Going to College/ University overseas

This post I decided to tell you about college life in Tokyo.

I'm currently studying at Waseda University School of International Liberal Studies. Waseda is a private school with about 50,000 students graduate and undergraduate. Recently, starting with my department there has been an effort to offer classes in english. As a matter of fact, besides required Japanese language courses, all of my classes are in english. The quality of education is pretty good although the teachers implement a confucian style of teaching. This means that the student shuts up and listens to the wise elder to the degree of not pointing out mistakes. Tuition is around 15,000$ a year depending on the exchange rate, but many students from abroad receive scholarships. Students from around the world come here to get masters degrees and doctorates. Most of the foreign students are from other asian countries.

College life in Japan is only a little different from the states. Social life in Japan revolves around alcohol. The drinking age is 20 but if you have a college ID no bar will turn you down. People here tend to be pretty socially awkward so alcohol is almost like a pillar of social interaction that allows a temporary escape from the restraining social rules of politeness and rank. Most people join a club or circle (saakuru) which forms around a certain shared interest or hobby and then goes out drinking every time they finish that activity. Tennis circles are the most notorious for rampant alcoholism. I often wonder how a sport with such a demand for coordination ended up with such an alcoholic reputation.

That's all for now, I'll probably make a series of posts about college here so if you have anything you'd like to know leave a question in the comments section and I'll do my best to tell you about it.