My exchange practice was in Japan, Yamanashi Prefecture, Kofu city, Chuo district. We were 4 exchange students in July, just like a family, a girl from Tunesia, a guy from Spain and the other guy from The Netherlands. I came here by arabic emirates airplane on 31st of June, and left 31st of July.
First of all, I have to say I enjoyed all the month here! I landed by plane on the Narita airport, in Tokyo. After that I caught a bus and travelled to Kofu city. It’s very simple to find the bus ticket seller and the buses leave just in front of the airport! Here is Yamanashi my Contact Person picked me up, and took me to the apartment house. All the contact people (and usually every japanese people) are so nice, friendly and respectful.You must respect them, too and behave as much polite as you can! However the society is more opened than it’s described on the internet. They are taking care of you, and don’t let you bore anytime. My practice was in the Department of Radiology on the first 2 weeks. They gave me a schedule with every information I needed, the tutors name, phone number, room location. I spent my second 2 weeks in the 3rd Internal Medicine Department, which contains
Nephrology, Rheumatology and Endocrineology. Actually I was with endocrineologist doctors. Unfortunately not every doctors (sensei-s) can speak english, just about 20% of them. Sometimes it made my practice difficult, but they tried to compensate the lack of english skills with some activity skills. So at least, I always understood them. There were some really unbelievable things, one of them: usually my tutors paid my lunch, and don’t let to pay. They said; „I’m a doctor, I earn money, you are a student and a guest here, so I have to take care of you.” If I ever had any problem - not just with the practice but with any other issues - they were always ready to help me. About the social programs. The Local Exchange Officer and the contact people were really helpful and kind. They orginased us a lot of trips in the month. On the first weekend they invited us to a traditional japanese tea ceremony. It was in a tatami room, and we did all the preparations to creating a macha tea and drink it on the proper way. On the second weekend
they orginased a 3-day trip to Osaka and Kyoto. We visited lots of buddhist temples, shinto shrines and popular city districts with traditional japanese wooden houses. On the 3rd weekend we climbed the Mount Fuji, the highest mount in Japan (3776 m) on Saturday. After that, still on Saturday we were in an Onsen (japanese hot spring bath). (A few information: in the Onsen everybody is naked, so it is prohibited to wear any swimsuits. You should bring 2 towels, a small one and a bigger one.) On the last weekend I went to Tokyo, visited Shinjuku, Ikebukoro, Akihabara districts. The prices are a little bit expensive compare to the hungarian ones. A bus ticket from Narita airport to Kofu station is 4400 Yen, about 11.400 Ft. You can eat in any restaurants for about 600-1000 yen. (It depends on the restaurant). You should try out Sushi, Udon, Ramen, Soba, Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki! I hope you will enjoy some of them! Last but not least: prepare enough cash, because you cannot pay with credit card everywhere.
However, if you out of cash, you can use ATMs as well.