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  • 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!

  • I'll catch you guys in the next one

This is a day in the life of a Japanese university student

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