Types of People You Will Meet at TUJ

TUJ is a relatively small yet highly diverse campus, featuring students from different countries, backgrounds, and ways of thinking. In a day and age where college campuses across the country are pushing for even greater diversity, TUJ manages to pull it off, including diversity of thought. Throughout my experience at TUJ, I ended up with three new friends: one from the United States but living in Japan, another from Bahrain, and another who is half-Japanese, half-British. For privacy reasons, I’m not going to name these three individuals but they provide a perfect representation of those you will meet at TUJ (‘But Casey, you named the study abroad students and Mitsuteru!’ True, but they don’t go to TUJ). To put it simply, there are three broad groups of students; the study-abroad students who usually last one or two semesters, the International students whose home university is TUJ, and local Japanese students who live and work near Tokyo.

Within the group of International Students, there are those who either served in the U.S. military or those who are the children of those who served, as represented by my first friend, whom I shared two classes with last Spring. TUJ has a high military presence in part due to the campus’ acceptance of GI bill and FAFSA, as well as providing an American education with an American degree while in Japan, which has a high U.S. Military presence. Students who served in the military tend to be older and quieter and often commute long distances to and from campus. For example, I shared a class with an ex-Marine who lives in Yokosuka, about 45 miles south of TUJ and a two-hour commute on the JR Yokosuka Line.

The remaining International Students come from over 60 different countries, ranging from places such as Canada, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Thailand, and, as represented by my second friend, Bahrain. As a whole, International Students make up about 60% of the student body, and they all speak English (TUJ is an English-speaking campus). The more talented students of the bunch even speak multiple languages, including Japanese. I met a Canadian girl who has lived in Japan for two years now and speaks fluent Japanese! She also speaks three other languages as well. I met my Bahrani friend one day in the Parliament (student lounge) and we hit it off quickly, he’s such a great person! If you have the opportunity to make friends with International Students, it is a great way to learn about other cultures outside of both Japan and the United States, as well as a great opportunity to explore Tokyo from a new perspective.

Approximately 40% of the student population at TUJ are local Japanese students who live and work in or near Tokyo, as represented by my half-Japanese, half-British friend who speaks English with a British accent. Many of these students also work part-time jobs, with some students working at Maid Cafes in Akihabara (dead serious) and other students, such as my friend, working at hotels and restaurants. Well, these are among the students I met and got to know anyway. Other students also work on campus, assisting other students during orientation week and moving in for study abroad students. After all, it was a Japanese student-worker who helped me recover my missing passport. If you get the chance to befriend a Japanese student, understand that it will take a while to form said friendship, but once you do, maintain it and it will last a lifetime. Towards the end of the semester, I started hanging out with my friend and we explored Shinodome, Shinbashi, and Odaiba, even taking a dip at the Oedo Onsen and eating Italian Food while overlooking the Tokyo Skyline at sunset. Making friends with local Japanese students will, by far, be the best way to learn the culture, as well as some manners!

But what about the study abroad students? Oh yeah. The following is strictly my opinion. I will try and get testimonies from other Chapman students and post them in a separate post for the sake of diversity of opinion. Study abroad students come to Japan for various reasons, with many coming to explore the culture, which usually means they came for anime. However, there are some who genuinely come to Japan to experience the Japanese way of life, of doing things, and of course, take part in Japanese traditions. I met plenty of study abroad students throughout this trip (I mean, there were 91 of us total that semester) but, to this day, I currently keep in contact with only one. However, I learned a lot about different types of people because of the study abroad students. I met some who came to Japan to try and escape some issue in their lives, others who used Japan as a gap semester of sorts, and those who came to party. In fact, there were some residents at Takadanobaba who were notorious for returning drunk. However, every person is different and just because some people weren’t right for you doesn’t mean they were bad people. The students themselves were quite nice for the most part.

When it comes to making friends at TUJ, I think you should focus on making friends with the international and local students. Every semester is different, but the Spring 2018 semester’s study abroad students formed cliques early on and remained trapped within their cliques. Whether those cliques remain to this day beats me. I found the non study abroad group to be more mature overall, intellectual, and very open and friendly, but you need to get to know them first. There is a divide between study abroad students at TUJ and “full time” students at TUJ. The full-time students often have the same opinions about the study abroad students as I do, viewing them as cliquey and only interested in anime, or as the Canadian girl put it, “only interested in the good aspects of Japan.” As a study abroad student, don’t become one of those! Make friends with those who actually study in Japan, ideally International and Local students. Reach out, make a study plan, or even go get lunch. Whatever you do, change the way the full-time students view you, a study abroad student, and future study abroad students!

In summary, TUJ’s student body consists of three broad groups of students; the study abroad students, International students, and Local students. The International Student group can be sub-divided into two groups, those related to the U.S. military and those who are not. These broad groups add to the diverse nature of TUJ’s campus, although it appears that they tend to stick to themselves a bit. As a study abroad student, try to mingle with non-study abroad students and build friendships that will last a lifetime.