日本の留学生:銀行や携帯電話

日本に来て、もう半年くらい経って、少し日本の生活が慣れるようになりました。9月から京都に住んでいました。京都の生活はエディンバラの生活と全然違います。この半年でたくさん困った場合がありました。このブログで色々な生活の違いについて話したいです。

まず、私にとって、京都に着くと一番複雑な義務は銀行と携帯電話のことでした。銀行で口座を作るのがそんなに難しくなかったですけど、日本に来る前の夏休みであまり日本語を話さなくて、全部銀行のことは日本語で説明しなければならなくて、びっくりしました。それで、もしできれば、日本に来る前に少し銀行の語彙を勉強したらいいと思います。

私はゆうちょ銀行を使っていますけど、自分のスコットランドの口座から振替できませんから、難しかったです。さらに、振込手数料は高いですから、今あまり日本の口座を使いません。また、アルバイトのお金は硬貨でもらいますから、日本の口座があまり必要はありません。アルバイトのお金が十分じゃない時、スコットランドのVISAキャッシュカードを使って、ゆうちょ銀行の国際ATMから引き出します。しかし、日本に来る前に銀行で何をしたいか少し研究して、決まったらいいと思います。

Getting a phone in Japan was also quite a challenge. I didn’t have a smart phone from the UK so I was looking to get a phone and a sim card when I came and originally was just planning to do the same thing I did in the UK and just get a cheap flip phone or so and do pay as you go for emergencies and not use wifi or anything. However, this proved way more difficult than I expected. For some reason pay as you go just doesn’t exist in Japan as far as I’ve seen. So, then I looked into getting a contract but at all the big stores like Bic Camera and Yodabashi Camera, they only had two-year contracts with massive cancelation fees. In addition to that, even the flip phones were very expensive. As a result, I just gave up on having a phone. I don’t know if I recommend not having a Japanese phone as it is actually quite difficult without one. You need a phone number for lots of forms, so I just used the international office of Doshisha or my dorms phone number but it’s not ideal. It’s also more difficult than expected to meet up with people than I expected. It’s possible but difficult (specifically setting Kyoto Station as a meeting point is chaotic to be able to find them).

After 5 months living here using only my old, dysfunctional iPad mini for コンビニwifi was proving rather inconvenient, and even though I lived easy enough in the UK without a phone, I found my self wanting a phone very badly. I have come to acquire an old iPhone from a friend and am using that without a sim card. For me, this is now ideal. Unless you are someone who needs wifi all the time, I think just using your handset from the UK and just hopping free wifi zones works perfectly fine. In Kyoto, there are convenience stores around every corner, free wifi at Doshisha Imadegawa campus (in most buildings but not all), and Kyoto free wifi (which only works occasionally), so finding wifi isn’t that difficult. When meeting up with people, as long as the meeting point is somewhere near a convenience store (which is more than likely as they are everywhere), you’re fine without a data plan. So, overall, I recommend you look into what you want more thoroughly before coming to Japan so you know what to do. If you do want a data plan, I eventually found a place that does one-year contracts but you need a credit card and the cancellation fee is still the same so I think it would only be worth it if you are going to be here for a full year.

この義務の他、日本の留学生の生活は本当に楽しいです。一番おすすめのことは日本人の友達に会うことだと思います。そうすれば、いっぱい遊べる間、日本語の練習できます。また、その友達から、一番いい経験をしてもらいましたから、とてもいいと思います。従来、私の一番いい経験はアルバイトです。そこで色々な貴重な思い出を作って、いい経験の機会をもらいました。しかし、もしアルバイトをしたくなければ、大学で色々なサークルとかあります。同志社大学で色々なことできます。日本人に会う機会がある英語の練習クラブか留学生のためにサークルもあります。寒梅館という建物で全部のサークルが見られます。Nasa というサークルで日本人の大学生と一緒に遊べます。

If you end up at Doshisha, there is a 旅館called 井筒安where students from Edinburgh have been working during their exchange for years and it has proved the most valuable experience I’ve had in Japan. It’s an almost 200-year-old traditional inn near Kyoto station. Thanks to this part time job, I’ve had the chance to meet so many amazing people, have so many incredible, authentic Japanese experiences (like traditional making mochi for example), while also getting paid which helps fund lots of travelling and having fun around Japan. Working in a 旅館 or hotel is also nice because most of the interaction with customers is in English so it’s not too stressful. But having the staff be Japanese is an amazing opportunity to practice your Japanese and see first hand many cultural differences. Overall, I can’t stress enough how much I recommend this.

(at Koyasan-recommend visiting here and staying overnight in a temple!)