Hi there, long time no see. I have just finished my final examination which marks the end of this semester, and as expected, the papers were difficult. Hope everything goes well for everyone.

 As everyone was preparing for finals, it reminds me of my tutor during my first year here. She was a master student. She helped me on how to solve mathematics problems. Every first year international students can have a tutor coming from the seniors in system engineering faculty. The best thing is, you don't have to pay anything! What a blessing.

 I get to learn slowly with tutor so I can understand better on what I've learned. Trust me, you can understand the lessons easier if it's in the language you are good with but since we are still not used to the japanese language, things are way harder than it should be. That's okay, at some point it seems that everything is getting out of hand, especially academic performance. True, it's hard. But once you get through the hardships, you may even look back and proud of what you have achieved and realized you are a better person now. I've learned the hard way.

 Let's be honest. The reason most of us students do part time jobs is because we really need the money. Getting work experience is a bonus for us. Fortunately, doing part time jobs is very common in Japan, even for the high school students.

 Well, if you have at least basic Japanese language skills, you can also apply part time jobs in Wakayama. First, you have to get permission from the Immigration Office to do part time jobs. And a thing to remember, international students can only work for maximum 28 hours per week. There's plenty of apps you can download to search for part time jobs in your area. Or you can just google. Yes I know, we are so lucky to live in google generation.

 The famous job among the international students would be working at the convenient stores, or we call it as コンビニ. As for me, I have experienced working at four different workplace in Wakayama. Of course, it's not easy for me at first to get the first job, I've been rejected for more than 10 times but I just keep trying. Maybe because I have been to many interviews, I actually gained more confidence during the interviews and also learned from my mistakes. If you feel like your Japanese language is still not good enough for customer service (like me) you can try to apply jobs that is not required to deal with customers. Whatever it is, the most important thing would be the salary day, right? Enjoy your hard-earned cash!

 Japan is a clean country. It's rare to find scattered trash on the sidewalk even here in Wakayama. Surprisingly, there are not many public trash cans can be found in Japan. There is also a strict garbage disposal law here, make sure you follow the rules!

 Basically, garbage is categorized into different types, each type has its own collection date which differs according to location. Those are 一般ゴミ(general waste), かん (aluminum cans), びん (glass bottles), ペットボトル (plastic bottles), 紙 (paper) and 布 (cloth). You can check the location dates and details for garbage disposal from recycle (dot) net website.

 Luckily in Wakayama, you can throw away plastics together with general waste. At first, it was quite confusing for me to follow the rules, especially when taking out the trash out from my apartment. Fortunately, my kind neighbor taught me the schedule and how to dispose the garbage properly. I think the real problem kicks in after I graduate, which is disposing big furnitures and electrical appliances in my apartment. For my own peace, I will just let future me deal with them. By that time I hope I am getting wiser.

 Making friends isn't my forte. It would take me a long time to make new friends especially in a new environment. Different language, different culture, making friends in Japan is a challenge for me and I am so glad I finally able to make friends here. In fact very helpful and supportive friends. Indeed, good things take time.

 Studying engineering in Wakayama University is much better with my friends around. I am so grateful for being in my current major. My lecturers are very understanding of my situation as an international student. They are very kind and helpful, always giving me best advices not only for my studies but also for my future as well.

 Not having a senior or even a junior from my home country in my major, it can be so lonely sometimes being the only foreigner in class. But this journey is worth it. I am aware that my Japanese language skill is still poor despite already living in Japan for almost 3 years now and it is kind of affecting my studies, but I won't give up and will give my best.

 Hello everyone! Today I would like to talk about my study life as an engineering student at the Wakayama University, the biggest and the busiest faculty here. I think engineering students in the whole world would agree that engineering course is very challenging and tough to survive.

 What's more interesting is, learning engineering in third language, which is in my case is Japanese language. To be honest, it is very tough and hard for me. I remember my first day in class, everything was in Japanese. My lecturer spoke in normal Japanese native speed, which for me was too fast to catch up. I didn't understand a single thing. Luckily, I have another 2 friends from my country with me in that class. We studied together for exams. By the way, there is no study week in Japanese University! It was shocking at first, but until now I am still alive surviving exams so that's okay I guess.

 As time goes by, we separated into different majors. I am the only international student in my class. As I entering second and third year, the challenges keep tougher, in terms of academics and also responsibilities. Making Japanese friends is not easy for me due to my lack of social skills and language barrier. I will continue about this in the next post, till then!

