STUDENT REPORT RIKKYO UNIVERSITY
TOKYO
Name of the University: Rikkyo University, Tokyo
Names of the students: Kristoffer Alsvik Exchange
semester: Spring, 2010
I. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE
SCHOOL
Rikkyo University is located in Tokyo, Japan, in the district of Ikebukuro. This is one
of the bigger districts in Tokyo, with close to two million people passing through
Ikebukuro station each day. The school itself is a beautiful set of building, some
dating back to 1874 when the school was founded. There are also newer and
modern buildings as a part of an expansion.
II. Practical
Information
Information before you
left
School both starts and ends late in Japan (1 April - 15 July was my semester)
which means that you will have a lot of time on your hands before you leave.
Unfortunately, leaving for Japan early can prove very difficult, because of the
visa application process (which is explained below).
You will not receive a great amount of information before you leave and most of
what you do receive will be in Japanese. Luckily Kanako, the contact person in
charge of the exchange person more than happy to answer all your questions
(and she speaks good English).
Visa Procedure and travel
experiences
As explained above, the visa application process can be quite tricky if you want to
leave for Japan early. Rikkyo usually arranges it so that you will be able to arrive
1-2 weeks before school starts, and the way this works is that they have to apply
for a certificate of eligibility on your behalf in Tokyo. It is this document that allows
you to apply for a visa in Norway. And since they apply for this document so late,
you are held back in your visa application process.
This visa application itself is very fast and easy. Formally the process takes 2
weeks, but they will tell you they only need about 3 days. If you have any
questions regarding this you should contact the Japanese embassy in Norway
directly, the are very helpful and also speak good English ( phone: +47 22 99 16
00, e-mail: info@japan-embassy.no).
There are however ways to get around this visa dilemma if you wish to enter
Japan before.
Academic
Calendar
The school intro lasted for 2 weeks, where the second week was course
introductions, this started the 1. April. In true Japanese fashion everything moves
very slowly and hand-out that we have been told to read in advance are gone
through in great detail.
Since the school year starts so late, it also ends very late and my last day of school
is July 15th. Though some projects are due 25th, some of the courses also have
exams on the following Saturday.
The examination period here is very different from back home. Because we do
continuous work here, and the final exam only accounts for (usually) 40% and
some courses does not even use final exams the workload in this period is not
much different from that of the rest of the year.
Reception
The reception at the school was great. The school seems to be very proud to
house international students and do a great deal to make sure that we are
received well and taken care of.
The is a great deal of staff dedicated to the center for international studies
where you can come with any kind of problems, be it academic, concerning
housing or other matters.
The school has a special group of students dedicated to taking care of and
arranging different events with the exchange students, IFL or international friendly
lunch. Lame name, but a great bunch of people that will help you with your
transition into Japanese culture.
Housing:
The school does provide housing for you, through what is called RUID. This is
a decent alternative for someone who does not know Tokyo, although, all
exchange students that extend their stay in Tokyo do move out.
Important to know about RUID:
There is a 12 o´clock curfew, which means that you are not allowed to enter or
leave the dorm after that time. This has however not been much of a problem for
us, since the manager in charge of our dorm does not seem to care much about
this rule, and you can always find someone to let you inn if you arrive to the dorms
later than 12. The dorms are located outside of the main Tokyo, in what is called
the greater Tokyo area, in a ward called Saitama. The travel time to school is still
not more than about 40 min door-todoor, which is nothing in Tokyo standards.
There is possibilities for signing up for a meal plan: 3 meals a day at a decent price.
Fully furnished A/C
All-in-all though, I would say that RUID is a very good alternative if you are only
staying for one semester, you get to know the other student living there very well,
and the dorm manager is good at arranging dorm events.
Costs
Compared to Norway the cost of living is very similar to that in Tokyo. Food is
cheaper, and you will probably find yourself eating a lot out. A dinner meal will
cost you about 500-1000 Yen (30-60Kr).
Night life is can be done cheap, or very expensive depending on
where you go.
There are very little expenses related to school materials. You will only be required
to buy a couple of books, which means you will be receiving a lot of hand outs (so
invest in a couple of binders right away).
The International Office
The folks at the international office are very nice and helpful, and speak
excellent English. You can almost come to them with any question you might
have (and you will have a lot of them) and they will give great help.
You will never have to worry about not receiving enough information,
because you will receive more than you can handle, both in English and
Japanese.
They are a bit slow in the beginning (Jan-mar months), but if you have any
questions, feel free to send a mail to Kanako (cob.international@rikkyo.ac.jp) and
she will help you out.
Social Activities
How is your relationship with other students? How is the relationship
among the exchange students? Is there a student organization, and
if so, are the exchange students part of it? Are there any special
activities and gatherings for exchange students? How do you like it
at the school?
Culture and Language
Even though you will get around, you will have plenty of language problems in
Tokyo if you do not speak Japanese; this should not be under estimated. People
are friendly and polite and will always try to help, however, English really is a big
issue. This combined with the cultural phenomena of “losing face”, it can often
prove difficult to get good advice. An example of this can be when asking for
directions; a native will often just point in a random direction when s/he does not
know the right answer (either because they don't understand or just don't know).
This is done so that they don't appear stupid and “lose face”.
When it comes to your teachers and the international office you will not have any
problems.
