Pre-Arrival Information

Visa

The Certificate of Eligibility will be applied through our office after you completed and returned the required documents to us and it must be submitted together with a valid passport to a Japanese Embassy or Consulate when you apply for a "College Student" visa to come to Japan.
For the further information, please contact the Embassy or Consulate in advance. You will also be required to present this certificate to immigration authorities on arrival in Japan.


Housing and Meals

The living arrangements provided at KGU are 'KGU International Residence'. Please visit the Int'l Resience for more details. If you wish to send any packages ahead of your arrival, you may send them to this 'International Residence'. Surface mail is the cheapest way to send boxes (of clothes, books, etc.), and packages arrive in four to six weeks. Airmail packages arrive in approximately one week.
The mailing address is:

Meals are available at the campus cafeterias at a reasonable price and also you can cook yourself at the residence.

Transportation

The most economical way to travel to Kumamoto from your country must be flying into Fukuoka and take a highway bus directly from Fukuoka Airport to Kumamoto City (Kotsu Center). The bus will take you to Kumamoto in 2 hours for 2000yen, otherwise you can take a subway to JR Hakata station (5minutes and 250yen from Fukuoka Airport) and can come to Kumamoto Station from Hakata Station by limited express train. The train will take you to Kumamoto in 80 minutes for 3440yen.
Please inform us of your arrival time and date as soon as possible (at least 2 weeks in advance) so that we can arrange someone to meet you at Kumamoto Airport or Kumamoto JR station or at Kotsu Center (bus station).

Medical

Those who enroll to a Japanese college/university for one academic year have to join the Japanese National Health Insurance Policy. The insurance fee is about \1,500 a month.

With this National Health Insurance card, you have to pay only the 30% of all the cost at a clinic. So you do not need to have a lot of money when you have to see a doctor.

In everyday life, whenever you feel sick, you can visit the Health Service on campus, where there is a nurse, for free of charge.

Miscellaneous Things

In Japan, most students purchase their books, pencils, notebooks and paper at the beginning of each academic year, which is April. Many of them are available in the bookstore on campus.
We recommend that you plan to arrive with some money in cash or traveler's checks (T/C) to cover initial expenses such as schoolbooks. Please avoid bringing a bank check/draft. The textbooks for your Japanese course would cost you approximately 15,000 yen.
The most convenient way to open a bank account is with your seal in Japanese or inkan, which can be made and purchased here in Kumamoto. That would cost around 1,000yen, but it is very convenient to have one with you while you are in Japan. We will give you the information on this at the arrival orientation and would also take orders. If you have been to Japan before and already had one, please bring it to the arrival orientation.

What to Pack

1. Outlet adapters and transformers, if you are using some electric appliances from your home country. Voltage in Japan is 100v.
   
   
2. Sheets and blankets are provided in the International Residence, but towels and slippers are not. If your foot is very big, you may not be able to find any slippers or shoes which fit you here in Kumamoto.
   
   
   
   

Student Conduct

1. In sponsoring you for a student visa, Kumamoto Gakuen University takes responsibility for your presence in Japan. For this reason we have three very specific rules: no drugs, no driving, and attention to laws regulating paid employment. These restrictions are rigidly enforced to protect you from being jailed or deported and to protect the existence of this program.
   The restriction on driving any motorized vehicle while in Japan as an exchange student relates to the harsher consequences your actions may precipitate in Japan. The concept of liability is much broader and severe than in your country. An accident while driving would affect not only you but the organizations of which you are part - mainly Kumamoto Gakuen University. Kumamoto Gakuen University cannot accept responsibility for all the damage that even a small accident could cause to others.
   
   
2. As you may know, you cannot work with your student visa. If you want to work part time, however, you have to obtain the 'permission to engage in an activity other than that permitted under the status previously granted' from the Immigration Bureau.
   We will provide you with more information at the Arrival Orientation and assist you to obtain the permission. However, please remember that the study should come first before part-time jobs.