{"id":964,"date":"2026-07-29T23:58:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/?p=964"},"modified":"2026-07-29T23:59:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:59:06","slug":"sfc-survival-guide-student-interview-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/sfc-survival-guide-student-interview-4\/","title":{"rendered":"SFC Survival Guide: Student Interview #4 (ft. Mana)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Contributed by Manasvi Patwardhan (Year 4 SFC Student)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this edition of SFC Insider Stories, we interviewed Manasvi, a senior (Year 4) student and President of AIS. Arriving with basic N6 Japanese, she shares her 4-year journey from living in campus dorms to commuting from Tokyo, changing visa status, online banking gotchas, and crucial academic credit advice for lowerclassmen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dorm Life vs. Moving Out in Senior Year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Why Choose Dorms Early On?<\/strong> Living in the dorms during 1st and 2nd year is the best way to build a close social circle and make lifelong friends without long commute stress.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Why Move Out in Year 4?<\/strong> As a senior, you have fewer on-campus classes and more lab (Kenkyukai) or career commitments in Tokyo. Moving closer to central Tokyo or commuting flexibly often makes more financial and logistical sense.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Visa Status Change: Dependent to Student<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are already living in Japan under a Dependent Visa and need to change to a Student Visa (e.g., for scholarships):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Where to Go:<\/strong> Shinagawa Immigration Bureau (\u54c1\u5ddd\u5165\u56fd\u7ba1\u7406\u5c40).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Processing Time:<\/strong> Expect the process to take around <strong>4 months<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>English Support:<\/strong> The main consultation desk provides decent English support.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>\u26a0\ufe0f Golden Rule:<\/strong> Bring <strong>ALL required documents<\/strong> (especially Keio&#8217;s official notification letter) on your first visit! Missing even one document means making multiple tedious trips.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bank Setup: The SMBC Prestia Gotcha<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Pros:<\/strong> SMBC Prestia is extremely foreigner-friendly and provides full English support for customer service.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Major Pitfall:<\/strong> Because it is a specialized bank, <strong>SMBC Prestia is often missing from Japanese online dropdown menus<\/strong>\u2014including Keio&#8217;s internal SA\/scholarship payout systems! You will often have to contact administrators manually to register your account.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Verdict:<\/strong> Keep <strong>JP Post Bank (\u3086\u3046\ucd08\u9280\u884c)<\/strong> as your primary bank for official Japanese school\/administrative payouts, even if you use Prestia for general banking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Commuting &amp; Rain Delays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Buffer Time is Essential:<\/strong> If you commute via the Kanachu Bus from Shonandai Station, morning queues can be very long. On rainy days, bus delays are guaranteed\u2014always plan a 15\u201320 minute buffer!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Commuter Pass Math:<\/strong> Only buy a Student Commuter Pass (\u901a\u5b66\u5b9a\u671f\u5238) if you travel to campus almost every day. If you only have classes 2\u20133 days a week, paying per trip via Suica\/Pasmo is more cost-effective.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Healthcare Gem in Shonandai<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Near-Campus Hospital:<\/strong> The clinic right in front of SFC lacks English support, making communication difficult for non-Japanese speakers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Shonandai Medical Tip:<\/strong> There is an English-speaking cardiovascular doctor in Shonandai who speaks fluent English and is extremely helpful to international students in urgent need!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udf93 The #1 Academic Advice for Freshmen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;Clear your Advanced Credits (\u5148\u7aef\u79d1\u76ee) in Year 1 and Year 2!&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do not just stack easy fundamental credits during your freshman\/sophomore years. Try to take advanced credits early so you don&#8217;t end up struggling to meet credit requirements during your senior year while managing job hunting, research labs, or graduation projects!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contributed by Manasvi Patwardhan (Year 4 SFC Student) In this edition of SFC Insider Stories, we interviewed Manasvi, a senior (Year 4) student and President of AIS. Arriving with basic N6 Japanese, she shares her 4-year journey from living in campus dorms to commuting from Tokyo, changing visa status, online banking gotchas, and crucial academic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,68,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-giga","category-interview","category-student-life"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":978,"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions\/978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ais-official.sfc.keio.ac.jp\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}