Pre-Arrival Information

  Orientation Handbook

The weather changes from hot and muggy (25-35℃) in July and August to windy and cold (2-10℃) in January and February. When you get here in October or April, it will be the beautiful seasons and the temperature will be moderate (14-24℃). Therefore you will not need to put on a coat, but rather only a light jacket. Once the winter season comes in late November, you will need some sweaters and a winter coat. We rarely have heavy snow in Kumamoto.

Kumamoto city is located in the central part of Kyushu Island and you can easily get the necessary information and goods you need here. You can get to downtown in ten minutes by bicycle from campus.
In Kumamoto, the electrical voltage is 100V at 60 hertz.

There are many ethnic restaurants and types of food in Kumamoto, such as Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Indian, etc., even if you do not think of them as "authentic." Young people also enjoy fast food and cafeteria food.
You will be able to cook by yourself in your residence if you like.
The university's cafeteria serves breakfast, lunch and dinner on the weekdays for a price of less than 500yen.

It takes one and a half hours for you to go to Tokyo from Kumamoto by airplane. You can get to Kyoto, famous for its historical sights, in two and a half hours by a "shinkansen" bullet train from Fukuoka. Since Japanese railways and bus routes have been expanded throughout the country, you can easily visit other cities in Kyushu, as well as other areas in Japan.
Many students use a bicycle because of the flat land in Kumamoto and to have easy access to downtown.

1) Postal Services
Post offices are generally open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and are closed on weekends and holidays. Mailboxes are located on roadsides. You can send valuable materials, such as documents, quickly to your home country by using the Express Mail Service (EMS) available at post offices.

2) Banking Service
You should open a bank account and a postal savings account as soon as you arrive in Japan because any official payments from the university or the government (your monthly stipend, reimbursements for medical expenses, etc.) are paid into your bank account and/or postal savings account.
When going to the bank or the post office to open your account, you should bring personal identification with you, such as your passport. You may be required to show your alien registration card, but it usually takes two weeks for it to be issued after you apply for it. As a substitute for that, please bring a Certificate of Alien Registration with you.
When you need to receive money from or send money to foreign countries, telegraph remittance services and issuance of remittance checks are available at local banks and post offices.

3) Public Telephone
Insert a 10yen coin (for about a one minute local call), a 100yen coin, or a telephone card and dial the number you wish to reach. Telephone cards are available at kiosks and vending machines. You can make international calls at phones with the "INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE" sign on them.
How to make an international direct call: For example, if you wish to call Seoul, Korea, dial 001 (the access number for KDD) + 010 (international code) +82 (country code) + 2 (area code) + the number.

There is a Health Care Center available on campus for you to get medical treatment, counseling, health consultations and directions to local hospitals. The center is open 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. It is not necessary to make an appointment. Consultations and medicine are free of charge for students. Even if you need to go to a hospital, please do not worry about it too much. We have a list of medical doctors who can speak English, and your tutor will help you in the case of an emergency.

If you wish to study the Japanese language, you can take some Japanese language classes offered by the International Student Center at Kumamoto University. You need to take a placement test in October before enrolling these classes.

There are some network-compatible computers and printers located in the student study room. These computers and printers are available to all international students to help them in their studies. You must provide your own floppy disks and paper. Computers in the computer room at the International Student Center contain computer software that is available not only in Japanese, but also in English and other languages as well. You will be provided with your own ID number and password to use the computers after enrolling at the university. The Center for Multimedia and Information Technologies offers computer literacy training especially to international students if you are not familiar with computers.