Culture
Capital of Japan for almost 1000 years, Kyoto is considered even today as the heart of the Japanese culture. Home of a lot of famous festivals like Aoi matsuri, Jidai Matsuri, and Gion Matsuri, the city welcomes tourists all over the year. The city seems pretty big but you can always find calm places everywhere to relax.
Higher education
Home to 37 institutions of higher education, Kyoto is one of the academic centers in Japan. Kyoto University is considered to be one of the top national universities nationwide. You can meet students all over the city and it is a good place to make Japanese friends very fast. (The visitors’ session held by Nihongo Center also helps a lot)
Entertainment
Only studying at school is not the best way to improve your Japanese. You will really feel a difference if you try to go out and meet Japanese citizens with whom you will try to speak in Japanese as much as possible. A lot of Japanese will try to speak in English and it is kind of a game to see who can speak the most in the other language. For this, the Japanese are very friendly and if you try to respect some kind of “etiquette”, they will be more than happy to help and correct you. In this regard, there is a lot of places where young and older Japanese are having fun in Kyoto. The most famous place is without a doubt the Kiyamachi or Kawaramachi street (5min from the school), full of Karaoke, restaurant, and bars. There are also a lot of events organized for foreign students during the year (maybe once a month). Try one of these and if you do that regularly, you will reach a good level in Japanese in no time.
Food
When you go to another country for a long time, you always wonder about the food. It is true that if you don’t pay attention, food in Japan can cost a lot. However, there are a lot of restaurants where you can eat at a low cost, and also several supermarkets where it is good to go if you plan to cook by yourself. Take care of the difference between the convenience stores which are quite expensive and other supermarkets. Depending on where you live in Kyoto, you won’t have access to everything but here is a list of the supermarket you might want to try.
- Giyomu Super
- Mandai
- Life
- Fresco
Also, remember that a lot of product’s prices are cut from a certain time of the day (often from 18.00 pm) which allows you to use less money on food.
Part-time job
Here is the point most of the students are worried about but, yes, you are allowed to do a part-time job in Japan if you hold a student visa. The immigration will grant you a special permit to work for a maximum of 28hr/week while studying. This limit increases to 8hr/day during school holidays.
・Can I find a job?
The answer is yes. In Kyoto, because of the high number of tourists, you’ll be able find something quite fast in places like restaurants, guest houses, hotels. A lot of Japanese can’t really speak English or another language and any help is always welcome to offer services to foreigners customers. However, we really recommend you to focus on your studies for the first 3 months before starting to look for a part-time job.
・How much can I earn in a month?
Well, it will mainly depends on how many hours you will work but even if your are limited in the maximum hours per week, you can still do 2 or 3 different jobs to reach the 28hr/week.Right now the minimum hourly wage in Kyoto is 850yens/hr which means you can do around 95,000 yens/month.
