Heading to Japan? Prepare yourself! What I wish I knew before my semester abroad.

Hey, there! My name is Mike and I studied abroad in Nishinomiya, Japan - a “small” (I use the word lightly when it comes to Japanese cities) city outside Osaka during the spring 2025 semester. What an experience that was.

You’ll always experience some shock when going to a foreign country. That is a given. I’ve been fortunate to visit some awesome places! From the Scottish Highlands to Mexico, I like to think I’m pretty well travelled, but I never experienced culture shock quite like I did in Japan! When I tell you that things are different, I mean that they’re different.

My final flight before landing at Osaka International Airport

I’ll dig into some of the shenanigans I got up to and the cool things about the country later, but let’s start with the before. If you were to go to Japan next month, what would I tell you? What would I tell myself? I think I can boil it down to five main things.

1) Learn some Japanese! The most painfully obvious. While Japan accommodates English speakers a lot more than I expected, once you get outside the more densely populated cities (which I totally recommend) the signage is exclusively in Japanese and the locals don’t really speak any English. Luckily, I spent a few years ahead of time learning the language, but you don’t have to nearly learn Japanese to that extent.

Part of the fun of going to a foreign country for an extended period like a full semester is integrating into the language. Not only does it make navigating Japan a whole lot easier, but you’ll be sure to make some new friends too with your shiny language skills.

Something is better than nothing so even learning how to ask “How do I get to X” or “Can I order Y” makes life a whole lot easier in Japan.

And as a final side note here that I didn’t think justified a dedicated bullet point: learn some basic Japanese etiquette. There is a saying in Japan: 出る釘は打たれる or “The nail that sticks out will get hammered down.” As a visitor, you will always stand out, but Japan prides itself on being mindful and respectful of those around you in public. Put in the effort to learn more about Japanese customs (even at a basic level) and it’ll make things a whole lot easier for you!

The first morning I got to Japan, I went for a walk! This was the view right outside my hotel.

2) Don’t plan on bringing an entire semester’s worth of clothes with you. Please… I made the mistake of bringing a lot of clothes with me and it was a nightmare getting them back stateside after all of the shopping I did over the course of five months. Pack light going there, and you’ll save yourself the headache of bringing too many things back with you!

3) A bit boring, but call your credit card company and bank to let them know you’ll be going abroad for an extended period of time! A lot of Japanese ATMs accept American credit cards and even some larger bank cards. But your withdrawals will get cut short if they suddenly see that your card is being used in a country sixteen hours away. And if you don’t have a credit card, look into getting an international debit card!

4) Pre-plan some trips for yourself! Before you know it, you’ll get caught in the monotony and rigor of school while abroad and you’ll find yourself probably being a bit more lazy than you’d like to on the weekends. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy like booking hotels or train tickets in advance (I wouldn’t even recommend it since the international sites for a lot of these kinds of things aren’t the most user friendly), but setting up a rudimentary itinerary of places you want to go, things you want to see, foods you want to try, and where to find it all is definitely recommended.

5) Download useful apps before you get to Japan and familiarize yourself with them! For translation, I recommend DeepL and Google Translate, GO Taxi for taxis if you ever need one in a pinch, Google Maps (which is what I used, though there are alternatives) for navigating the country using public transit and finally Klook! Klook was a great way to save money getting admission tickets to cool places like Universal Studios and some sightseeing spots. Saves you time getting the ticket beforehand and sometimes saves you some money too! There are countless other apps I could recommend and apps that I’ve personally used, but these were my main work horses!

Honestly, there will be no amount of preparation that you can do that will truly get you ready for a semester abroad in Japan. It’ll be a slap in the face the second you get there, so be prepared for sensory overload! But there isn’t anything stopping you from trying to mitigate some of the culture shock as much as possible beforehand.

The view from the top of Harukas 300, a local tourist stop and one of the tallest buildings in Osaka

There are so many cool things to do and places to see in Japan, so heading in prepared is a great way to hit the ground running. The only regret I have from my time abroad is that I wished I could have done more! Preparing before you go abroad lets you squeeze every ounce of enjoyment and wonder out of your experience, so start doing that now!

Keep an eye out for my next blog where I’ll start digging into my initial weeks in Japan!