 Do you agree with me that doing laundry isn't something that people love to do? Yes, I dislike doing laundry. Imagine after washing your clothes you need to actually dry them outside. After that you need to fold clothes and put it away nicely in your drawers. So much work to do for a lazy person like me. But luckily, there are many coin laundry near the place I live. Today I am going to talk about coin laundry in Wakayama.

 If you need to send your clothes to the laundry service, there are plenty of them around here. The easiest to go might be the laundromat directly next to Matsugen. Aeon Mall also provides a laundromat near the ATM place. For people that only need normal washing, coin laundry is the answer.

 Coin laundry is very convenient when the rainy season comes in Japan. The rainy season lasts from the beginning of June to mid July. Drying clothes at the outside can be challenging during that time. And by the way don't forget your umbrella!

 Smartphones are essential these days, it's difficult to go a day without any device that can connect us to the internet and communicate with others. Therefore, today I would like to talk about phones and mobile carriers in Japan.

 There are three main mobile carriers in Japan, which is Docomo, Softbank and Au. Usually, to own a phone number with these companies, you need to buy both new phone and sim card at the same time with contracts of 2 years. The phone is also locked by the carrier and cannot be used with another carrier's sim card. Some store also requires you to have a credit card to make a purchase.

 For my case, I don't need a new phone therefore I only bought sim card from MVNO companies, they basically focus on sim card contracts only. You can google 格安sim (kakuyasu-sim) as a start. There are many options you can choose from, such as Line Mobile which is convenient because you don't need a credit card to make a purchase. You have to buy Voice sim card plan to have your own phone number, which is very important to open a bank account etc.

 Hello there! Do you like to travel and explore new places? How about the idea of exploring Wakayama? I am sure there are many hidden gems here. But before that, knowing and familiarize with the transportation in Japan might come in handy.

 Do you know that it takes only an hour to reach Wakayama from the Kansai Airport? This is a huge advantage for us students, flying back from our home country and be able to go back to Wakayama in a short time by train. It is recommended to buy a rechargeable card that works as our train pass at train stations, called ICOCA in the West Japan region. We can use it to ride trains easily. Just touch and go.

 As for buses in Wakayama, usually we pay with cash before we get off the bus at our destination. You can also buy Wakayama bus card at Wakayama-shi Station or Wakayama Station. The card is convenient if you don't have the right amount of cash with you.

 Every year in late November, a campus festival will be held by our university. The festival is called Wakayama University Festival or Wadai-Sai. The festival is held on the weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. There will be a lot of food stalls and amazing performances by the students during those two days. You can also buy cheap toys, plushies, accessories etc at the flea market.

 So where do the international students go? Here's the interesting part. Most of the international students from various countries will open food stall and sell each country's iconic food to the Japanese. Moreover, this is the only chance and perfect time for us to shout "irasshaimase!" (welcome) loudly to attract customers. During the last year's event, we had opened our stall. The reactions of people that came to our stall to try our food were precious. Even though it was tiring, I think it's worth it for the meaningful experience.

 I love shopping, be it going to the mall, online shopping or even shopping for groceries. I get really really excited going to the supermarket to buy some food and necessities. Especially at malls and supermarkets in Japan. Did you ever see some random posts on the internet showing unique and awesome things in Japan? Well they are not wrong. At all. One of the things that amazes me is the customer service. The customer service here is not only excellent in big malls, it is also good even in small supermarkets.

 The good news is, our campus is near to the Aeon Mall. We can actually sip some fancy Starbucks and watch movies at the cinema after class. How cool is that? I know, we can only do that once in a blue moon because student life is less money and more assignments but we can always go to the supermarkets to buy good food to cheer us up.

 So that supermarket would be the famous Matsugen! (It's the nearest supermarket the students can go on foot or by bicycle). They have a lot of good food, hence a happy tummy! You can buy all the things you need to cook, not to forget yummy japanese bento, and fresh seafood too!

 At some point of your time in Japan, you might have to go to the post office for delivery purposes. Post offices in Japan are very efficient, their service is a top notch. Not only you can do some deliveries, you can also create your Yucho Bank account at their post office counter.

 If you want to create bank account, please bring along your residence card, passport, inkan and some cash to keep. The staffs will guide you during the process.

 For sending letters, you can directly go to the post office or you can buy stamps from our university's shop (seikyou), also at the convenient stores and insert your letter with stamp on it into the red mailbox nearby. For big item deliveries, you can refer to their website for more details. Just google Japan Post and the website will show up. Worry not! They have English version page too.

 Hello again! Are you ready to read about boring adult responsibilities such as banking and post offices? Haha just kidding. Well, one thing that I am sure is, bank accounts are fun to look at only if you actually have money. If not, it's just, sad. But that's okay we are students, it's normal to be broke.

