What are some key things I should know when going to school in Japan? -

Like how can I get into a college in Japan and all? What do I need to do? How much does it cost to go to Japan? How will I be able to STAY there?

It depends on whether you want to stay in Japan for 1 year or for the entire 4 years of college. If you want to stay in Japan for 1 year, apply for an exchange student program or so of your college. But if you want to stay in Japan for 4 entire years, things will not be so simple. If you go to a college in Japan as a normal student, you must be able to follow classes in college. So you must be able to understand what you have learned during 12 years between elementary school and high school because college classes are based on that and all classes are in Japanese. You also have to pay college tuition and your own living cost. I think it takes at least USD 12,000 in 1 year. But it depends on your plan. Legally, you must take a student visa to stay in Japan for more than 3 months. But it takes a lot of money, anyway.

Gaining entrance to a Japanese univeristy may be a huge undertaking, although not impossible. You will need to speak, read and write Japanese equivalent to a HS grad. In addition, you must posses the adademic skills and pass the entrance exams. I suggest you try an exchange program with your current/future college. Programs offered might be something like 1 adademic year, with dorm and student visa.

It is VERY hard for a non-Japanese to get into a Japanese college ! This is the goal of most Japanese kids. And it starts when they are in grammer school. You re going to need ALOT of money ! Just a plane ticket will cost you $1,000+. Figure on $1,000+ a month just to get by. And that s not counting school costs.

it is very, very difficult to get into a japanese school esp if u are a foreigner. there are a lot of tests (ie: there is a test to get into middle and high school) parents and some students take school very seriously. u have to be top of the class getting into a good japanese school is so important to many students that they would actually attend quot;extraquot; school called cram school. that is when they feel that the current schoolwork is not enough. i m not really sure how much it costs but it should be a lot. like taiwan, japan does not have a lot of space so the living costs should be pretty high btw if u come from the u.s. you might have an even harder time. asian schools (ie: hong kong) have different standards for learning. (ie: they are learning trigonometry in grade 5) u might have a harder time to fit in. (i m not really sure about japan tho, but i think it applies for it too. correct me if i m wrong :P)