CAN I EARN A B.A. IN JAPAN?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Taro Toporific]

Hello everyone! Is there any logical way I could earn a Bachelor of Enviromental Design in tokyo without winning the lottery? Im talking tuition < $6K per semester. Would my credits transfer from my current university in most cases? Its a big school.

Do you love concrete?
'Cause that's what the Japanese consider "Enviromental Design." Refer to Dogs and Demons about the Japanese fetish...

In 1994, Japan produced 91.6 million tons of concrete (30 times as much as the U.S.), much of it used to build structures that serve no purpose.

Money? Grants? Scholorship?
That's nill for foreign undergrads, but smegging great for an alien grad and post-grad students. Of course, if you're a motivated and can pass the Japanese university exam in Japanese, the tuition at national universities is less the $5,000. Plenty of alien FG students from the 3rd world have done just that.

Waseda is the big school for Environmental Design, and FG alien friendly.
Other gaijin friendly, good schools are
Design (Environmental Design) at Kyushu Institute of Design, Fukuoka, Japan
Osaka University Specialty: Urban planning and environmental design. ...
http://sakacompe.jp/guidelines

BOTTOM LINE: Learn college level Japanese or wait until grad school.

[40 Fl. oz.]

How do the 3rd world students pay to sudy Japanese? You are only allowed to work 20 hours/week.

[Caustic Saint]

Money? Grants? Scholorship?
That's nill for foreign undergrads, but smegging great for an alien grad and post-grad students. Of course, if you're a motivated and can pass the Japanese university exam in Japanese, the tuition at national universities is less the $5,000. Plenty of alien FG students from the 3rd world have done just that.

BOTTOM LINE: Learn college level Japanese or wait until grad school.

Details on the grad school thing? Or a link to a resource? I've been waffling on grad school in the US or more teaching in Japan or Korea. Grad school in Japan would be fantastic!

Any help or info wonderfully appreciated!

[jingai]

I think many schools have scholarships for qualified foreigners, as almost every school is well below their target for gaijin. You had better be JLPT level 1 and ready to pass their enterence exam, though.

Environmental design in Japan is no more an oxymoron than environmental design in America. The difference is that in Japan resources and energy are at a premium, so it can be easier to justify additional costs. Dogs and Demons seems like a very one-sided view of Japan.

For something related to environmental design, but more holistic, check out Okazaki's Ningen Kankyou Daigaku. I got one of their brochures, and they were definitely looking for foreign students.

[40 Fl. oz.]

I need to study Japanese first. I know bassically no kanji. How do 3rd world students afford this? Ona student visa you can work only 20 hours/week. I need to pay for tuition, food, and housing. Is it realistically possible to do this on 20 hours/week?

[jingai]

3rd world? I assume you mean Chinese. Kanji's not a problem. How many non-Asian gaijin do you think are enrolled in Japanese universities? Basically none.

Chinese and Koreans go to language schools (there are a million of cheap ones for them), pass JLPT level 1 within a year, and go on to university. Teaching English is enough to live on at a cheaper school (like Yamasa.org in Okazaki), though you should be aggressive in finding students privately (work all the hours you please) and keeping up a part-time job somewhere else (at an ESL school...).

How bad do you want it? Are you ready to work as hard as the "3rd world students?"

[jez]

The difference is that in Japan resources and energy are at a premium, so it can be easier to justify additional costs.

Please expand for those of us with limited knowledge of technical terms.
I think A.Kerr is sometimes guilty of over-simplification. On the other hand, he's obviously done a lot of research, and having lived here for 30 years, he is committed to the truth, rather than just being one of those 'japan lovers' who view Japan from afar.
Recently, I read an interview of Minoru Mori in Metropolis in which he basically says, that in Tokyo, unlike other world cities, people can't go home after work, get changed, and go out again. He says Tokyo needs "high rise city centers where all facets of life are within easy walking distance". What he doesn't say, is that perhaps better public transport(night buses etc.), and more affordable housing might be a good idea.

[jingai]

What I mainly meant was:

Because
The cost of energy (heating, cooling, electricity) is significantly higher in Japan than the US

Japan's landfills are overflowing, and incinerators are deeply unpopular

Japan has signed on to the Kyoto Protocol and is committed to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (i.e. reducing the burning of ALL fossil fuels)

there are real economic incentives for anyone who can design buildings that cut utility costs, make use of renewable energy (passive heating and cooling by aligning the building with the sun), and that won't end up in a landfill 30 years down the road. From the talk I've heard about rooftop gardens in Tokyo, etc, it seems that this is becoming more mainstream. Before you say most buildings aren't like that and aren't even designed by an architect, I'll agree- but the same is true in the US. The difference is in the economics of the thing.

The idea that foreign scholars on Japan are somehow all brainwashed apologists for the status quo is utterly absurd. Japan's been criticized from every angle (run by "gangster-militarists", uncommitted to real democracy, unresponsive to its citizens, dominated by bureaucrats, dominated by big boss politicians, dominated by the US) since 1945. I think Kerr's book has been pretty well-received, even in specialist journals, and think it's great that views of Japan that diverge from the official government line get told. Not just to gaijin, but to Japanese as well.

[40 Fl. oz.]

You guys aren't answering my questions. LITTLE HELP PLEASE!!!