This post will be elaborated further when I get a chance to sit down and breathe after all of this crap has been dealt with. But until then, I will give you a summary of all I have had to deal with and why I feel I do not belong in Japan:

When I first wanted to go to Japan about a year ago, I wasn’t quite sure of the exact route I should take. After some research, I found out that a friend of mine has gone to Japan to study at KCP International, a Japanese language institute located in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

My first issue to tackle before even applying there was to secure funding for the trip. I checked the school’s scholarships catalog, which led me to the realization that I need to be A) African American, B) Female or C) Have a specific major such as nursing or teaching. So…there goes my hope. Granted this is a community college, I understand the lack of funding. So I went on to find other scholarships outside of school. Another one I found was the Freeman Asia scholarship, which as of the time I applied, was no longer available. So much for that.

My next option was the Gilman Scholarship, which I soon found out required me to be receiving Pell Grants when applying. At the time, I was not receiving Pell, but…after the deadline has passed, I got Pell back. You see where I’m going with this here? Yep, more disappointments to come. Other scholarships that were available to me at the time were unattainable due to GPA requirement which was totally my fault, so I won’t list them. With that, the only choice left was to borrow money.

I went and dealt with the office of Financial Aids, which earned a 1 out of 10 from me based on customer service. Again, maybe it’s the community college aspect. In any case, I finally got my loan approved a month or so ago, only to find out in order to receive such loans, I would have to be attending classes at least half time at my home school. This is a huge problem because A) I will be in Japan B) I cannot come back in time to take the final exam even if I chose the option of taking the class online, and C) Double tuition sucks.

After much negotiation and refraining from punching people out, my study abroad advisor finally worked out a system to where I can get credit for the classes that I would be taking in Japan, even though they don’t really transfer well. I would still have to take an examination upon returning but, it’s better than nothing. The double tuition thing is also acceptable, since I won’t have to pay the full support fees, just tuition for the classes.

Now…while that was going on, I was getting a physical done as a requirement for the trip. This should have been fine, except I tested positive for latent Tuberculosis. Now, don’t freak out, if you read the link you would find that I’m not contagious and is not a risk to other. The bad news (for myself at least), was being put on medication for 9 straight months. Again, not so bad, but since this involves Japan, it created a new set of problems. First, because I was listed as having an infectious disease by my physician, it raised a big red flag at KCP (the Japanese school). I got a call back from them asking me about the issue. At this point, my medical report was already a month late due to me being complacent. I spent several days after that rushing to find my doctor, but she was out of the office. I left a note requesting a written statement verifying my health status and risk factor. A week later that letter came, and was forwarded to the coordinator who will let me know the final decision.

Secondly, the medications that I need are available in Japan, but are ridiculously expensive for those without the Japanese National Health Insurance. At least that is what I was told from a source in Japan. The other options would be to mail myself the medication monthly, or import everything all together at one time. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, certain rules apply when bringing prescription drugs into the country. I have to fill out an importation document [PDF] detailing what I am bringing into the country, for what purposes, and quantity. (Please refer to this post).

Since the doctor who prescribed me the medication was rather hard to reach, I went to the doctor who initially did my physical and she helped me fill out the forms. I thought that this would be the last hurdle to over come. On the contrary, I went out today to send those documents over to Japan. The instructions stated that I need to include Japanese postal stamps or an International Reply Coupon, kind of like a SASE for international mail, in order for the processed document to return me.

The post office said to me that they no longer offer such coupons, though in a very vague and non-straightforward manner, then directed me to try FedEx. Since UPS was down the road, I went there first and checked. They also did not have an option to deal with international SASE. When I got to FedEx, they threw me some forms with no instructions and walked away, which I eventually figured out what to fill out. When they went to check the address, they told me that they could not find a corresponding postal code in their system  for the place I’m mailing the documents to. The guy at the counter actually pulled out a thick handbook and showing me what he thought the code should be. The first thought that came to my head was: a book?! Like…paper and ink? I could only imagine with horror how outdated that book must be. I told him I’d come back later after I verify the address. I have sent things to Japan before, and never had a problem. As far as I know, Japan uses a 7-digit postal code, and the one he showed me was 5-digit. Perhaps they use a different system?

In any case…I went to my friend’s house (since my internet was down at home, today was a very bad day) and looked up information on the address and the reply coupons. It seems a lot of people have experienced this before, which encouraged me to try again tomorrow and raise hell if people don’t stop being stupid and do their jobs. Anyway, sorry for the extremely long post, I just wanted to show others who may be thinking of studying abroad to know what they might have to deal with, and hopefully help save them time and frustration. The next part of this post will be about specific steps to overcome these problems if they arise, so please keep an eye out for that. The things I do for Japan….

Frustrated and annoyed,
Zeke