(upbeat music)
- Hi, my name is Anna Matsuo and I'm a second year student
here at the University of Tokyo,
studying under the PEAK Program.
And I'm a Japan and East Asia student
and I'm from the United States, but originally from Japan.
- Hi, my name is Eugene Song.
I'm from the US, New Zealand, and Korea,
and I'm also currently studying the JA program in PEAK.
(upbeat music)
- So this is the KOMCEE building,
which a lot of the international classes are held.
So we have the basement here,
which is where we hang out usually.
And there's even a cafe.
And there's the Global Office which helps us
when we want to go on exchange or anything.
And here we have the Open Space Arena,
which is actually for quiet studying.
And another space that we have here
is in the back, we have the MM Hall,
which is for group work
and so there's a lot of student activity going on here.
(upbeat music)
So this is a Co-op store,
and this is where we buy our food,
our water, pencil lead, whatever you need,
we have it right here.
And you can buy it with your Suica, which is really easy,
and so it's our one stop shop.
So this is a Suica card
and we use it for transportation.
Usually people like to put it in the back of their phones
and with one touch you can pay for your transportation
or pay for things at the convenient store,
or even here at the Co-op store.
So people have three options for lunch, actually four.
So this is the first, the cafeteria.
The second floor is also a cafeteria
but it serves kind of teishoku style,
which is like a set menu.
The third option is Italian Tomato,
which is a spaghetti restaurant across from the cafeteria.
And people also have the option of buying
at the Co-op store, like whatever they want.
(calming music)
A few years ago, maybe five years ago,
the University of Tokyo started a program called PEAK,
which stands for Programs in English at Komaba.
It's essentially a program for English-speaking students
abroad and for them to come to Japan
and study here for four years.
And I thought that program would be perfect for me
because I'd be learning in English,
which is my main language,
but I'd be able to still live in Japan and experience Japan.
So that's one of the reasons why
I chose the University of Tokyo.
So if you're gonna apply to the University of Tokyo
you might come in as a PEAK student,
and the application process is the same
as any other US university.
You have your SAT, your high school grades,
an essay, interview.
The interview can be a little bit intimidating
because it's five professors to just one student.
But it was actually, you know, all fine.
- Right, when I sort of decided universities,
my number one criteria was the study, the physical study.
I wanted to go to a big sort of metropolitan city,
and so Tokyo for me is right now the perfect fit.
You have so many people from all walks of life here
and it's certainly a different experience
from the one I had in say New Zealand or Korea,
where everything felt quite homogenous.
So for those who feel quite adventurous,
for those who are very interested in Japan,
I would definitely recommend to apply.
(upbeat music)
- So we're both in the PEAK program, as I mentioned before.
And we're also on the same track
called Japan in Each Asia.
So it's like your typical East Asia studies major
I guess in the US.
And for the first two years
we're in our liberal arts curriculum,
so we call that the junior division,
and we're learning about very different things,
like culture, even math, sciences,
anything really that the program has to offer.
And then we move onto senior division in our last two years,
where we focus in on more of the history
and political aspects of East Asia.
- In both their conceptions,
when Todai decided to sort of create the PEAK Program,
their criteria was,
what are the two problems,
each in the natural sciences
and in the social sciences/humanities,
that sort of concern Japan the most in the future?
And Japan in East Asia was one,
so as Anna mentioned, it covers the broad scope of
international relations, history, culture, philosophy.
It really tries to sort of situate Japan in
the larger East Asian sort of block and in a global scale.
And also environmental sciences,
it sort of tries to tackle that problem
that we all face globally.
♪ I just want everybody to have a good time ♪
♪ I really do ♪
("Mirage" by Toro y Moi)
- So I'm a part of the University of Tokyo golf team
and I am a varsity member on the girls team.
And I would like to point the differences
between a sports team, which is called bukatsu in Japan,
and a club, which is called circles in Japan.
So circles are more for social interaction,
so they don't really focus too much on
improving their game or sport.
But they like to go out to drink or go on trips together,
so it's very social.
However, in a bukatsu
you have to be more committed.
I guess there's more practices and you have to
act a certain way to your seniors and juniors.
And a part of the reason why I'm in a bukatsu
instead of a circle is because
it provides a lot of networking.
So especially the University of Tokyo golf team,
it has a lot of prominent members
that graduated from that golf team.
So it's a really good networking system I guess,
this bukatsu.
And if you're wanting to get employed in Japan,
I think being in a bukatsu is pretty good
because companies see that you're a very committed person,
you're hard working,
and so I think that's one of the main merits.
♪ Take me far away ♪
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♪ Space is running low ♪