Jaden Jones ’27

The following post was adapted from a conversation between Jaden Jones ‘27 and the Global Engagement Office (GEO). “Maya” Yiyang Ma ‘29 assisted with editing the post.

Jaden is a double major in Computer Science and Japanese who spent a fall semester abroad at the University of Tokyo (UTokyo). At UTokyo, Jaden took courses relevant to both his majors, lived in a dormitory with other international students, and participated in a bowling club.

Why did you choose UTokyo for study abroad?

When I was researching colleges, I specifically looked for schools that would allow me to study abroad in an environment like the University of Tokyo. I knew that I wanted to major in Japanese, so it felt like the natural choice. I picked the UTokyo program because it was very unrestricted compared to the other options. There’s no one telling you how to spend your time there.

What was your coursework like?

At UTokyo, I took two Japanese language courses, along with some general classes like Computer Science, Literature, and History. Even though UTokyo is very lecture-based, I was surprised that none of my classes had that many people in them. They were about the same size as Swarthmore classes. But I know there are other courses with hundreds of people in a lecture hall.

My favorite was a course on Japanese history and culture in the late Meiji era (early 1900s). Throughout the course, you could see how central Tokyo was to the culture back then. I would visit places in Tokyo, then I would hear about them in class the next week. I’d think, “Oh, I didn’t realize that place was so important.” The class gave me a new perspective on the city.

What was your housing like?

I lived in the Mejirodai International Village, which is located in a kind of “random” part of the city.  I had a long commute to get to either UTokyo campus – Mijirodai is about 30 minutes from Hongō or 40 minutes from Komaba.  Surprisingly, I got used to it really quickly.

I really needed to take the initiative to meet people and interact. That was made a little easier because Meijirodai was an international dorm, so everyone else there was also an international student. Most of them were from Europe, surprisingly a lot from France and Germany specifically, but really from everywhere. 

Not living on campus was definitely a unique experience. When I’m at Swarthmore, I’m on campus almost 24/7. In Tokyo, since I wasn’t on campus, the whole city kind of felt like my campus. I could go anywhere, and it felt very free.

Did you participate in any extracurriculars?

Back in high school, I was on the bowling team, and last summer I got really back into it before I left for Japan. When I found out that UTokyo has a bowling team, I decided to join. It was really fun. They gave me a ball and everything. I had to pay a little bit for it, but they covered most of the costs, which was really nice.

The other club members were all UTokyo students. I felt they were approachable. They only spoke Japanese, so talking with them was a good chance to practice and learn some bowling terms. One of my most unique experiences was having to ride back home on a crowded train with our bowling balls. 

I was really surprised by how easy it was to just join a club and just start doing what other people are doing.

Did you visit anywhere outside of Tokyo?

I enjoyed traveling. I didn’t go too far, so mostly places around Tokyo, like Kamakura and Enoshima. I loved Enoshima so much. I think it was one of the prettiest places I saw in Japan, just the nature there in general. The main draw of Enoshima is that you can just walk there. It’s an island, but it’s very close to the shore, connected by a huge bridge. 

Did anything surprise you about the program?

I was kind of surprised that when I arrived in Tokyo, I had to do all this paperwork, like registering for health insurance. It looked like a Japanese DMV where you take a number, they call your ticket, and you go up.

I was surprised I was able to do all of that in Japanese pretty well. Since I completed these tasks early on, I gained confidence that I could manage. The longer I lived in Tokyo, the more confidence I gained in my language abilities.

Wherever I went in Japan, I felt like there were a lot of rules. Specifically, my dorm had all these rules about visitors—how many people you could have, what hours they could come. I had to scan my card so many times just to get to my room. I didn’t have any problems with it, but it was a bit of a culture shock coming from Swarthmore.

Other than that, I feel like it only took me a couple of weeks to get used to things there. 

Do you have any advice for future students?

Two things come to mind. You’ll have a lot of free time, so have a plan in advance for things you’d like to do. Also, go in with the understanding there will be big differences between classes at UTokyo and Swarthmore. It’s a really great experience if you fully take advantage of it.

What are you taking away from this experience?

Going to Japan and experiencing the language there renewed my interest in learning Japanese. I knew I’d keep studying it when I came back, but the study abroad experience really encouraged me.

I want to stay in touch with all the people I met. Even up until the last week of the program, I was constantly meeting new people and getting contacts. I met a few people from Japan, but even more people I met were from around the world. I hope to stay in touch and see what happens.