 Enough with the broke-sad-student life story, today I would like to talk about opening bank account in Wakayama. It's important to have your own Japanese bank account especially if you are going to stay in Japan for a long time and doing part time jobs. I suggest you to open your bank account at Kiyo Bank (紀陽銀行) or Yucho Bank (ゆうちょ銀行). You can open your Yucho account at post offices but I'll talk about it later.

 You just have to go to the Kiyo bank counter and bring along your residence card, inkan, passport (just in case) and some cash with you. It is convenient to have Kiyo Bank account because there are many Kiyo Bank ATMs here in Wakayama, even at the campus too!

 Are you familiar with 印鑑 (inkan)? Most times when a person signs an official Japanese document in Japan, they don't use a written signature, instead, they use a personal name seal called inkan, which is a big part of Japanese culture.

 I bought my own inkan at Komeri, a home center near my house. You can also get it at inkan/hanko shop in Aeon Mall, which is just walking distance from the campus. My inkan is very basic, oval shape with my name written in katakana. The inkan only cost me ¥1000. You can customize your inkan to your liking and the price also varies by design, size, material etc.

 If you are going to stay in Japan for quite a long time, it is recommended to have an inkan. And also, I think it's cool because you can only have this kind of experience in Japan.

 For the first 2 weeks in Wakayama, I stayed with my senpai (先輩, senior) at her apartment. Then we went to 不動産屋 (fudousan-ya), real estate agent to search my first apartment ever. I was very excited.

 The fudousan-ya people were very helpful even though my Japanese language skill are way worse when I first came to Japan. If you can't understand something they said because it's too fast, ask them nicely to slow down a bit when speaking. I suggest bring along senpai or friends that can translate Japanese for you.

 To complete the process, you need to have your own Japanese phone number, Japanese bank account, a guarantor and don't forget to bring along your residence card, passport, student ID and 印鑑 (inkan, name seal)if you have it. I will explain about inkan and creating bank account in another post. Till then!

 Hello everyone! Today I would like to talk about housing in Wakayama. The first thing when I arrived in Japan, I was concerned about where I will live in Wakayama.

 Basically, you can choose to stay at the uni's kaikan (like hostel) for international students or you can find and rent your own apartment. If you are an exchange student and will be living in Wakayama for less than 1 year, kaikan might be suitable because it is cheap and easier to make friends with other students.

 If you are a 学部 (gakubu) student, the best option would be renting an apartment near the university. Therefore, I chose to rent an apartment. The monthly rent would cost around ¥30,000 to ¥50,000, depending on the size and location of the apartment, though the initial cost are very high. It can reach up to ¥300,000 for setting up utilities. I will continue about my apartment-searching journey in the next post!

 Hi there. As I woke up this morning, the temperature was already at 9 degrees. I am sure winter is coming soon. Let's get ready for the season where the daytime is short and the night is long. Don't forget thick blankets and heaters to keep ourselves warm.

 Before we go further, I would like to talk about autumn in Wakayama. Since the heat in summer is unbearable sometimes, autumn season is very pleasing to most of us. The temperature is not too hot and not too cold. We can also go to Wakayama Castle for autumn leaves viewing, there is a beautiful garden nearby.

 Next, I would like to talk about winter season in Wakayama. The peak is in January, with occasional snowfall. Winter here is considered mild because the snow does not really pile up. To me this is an advantage because I am not really used to cold temperature. And finally, since it's very cold in the morning, please set your alarm frequently because it can get tough to get out of the bed. Don't miss your class!

  Hello everyone! Today I would like to talk about the climate and weather in Wakayama. You might be wondering what is it like to be in here, "is it too cold during winter?" and so on. As you already know, Japan has 4 seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter. Which season do you like the most?

 For me spring would be the best because there are sakura flower almost everywhere, including in the campus! The view is splendid. Every year I will look forward to the "hanami" event, which is to go on a picnic under the sakura trees and have fun with friends.

 As for the summer, the peak is very hot and humid. Not to forget there are many insects around and the sound of cicadas are loud too. But in summer, there are firework festivals. I recommend you to go watch at least once when you are in Japan because the fireworks are just amazing. I will continue about the climate and weather in the next post, till then!

 Hello everyone! It's November now and the temperature is getting colder here in Wakayama. The leaves are scattered everywhere on the road, I feel like we are already approaching the end of autumn.

 By the way, I am one of the international students in Wakayama University, currently doing my bachelor's degree in system engineering. I am glad to have this opportunity to share my experience with all of you and hope this might help you to get to know more about life as an international student in Wakayama.