Welcome to the Student Voice Series. The series interviews students at our English-medium programs. Once a month, the International Admission Office will release an interview with our students. We hope these interviews can be helpful to you when thinking about choosing to come to Ritsumeikan University (RU).
Post by International Admissions Office
Soochi from India
Graduate School of Policy Science at Ritsumeikan University, 1st year
Bachelor of Policy Science at College of Policy Science at Ritsumeikan University
Why did you choose RU, CRPS major?
RU offers this unique major (Community and Regional Policy Studies Major at College of Policy Science) which would act as the medicine for the prevalent illnesses in our society. I feel, as a responsible citizen, that I need to contribute towards the betterment of society and make it harmonious place to live in.
Outline of your course and studies
Can you share about your graduation thesis?
The topic for my thesis was “Productive India: challenges in producing qualified workforce”. Being an Indian I have always been concerned about the quality of education and job opportunities in India, so I thought this would be the best platform to carry out this research and find the answers to my question. In this research, the professors at RU helped me throughout the process, specially Professor Kamikubo who corrected each of my lagging points and made me capable of completing this research on time. Because of time constraints and other limitations, I was only able to find out the challenges but could not understand the root cause. Hence, I decided to study further and complete my study with Graduate School of Policy Science under Professor Kamikubo’s supervision. I would prefer to continue my research at PhD level before pursuing my job career.
Did you have any concerns before coming to Japan?
Being concerned about the language barrier, I decided to learn Japanese prior to my arrival in Japan. Practicing and conversing regularly helped me to be able to learn survival expressions for my stay in the country. Even though I wasn't fluent, I think learning it beforehand helped me to adapt a little better and bridge the language barrier to some extent. With immense support and cooperation by the university staff, friends, professors and surprisingly local people, the language barrier wasn't a setback, instead it proved to be a comeback. Life in Japan has been great even though the "Kanjis" are still a challenge and I believe the more time we spend in the country the fluent we get with the language.
What do you like to do at your spare time?
I love writing poetry and blogging. I began writing when I was in high school and have been continuing since. I didn’t join any groups, because I couldn’t find any, but I do write almost every week. For my blog, the most interesting (according to me) topic that I wrote was "How to handle mom’s anger while your room is messy"?
Tell us about how you find the accommodation.
At first, the university helped us to find suitable apartments, but later when I decided to change and move places, my seniors helped me throughout to find accommodation. It is not rocket science to look for accommodation in Japan, the housing companies are very helpful and kind. Specially, real estate websites/companies like GTN(Global Trust Networks) and Suumo sometimes have English support which is beneficial if you are new to Japan and haven’t started learning any Japanese. Apart from this, the seniors and the international center at Osaka Ibaraki Campus(OIC) also help with house hunting. I feel most Japanese housing companies understand student situations and try their best to find student friendly-low budget (but do not compromise much of quality) houses.
Do you do a part-time job or any other activities at RU?
Message in English
The day you land in this country, this will make you fall for it. Every day you will encounter something unexpected and surprising. Hope you all will have an amazing time and precious moments in Japan.