As for the students, you will find student who speak some English; try to befriend
them, because they can teach you a lot about the city that you otherwise would
never figure out on your own. You will definently end up in some classes fully
tough in English, where some of the Japanese students don't speak a word
English.
Continuing on some of the cultural difficulties you will face; do not go to Japan if
you don't want to leave your contort zone, because there will be plenty of cultural
challenges.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The Teaching situation:
Rikkyo uses a very different teaching method then the one used at BI. The idea is
that instead of placing the whole determination of your grade to one final exam at
the end of the year, your grade is divided up into many category: f.ex. 10%
attendance; 2x20% project papers; 20% mid-term; 30% final exam. This way of
determining your grade, makes it easier to get a good grade and also has you
spending more time on your studies (which means you actually remember what
you learn). I don't know why BI does not adopt this system, because it seems
better in every way. In which language are the courses taught? Any problems? All
courses are tough in English, so you will have no trouble with this. How would you
evaluate the level of study in relationship to the level at BI? As said; you study
more, but also more evenly, which means that you will never have to hell month
before final exams. Though the courses seem easy, a lot of this I attribute this to
the fact that the courses are laded out in the way they are. Do the work assigned
and you will get a good grade. Are the professors using cases, group work or
lectures (or a mix)? This depends on the teacher who himself decides how to
structure his/her classes, unlike in BI where this all streamlined. How is the
relationship between faculty and students? Again depending a great deal on the
teacher and their methods, but generally there will be a very good relationship
where it is often expected for the students to participate (often a direct part of your
grade) What is the relationship between the students in the classroom? This is
where you will meet a lot of your Japanese friends, so try to get to know them well.
You will quickly realize who speaks English by who participates in class.
Exams
For those classes with exams, they are always divided up into a mid-term and a
final-exam (the final exam often does not cover material from the mid-term). They
will cover material that you often have had extensive projects on and therefore
know well. Because of this reading for these will not at all be a taxing as reading for
your exams at BI.
Description of CoursesJapanese J0 (Varying Professor): Even though this is
by far the most difficult and time consuming class, it only awards one more credit
than the other courses. There were 3 classes a week (MWF). The professors were
very nice and genuinely cared about how your Japanese was coming along. This is
a beginners course in Japanese, so no previous knowledge is necessary, even
though most of the students know some Japanese on beforehand (I knew none).
The course teaches you the basics of Japanese, the two phonetic alphabets as
well as basic sentence structure. It is for the main part an oral course which aims at
teaching you basic Japanese communications. A very good course, and very
helpful as a tool of surviving in Tokyo. Be aware that it requires a lot of you. (It is
NOT mandatory to take a Japanese course while at Rikkyo; even though the
information will tell you so). Grade determined upon, attendance and participation;
weekly quizzes; hand-ins; and final presentation.
International Human Resource Management (Allan Bird): A really great
course, taught by a really great professor. It was what is called an intensive
course, which means that it only runs for a couple of weeks, but with longer hours.
It is very exiting listing to Bird who is a great lecturer that I highly recommend.
Medium difficulty. Grade determined upon, attendance; one final report; mid-term;
final exam.
Global Strategic Management (NAMIKI, Nobuaki): Namiki definently knows a
lot about Japanese business and business life, which is really interesting to listen
to. He also gives it to you straight, which can be a rarity in Japan. The courses
greatly consist of class presentations. Easy difficulty. Grade determined upon,
attendance; hand-in; class presentation; final exam.
Introduction to Strategic Management (IGUCHI, Chie): The class I took with the
greatest number of people in it. The material is quite easy, but the way that the
exams are structured makes this class of the more difficult (space to write 4000
words in 30min makes little to no sense). Medium/Hard difficulty. Grade
determined upon, attendance; hand-ins; mid-term; final exam.
Quantitative Methods of Finances (Visiting Professor): The material is
incredibly difficult, but you are allowed to use a graphic calculator at the exams. For
the 40% of you grade hand-ins, you are also given to answers before you are to
hand in the assignment. Easy and Hard difficulty (?). Grade determined upon,
hand-ins; 2 exams.
Introduction to Business and Society (Scott Davis): This is by far the best class
I had at Rikkyo. The course is based on discussion around Harvard Business
Cases and Davis does a great job leading the discussion around these. This is a
course that relies heavily upon participation, meaning that you need to come
prepared if you want to get a good grade. Highly recommended course.
Medium/Hard difficulty. Grade determined upon, attendance; class participation;
class presentation; hand-ins.
Cultural Exchange (Dr. Daryl Bockett): By far the easiest class I took at Rikkyo,
you should have no problem getting an S (read A) in this class. This is a class that
tries to unite the western culture with Japanese culture, with the purpose of
teaching Rikkyos future exchange students about western culture and help them
with their English skills. I really liked this class because there is so much interaction
between the students, and by this you have a great chance of meeting and getting
to know Japanese students. This is also the place where I learned the most about
Japanese culture and society. Dr.Bockett Is also a very fun and relaxed Kiwi. Highly
recommended class. Easy difficulty. Grade determined upon, attendance;
class-participation; hand-ins; final presentation.
Names and e-mails:
If you have any questions what so ever, feel free to contact me
kristofferalsvik@gmail.com, I also an Oslo resident, so if you want to meet over a
cup of coffee, just let me know, I love talking about Rikkyo.
Spring cleaning outside the school entrance
17 of May celebration at the Norwegian Embassy (make sure you are there!)