A New Life

So far 7 out of 15 of the Japanese Studies crew have arrived in Japan for the year abroad.

Here's a breakdown of who's going where:

Kat W., Ruben, Tom - Tokyo University of Foreign Studies 東京外国語大学
Rachel, Ania - Keio University　慶応義塾大学
Emily, Cayley - Meiji Gakuin University　明治学院大学
Stefano, Claudia - Rikkyo University　立教大学
Marc - Kobe University　神戸大学
Kat S. - Kansai Gaidai University　関西外国語大学
John, Paulina - Kyoto University　京都大学
Ross, me - Osaka University　大阪大学

I'm quite proud of the fact that out 15 of us, 6 of us have been awarded scholarships to finance this year abroad (5 JASSO scholars and 1 MEXT scholar). Pretty good eh?

It still hasn't really hit me yet, the fact that I'll be moving to Osaka at the end of the month. It's getting a little irritating, to see half of the people from my course has already arrived there and experiencing new things, settling down etc., and I'm still working as a legal intern.

Next Tuesday will be my last day at the law firm. Dunno if I'll miss it or not. I certainly like the fact that I've learned quite a lot about law this summer, but I'm just not very keen on all the commuting to work and sitting in an office for eight hours. The partner did mention maybe he can contact the Tokyo office and see if I can do another internship there. That would be quite fancy and exciting! Although that would mean I have to really brush up my Japanese over the coming year.

In the past few days I had been thinking about my dissertation. Some of my classmates have already decided the topic they'd like to write about and contacted their supervisors. Up until last week I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. But considering that I'm interested in diplomacy, and the thought of touring North Korea keeps lurking around in my mind, I've decided to write my dissertation around the political relations between Japan and the DPRK. Dr. Cave has agreed to be my dissertation supervisor, and he said it sounds like a good, feasible topic. So - yay!

Apart from dissertation stuff, I've been researching on the Internet about settling down and the bureaucratic stuff I have to go through when I arrive:

- Alien Registration Card
- National Health Insurance
- Bank account at either the Post Office or Mitsui Sumitomo (have to do this one asap 'cause MEXT won't give me my scholarship until I have a bank account!)
- Mobile phone
- possibly a student credit card (for online shopping)
- Grocery/random stuff shopping to stack the fridge and things I might need in my room e.g. toiletries, stationery.

P.S. Will be going to the Consulate-General (46th floor of the same building as the office I'm working in now!) to apply for my student visa next Monday!