During my exchange I studied in Ritsumeikan Asaian Pacific University (APU). A large multi-cultural university located on the mountain of Beppu, Japan. My studies focused on their APS line which was a major focused on Media, Art and Social science. For example some of the courses I picked for semester were programming essentials, Logic and Critical Thinking, The Japanese Art of Tea Ceremonies and of course Foundation Japanese I & II. I think all of the courses were sufficiently interesting, but luckily didn’t take too much of my time so I could spend more time exploring the culture and making friends. Luckily something stuck and I do think my japanese has improved greatly. APUでべんきょうしから、私の日本語は上手ですね。
Now while I really enjoyed the campus life from time to time, the best things happened outside the classroom. Beppu, and even more precisely the AP dormitories were buzzing with people who wanted to experience culture, have fun and make memories. People were out in bars and trips all the time. It was a pleasure to get to know people and make memories with them. Some of my “extracurricular activities” included for example:
Kendo
I knew from the start that if I had an opportunity to do Kendo I would do it. And I did! Kendo was a great way to meet people, learn about the culture and do a unique sport. Although half a year is not enough to start kicking ass, I liked it enough to have a hakama and keigoki of my own (pants and shirt) The pants are actually really comfortable to wear around the house.
Restaurants, bars and alcohol
Safe to say I ate at a restaurant pretty much everyday. It is so much cheaper in Japan than in Finland. How can you blame me. The food is also very exquisite. Ramen and sushi are definitely my favorites even tough those are very basic choices. Ramen is just so filling and the portions are never lacking. We also had a bunch of chain restaurants near my apartment that were good, but where it was at, was the ramen shops.
Japan doesn’t really have that great of a nightlife. There are a lot of bars and it is very typical for people to go there for after works or happy hours. But when it comes to club etc. only the major cities have large clubs. I think the size of Tokyo’s clubs are very relative to even Tampere clubs. It might just be hard to have large venues in such packed cities. Of course there were still great parties even in Beppu and the drinking culture is crazy nonetheless. Many bars offer all-you-can drink menu’s for the price of 2 Finnish bar beers. Safe to say I am sort of glad those do not exist in Finland.
7-11 (and the others)
Luckily what japan doesn’t have in clubs it makes up with the absolutely unbelievable convenience store game. You cannot walk more than 500m in a city without walking across a 7-11, lawson or family-mart. They are absolutely everywhere. So you won’t go hungry or thirsty anywhere. They offer a lot of unique products like a wide selection of onigiri, fried foods and sweets. It is like magic that they all stay in business and 24h open times at that.
Experiencing the culture and sights
With my newly made friends with me we went to so many sights and cultural experiences in Japan. First of all, the country is filled with a lot of stuff related to your favorite anime and games. I bought way too much stuff everywhere and I do not regret it.
Also something interesting to note there is actual sights made to commemorate anime. Kumamoto has One Piece statues that I could not visit unfortunately, but Oita prefecture actually had a Attack on Titan museum and a dam that was supposed to replicate the iconic opening episode.
There are of course a lot of shrines and temples with a lot of parks everywhere. There are so many places to just walk to and take in the atmosphere. It is hard to explain everything about experiencing the culture, but I’ll just say it will live in my head rent free forever. I hope I have some things about Finnish culture I have taken granted that I can discover again.
Now to say what is the biggest difference in studying culture compared to Finland. I have to say it has to be the courses itself valuing being present a lot more. I Finland it is usually so-and-so with how much they care about you being present. In APU it was an actual threat to fail because of being sick too much. You could of course get a doctors note, but I am NOT going to a doctor for a basic flu.
And as much as I know about working culture I think it is a lot different. I didn’t work during my time in Japan, but I heard about it, and got a pretty good idea. After work beers with your boss is common an even if that might sound fun, it is more so implied to be a little bit “mandatory” which can totally be exhausting. People take a lot more pride in their jobs in Japan also which is good, but in Finland the I don’t give a fuck mindset is far more accepted and sort of even expected. Someday it would be interesting to get to work in Japan to further my language and cultural knowledge, but this is just what I know/think as of now.
After that I think the blog should be ended on a sweeter note. Well what can I say about the exchange. I am so glad I went. I thought I was gonna like it. But I ended loving it. A little too much even. Thinking about the friends and memories makes a totally purely theoretical tear roll down my cheek.
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