By Georgia K.

Published March 31, 2025

Although I’ve spent a great deal of time in Japan so far, I still hadn’t visited Tokyo. I recently had a four-day weekend and decided to use that to visit the capital, and I’m so glad I did. I’ve always loved metropolitan environments and Tokyo didn’t disappoint. Full of culture, modern feats of architecture and…

By Georgia K.

Published March 6, 2025

Japan's food is some of the best I've ever had, and there are so many fun things to try. You can get fantastic local dishes for great prices, and people are more than willing to help you figure out what to eat. Street food is very popular, especially around well-known areas and during festivals. Vendors…

By Georgia K.

Published March 6, 2025

https://flic.kr/p/2qQsRse Hikone Castle, one of only 12 remaining original castles in Japan. Since arriving in Hikone earlier this year, my life has been so full of new experiences and great friendships. Hikone is a smaller city on the shores of Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. It's home to one of 12 original castles from the…

By Evan S.

Published Sept. 2, 2024

August. The shortest, yet hardest month for me here. It’s Aug. 4, and I just boarded my plane home. I’ve been scrolling through my camera roll, looking for what to write about. So many funny stories, places I’ve gone to and memories. The number one thing that held constant in my photos, though, was that…

By Evan S.

Published Aug. 1, 2024

I don’t want to pick favorites, because each one has been so amazing, but all the time leading up to this has made this month the best yet. It all started with my favorite excursion; spoiler alert: not even in Japan. In April, some friends of mine who studied abroad at Mizzou the previous year…

By Evan S.

Published July 1, 2024

Hello again! This feels weird to say, but I finally feel like I’m “getting it.” I know my way around the trains, I can have basic conversations in Japanese and ask useful questions (though sometimes I don’t always understand the response), and I’m finally following a routine that makes me feel like this is home.…

By Evan S.

Published June 3, 2024

What a month. My first month here was wild, exciting and eye-opening, yet this one might have topped it. On Friday, May 3, I departed for Osaka and stayed in an Airbnb with seven other people, tatami mat style. The food there was some of the best I’ve ever eaten, especially from the street vendors.…

By Amy B.

Published May 29, 2024

It has almost been three weeks since I arrived in Japan, and so much has happened! This program has allowed me to meet amazing friends, explore incredible places and learn about the Japanese education system in the context of English classrooms. I was extremely nervous before leaving for this program, as I am the only…

By Evan S.

Published May 1, 2024

I can’t believe it’s been a month. Only 30 days in, and it feels like I’ve been living here for over a year, yet at the same time like I just moved in yesterday. Since then, a lot has happened, let me catch you up. The first day I arrived can only be described as…

By Bryce C.

Published Jan. 2, 2024

A lot has happened in the last month! I climbed a mountain with some friends from a student organization, which was a ton of fun. We also had a training camp for the same group, which was fun but uniquely challenging— the university itself has programs in English, but this camp was entirely in Japanese.…