Japan, and making Japanese friends. The school's program itself was not that great: the non-japanese courses I took were rather unenriching, and the feeling of being on a separated campus was not exactly helpful. A lot of people I knew there did not go out and make an effort to find Japanese friends, and I think their experience suffered for it. That said, I LIKED the fact that I did not have to put much effort into classes. It gave me more of an opportunity to experience Japan on my own, to walk around Tokyo in my free time, and to make my own Japanese friends. But to those who are unable to achieve or enjoy this type of experience, I can see Sophia University being rather unpleasant. The key to the experience was getting out beyond the classes, joining circles and clubs, and exploring.

11. I just thought that it was an amazing experience, and I am grateful for having had the opportunity!

1. 3 years at the U. 2 or 3 years is best I think. It was nice to have a bit of a foundation when I got there.