The results are in, the polls have been tallied and the choice of Year Abroad 2009/10 is;

Seijo

A few things that makes Seijo seem a good choice for me;

1. Its just outside of central Tokyo in the lovely residential area of Setagaya, just 15 minutes into Central Tokyo and 50 minutes ride to Yokohama. My flatmate also lived in Setagaya and I know someone in Sheffield who went to school there!!!

2. There is no standard uni accomodation at Seijo, so I'll be getting my own place at reduced rate. No goddam mongen (curfew) and no living with other international students.

3. There are hardly any international students at Seijo giving it a distinct Japanese feel to it. In fact Sheffield is the only other partner institution from the UK, the rest are from the US (about 3 I think), Australia (again just the one) and some from Belgium and France. So in short, the gaijin population is tiny. This is very good news if I want to improve my Japanese.

4. Seijo allow me to study non-Japanese language modules if I want, meaning I could improve my Japanese fairly quickly.

5. Seijo has its own internal scholarship programme, meaning if I don't get the government scholarship I will be able to apply for theirs. Fingers crossed...

HOWEVER...

The very same things that make Seijo seem appealing are the same ones that are putting me off. The lack of international students (I think I will antitipcate I will be the only British person there!) as well as the distance from Yokohama and the whole scholarship issue is scaring me...

Onwards and upwards. I can at least start to research now and harrass the few Seijo students over here at Sheffield on an exchange programme for the year.

Elsewhere some people have been unhappy about their choice of uni. I know for a fact had I chosen 'outside of Tokyo' on my form, I would have been sent somewhere like Okayama or Kanazawa. Beautiful yes, but I would get bored soooo quickly. However this year 10 people are being sent to Doushisha in Kyoto which itself is great for learning Japanese but rubbish if you want the whole experience of not hanging about with your mates all day and night. Certainly going to Seijo is going to throw me the deep end straight away.