This is a day in the life of a Japanese university student This is Yusuke, a 22 years old Japanese University student, living in Yokohama part of the greater Tokyo area And it's time to get up for class He lives in a two-story house with his parents as it's within commuting distance to campus In fact, it's a fairly common in Japan for people to continue to live with their parents even after graduation Well into their adult working career and like most Japanese salarymen, he also prefers to take a bath at night So he forgoes a morning shower So Yusuke is your typical fourth year Japanese college student with a good balance of school coursework, part-time job and social life Which will all get into later in this video So he skips breakfast in the morning, but makes time to feed his cat before he goes to class His house is about a 10 minute walk to the nearest train station Which is not bad at all and as a student Yusuke is able to purchase a teikiken which is a commuter pass allowing him to take Unlimited rides on the specified route between his home and school So Yusuke should be coming soon and it's actually the end of the line so I don't know whether the train is gonna be coming from this end or This end so we'll just have to see. I'm guessing it'll be coming from this end Good morning! Yusuke, where are you going now? So you Yusuke takes a train and bus to get to campus with a total commute time of about 1 hour and 10 minutes door to door And since this campus doesn't have direct train access most students take the bus from the closest transition to get to campus Yusuke, is it always this crowded? He said that the university has a ryo - which in English means, Dorm only a limited number of students can stay there. So many students are not living with their parents at a commutable distance Will rent apartments near the campus This is Yusuke school, Keio University One of Japan's top universities. So Keio, like many Japanese universities, don't just have one large campus But rather is made up of multiple campuses shown on Fujisawa campus where Yusuke attends is one of 10 plus campuses spread throughout the greater Tokyo area A student study focus will dictate which campus he or she attends And since Yusuke is a policy management major, he attends at this campus Yusuke why is the campus so quiet? Do people drive to school? What percentage drive? So it's customary in Japan to take off your shoes when entering the house to keep it clean. And this also applies to some public Facilities at the school most gyms in Japan just like this one. You need to bring a second pair of indoor shoes I personally appreciate how clean it is in Japan This campus has a pretty nice gym. Open to all students. He said that you need to pay at other campuses So I guess it really depends on which one you go to Do you do that every morning? So, what are we doing now? In his fourth and last year at university He can opt to take an easier schedule. As his future job once he graduates has already been decided In fact It's typical for Japanese university students to start their formal job hunting process in the winter of their third year and by summer of their fourth year most people Have guaranteed their future job Well, just as long as I graduated in March As you can see this area around me right now is just like Individual pods where students can study we have to be a little bit quiet because this is like a no-talking zone Hopefully you guys can hear me Now he's going to his first class of the day What class is this? It appears that taking notes on the PC is common these days in Japanese universities Generally a student's class semester grade is based on assignments, presentations, group projects, and one final exam at the end of the semester But... one interesting aspect about the Japanese University grading system is that many teachers don't let students know How each category is weighed so students can't calculate what they need to score on their final exam to earn a specific mark for the class Yusuke, is it comon to skip class in Japan? He said that some classes allow for 3 absences which many students use. But departments like Medical School which have strict mandatory class make it difficult to skip Yay lunchtime! So he's meeting up with his friend at the Gakushoku - also known in English as the school cafeteria Damn they left their belongings unattended at the table and he has his MacBook in there. Wow. Japan is so safe If you look closely all the food is priced under five dollars making it affordable for all students Many Japanese cafeterias you order a main dish and pick up a small dish and then pay the total amount at the end It's pretty amazing how nutritionally balanced and well thought-out these meals are on campus. Oh! And it looks like the tea is free here, too So Yusuke is having lunch with his friend right now You see how inexpensive the lunches here are on campus and they have a pretty good selection Yusuke got the Katsu curry with vegetables on the side not bad. So how did you two become friends? Do you two always eat here? Alright, so where do you go then? At the campus store, you can buy stationery, books, food and daily necessities. Oh wow, that's Reji's manga! Do you buy textbooks here? So, where are we going now? While many first second and third year university students have 15 to 23 courses hours per week Seniors have much less like Yusuke who has only 9 courses hours per week So he takes advantage of his extra free time to train in Karate and even has created an online karate training program Which he promotes on his social media channels So today Yusuke only has three hours of class and the other six hours the day after tomorrow Meaning he only goes to campus twice a week So this is his last class of the day, but since I can't film inside of this one, I'll just wait outside Oh there he is leaving campus with some of his classmates Wow a big line at the bus station again! So where are you guys going now? Do you study a lot? How many hours? So far that wasn't so bad By the way Nabepa means hotpot party in Japanese It's a common winter food in Japan and many friends and families alike gather to eat hotpot at each other's homes Before going home, they need to stop by at the supermarket to get ingredients for the hotpot The beautiful thing about Japanese hot pot is that it's so easy to prepare Most supermarkets offer a selection of premade soup flavors. Boil that in a pot and then just add whatever meats and vegetables the group like I guess they decided to go with the Kimchi Chigae Nabe tonight Are you guys all the same age? Among students, it's more common to drink with friends at home rather than outside Oh and most students these days drink Chuhai Which is Soju mix with carbonated water and usually lemon flavor but these days there's all sorts of flavors offered What are you drinking? What's that? So, what are you guys gonna do after University? Do college students drink a lot these days? CIRCLE are a big part of Japanese university culture There are many different CIRCLEs to join. There is tennis circles, basketball circles, dance circles And the list goes on Many members will join and practice together While other members will simply join the circle to make friends and attend drinking get-togethers held outside of practice And usually there's a lot more drinking events than practices So college drinking games in Japan are quite unique when compared to other countries Japanese students don't usually play games like beer pong, but instead favored rhythm style drinking games and well if you lose you drink Let's watch! Just in case you don't know. The table with a futon blanket is called Kotatsu - it has an electric heater on the underside of the table And a futon blanket draped around to keep the warmth It's a very common in traditional Japanese homes, but you'll only see it brought out in the winter So basically, they're gonna be playing this little rest of the night, maybe until the last train comes and they'll all go home But this is like basically the day in the life of a Japanese University student. What do you guys think? If you guys wanna check out Yusuke's social media Then I'll definitely leave a link in the description so check that out! And if you want to see what I'm doing on the daily. Check out my Instagram account. If you like these "Day in the Life of" video I have so many that already made So I'll leave the link in the description And if you want to see more, I have so much more coming Definitely hit the SUBSCRIBE button!
