Japan Mobility II: Prepare to travel edition

At this post I wrote the inital steps for requesting to participate in an exchange program in Japan. In this post, I will write about the following steps you have to follow in order to prepare the travel.

Buying the airplane ticket

Sooner you can buy the ticket the better. September is the month of the year when more people is traveling to Japan. If you are traveling on these dates, you should try to get the tickets before June. On summer, the prices start to increase up to €1,000.

The VISA

You have to look for the Japanese Embassy in your country. Normally, the embassy is in the capital of the country. Make sure to check that your passport is not expired, and does not expire during your staying in Japan.

You will have also to bring them some documents... the requirements are exposed in the web page of the embassy. You will have also to request an appointment:

• Photo
• Curriculum Vitae
• Document from your University proving that you are student
• Written proof about your economical support
• Card of acceptance from the Japanese University: this proves where are you going and what are you going to do. This is sent by postal mail to you from the Japanese University.
• Flight tickets receipt

The student VISA expires after one year. So if you are going to stay longer in Japan, you, or your University, will have to manage a VISA renewal when the expiring date is close.

Private Health Insurance

Every time that you travel for a long time you should hire a private health insurance. I think I paid about 200€ for 6 months. You never know what can happen, sometimes the greatest accidents take place in the worst moments.

Credit Card

Make sure that your bank is not going to charge you high rates for withdrawing money from Japanese banks.

There are ATMs in Japan that can charge you only for withdrawing money from two sides: your bank, and the Japanese bank you are taking money from. In addition, take special attention to the currency conversion rate.

A solution could be hiring services from a digital bank like Revolut.

Organise your documents

Before departing, organise the documents you have to show in the airport's country entrance, the documents you will have to show in your University, insurance papers... And always take all papers with you. All documents will be a new part of your body until you have arrived to your lodging at the University.

Electronic Devices

Most of the airports in the world are in an alert state. So they will ask you to separate things that you taking in a variety of categories. Lately, they are asking to have separate tablets from smartphones and from laptops... If you are very nerdy and you are carrying a lot of cutting-edge tech, beware of you belongings.

Other tips

You have to know how to go to your University, the person you have to ask for, and alternative plans if your main plan fails.

Practice a bit of Japanese, or buy a book with common expressions. Japanese people normally are not going to speak to you in English, with the exception of big cities. In some places because they have very low level. Even if you are going to have some Japanese lessons in your destination, to study 3-6 months of Japanese before you go is a good idea. In the city I was living, very very few people spoke me in English, even in big malls with young shop assistants. I had to learn the very basics of Japanese to being able to talk with them.

Plan the travel from the airport to your University

There are four ways for traveling in Japan: bus, plane, shinkansen (high speed train) and taxi. Depending on how far is your University and the prefecture you are going to you some ways are better than the rest. The cheapest way is the bus, and the most expensive could vary between the shinkansen, the taxi and the plane.

For instance, I had to go to the Niigata prefecture. I preferred to pay about €80 for traveling from Tokyo to University doors. This was because I had to take a train from the airport to the shinkansen station, and then to take another bus from the Niigata station to the University... This travel is not very comfortable with a backpack and a suitcase.

There are also some services that carry all your luggage from one hotel to another. It is very convenient when traveling a lot from city to city in Japan.

• SIM cards in Japan: at the airport there are vending machines with SIM cards for 1 week. Data is limited... but I have kept VoIP and video calls even though the 100 MB limit has been reached. Change the SIM card near a Wi-Fi spot. If you have an iPhone you are going to need to download a certificate for enabling the card.

• Japanese people: they are very kind people. If you need to ask them something, try asking them in Japanese. You will have a better answer if you make your effort to speak their language.

• Beware of the sects: Japan is full of religious sects. If you find someone that speaks you first, very kindly and talks about showing you some place, even though you are with more people, try to dissuade them and leave that place.

• Take money with you: take a good amount of money with you for the first days. Japanese people are very traditional and they prefer cash. They use some electronic cards to pay, but only from Japanese banks.

• Print a map of the place you are going to live: you will have to explore all the surroundings, to take a paper map with you is very convenient.