Welcome to Ritsumeikan University

On Wednesday last week I had to make a visit to my campus in order to get some visa questions cleared up. I showed up just as lunch was starting so everything was closed. This gave me an excellent opportunity to walk around and get my bearings on my new campus.

Overall most of the notice boards and information posted around the campus was in Japanese. I'm not sure how many English programs this school has, my guess is not very many, but it was very hard to find my way around. I think I may make it my mission to make that place more user-friendly for English students. You have no idea how hard it was to fill in some of the paperwork that they sent me. I don't know what they expect from me when schools starts but the staff seems pretty open to helping me. They need me in their school to promote that they are international but they make it so hard to get anything done in English.

I looked at some of the class pictures from the last few years and either a) I'm going to be the only white boy in this program or b) all the white people didn't understand that there was a picture day since the notice was entirely in Japanese or c) I was looking at the wrong thing since it was also in Japanese and I'm illiterate.

The first room that I found open (no I did not go around checking each door) was this classroom you see above. Between the A/C and large TVs I was impressed. I'm sure this doesn't look super special to you. But have you ever wondered what your class would look like if you went to a Japanese University. For all I knew we would be sitting on tatami mats on the floor around a fire or putting on our virtual reality helmets. Who knows?

This is the front of my new building. Clearly the reason why there are no people in this picture is the fact that it is August and everyone is doing something else. This gives the pictures that photoshop-zombie look that everyone likes. Abandoned and clean.

The building you see here is in the front of a larger plaza. To the right and left are the international house and the cafeteria and behind me is the library. Mostly everything I will need is right here. On the other side of the campus I found a Subway. By Subway I mean the sandwich shop not a transport hub. It's actually a pain to get out to this school from where I live. It takes about an hour.

This is the map of the campus that I found in the library. The one they sent me in the mail was black and white and I couldn't really make out anything on it. Their presentation needs work. The campus is small but overall that should make my life easier.


The last mission I had at the campus was to figure out if there was some kind of weight room that came with the tuition. On the map I found gymnasium. Typically, that comes with weights and a studio of some sort. But you have to check because if there's one thing I've learned is that what you think something is in Japan is not usually the case. It's something else, strange but tasty/acceptable. The first gym on campus ended up being no different. It was an open gymnasium, no weights and lots of kids playing table tennis. These kids were no amateurs. I'm talking standing 2-3 feet away from the table and doing a full out Forest Gump to their opponents. They had some serious game. The other half of the gym was filled with a fencing class. Once again there was skill to be seen.

On the other side of campus, with a little help, I eventually found the weight room. This will suffice. Now I just have to make myself go.


This last picture I thought was funny. It shows how even the most casual things have some kind of bureaucracy.

I've probably mentioned this before but I feel truly grateful for having this opportunity to go to Grad school. I would never be able to do it in Canada, my marks are not high enough. I really feel like I have a great opportunity and I'm really going to try to give it my all. With any luck I will be in England next year finishing the second half of my degree. More on that as it develops.