Experience report
Name: Bas Hoogervorst
E-mail: a.b.hoogervorst@tilburguniversity.edu
Exchange semester: spring
Academic year: 2015
Host University: Kyushu University
Country: Japan
TOPIC: Admission, arrival, housing
At arrival, a pick up from the airport was organized. However, chose to go a week before the
rooms were ready to explore the city. There was an introduction to the university but this
was nothing special, just the rules and how things work at the university. The
accommodation organization was terrible. I went to the dormitory Rupos Kencho-guchi,
were you have to pay a large cleaning fee even though the rooms are not cleaned before
the next student arrives. The universitie however does also have other options. The other
dormitories can be found on http://www.isc.kyushuu.ac.jp/supportcenter/en/housing#designated . You have to book your accommodation in
advance when you hand in the rest of the paperwork. I have heard that Fukuoka
international house is a better place to live, also lots of students in your class will live there.
They are however moving the campus to Ito Campus where other dormitories might be
better.
TOPIC: Location of university/city
When I studied there, the university was 25 min away from the city centre. A
recommendation for eating is of course the many sushi restaurants, but almost everywhere
in the city you can eat cheap for around 5 to 10 euro. Also Boxtown, near the university, is
way cheaper than the other supermarkets, such as You Me Town. Interesting things to see
in Fukuoka are the city park and the old castle near Tenjin (city centre). Differences with
tilburg in terms of the city was that you had to cycle on the sidewalk and there were traffic
lights on every corner. Also, there are café’s which allow you to pet animals like cats, dogs,
owls, etc. They have for example 20 cats in a small café which you can feed and pet for a
small fee.
TOPIC: Academics
I attended the courses:
1. Bioethics and the Law
2. Legal Research Methodology & Writing
3. Competition Law
4. International Maritime Law
5. Creative Economy and Cultural Diversity
6. Comparative Corporate Law
7. International Law in Today’s World
8. Law, Innovation and Economic Growth
I also did Private international Law. This course also had a nice trip for a weekend to another
city with onso’s. I would definitely recommend the trip, but you are only able to go if you
follow this course. I however chose not to do the exam because I had already successfully
completed 8 courses.
I would recommend the Courses 1, 3,5 and 8 on the list because the course content and the
professors are really good. Number 3 is a Belgium professor so he also speaks Dutch and
number 8 is a Professor form Tilburg University Eric Vermeulen. Number 6 was not that
good, because the teacher does nothing. Every lecture, students are just presenting and
teaching it the course instead of the teacher himself. The courses where very different from
those at Tilburg University, as they show how other people from around the world see the
law and how different they handle the law. I was glad that I did 8 courses.
TOPIC: Social life
There are no social activities organized by the university. I also did not have contact with the
local students, because their English skills are not really sufficient. The contact with the
other students was good, I met people from around the world and made new friends.
However, when you are coming in the spring semester most people have already been there
for 6 months and already have good friend and made groups of friends. I have visited
Kagoshima with a friend I met there, where we climbed a volcano. My girlfriend also came
by and stayed for 2 months and I travelled with here to Seoul, the capital of South Korea. I
would definitely recommend this city because of its friendly people with high English skills,
beautiful sights and cheap flights. I also went to Okinawa, which I would not recommend.
Not Okinawa itself, but the other islands near Okinawa are beautiful. But in order to visit
those islands, you will have to make relatively high additional costs. I used the cheap flights
from peach air to get to Okinawa. I also visited Vietnam, which is also a really nice country. I
think the best country I visited was South-Korea.
TOPIC: Living costs
I financed my exchange period by saving and working a lot before I went there. I paid 300
euro per month and 300 euro per month on food. For the courses I took, you did not have
to buy textbooks. The living expenses are similar to those in Tilburg, this is mainly because
you eat out more while eating out is cheap. I would advise to buy an electric oven so you
can cook easily at home.
TOPIC: Culture
The culture is very different from ours. The Japanese people are really polite and nice but
mainly focused on Japan and not on the rest of the world. I learned that my own culture is
more orientated on the rest of the world. I did not like it that almost nobody can speak
English while in countries, like South Korea and Vietnam, the people speak fluently English.
TOPIC: Personal development and tips for future students
If I would go on an exchange again, I would lean Japanese before I would go and I also would
highly recommend doing this to future students. I will never forget all the things I have seen
and all the travelling I did with my girlfriend. The most important lesson I have during my
exchange period, is that a lot of differences between culture and thus in OMGAAN with
people. I would highly recommend an exchange here if you speak a bit of Japanese.
Otherwise, countries like South-Korea would be a better choice.