Getting Ready 2025S

We believe that you have received your acceptance notice along with the "Welcome Guide". Please make sure to download and save the package to your local environment for easy access and reference.

The Welcome Guide provides detailed instructions regarding the following:

1. Applying for your COE and student visa

   • Receive instructions via email by Novemeber 25

   • CoE applicatin by Novemever 29

2. Submitting the Health Questionnaire

   • All students are required to complete the Health Questionnaire and submit it by 6 December. This applies to everyone, including those who do not require reasonable accommodations. The USTEP office will email you in late November with instructions—please plan to submit the Health Questionnaire by 6 December.

3. An overview of housing options 

   • USTEP students may apply to stay in one of the UTokyo residence halls as well as communal student housing offered by private organizations. Further details will be provided in late December.

Please read the materials carefully and complete all necessary procedures as outlined.

• Arrival Deadline

You must enter Japan by April 1, 2025, to attend the mandatory orientation on April 3 (for spring semester). If you do not arrive by April 1st and miss the orientation, your admission will be canceled.

• Accommodation Move-In Dates

UTokyo dormitory move-in period will be from April 1 to 7.  The housing information will be informed by late December by USTEP office.

Note: The exact move-in date may vary depending on the dormitory. Be sure to confirm your specific accommodation details from the housing information or housing website.  

• Purchasing the plane tickets is solely your responsibility.

Make sure your accommodation is confirmed before purchasing your tickets. Plan your entry into Japan by counting back from your move-in date or the USTEP orientation date (whichever is earlier). Your move-in date may vary depending on whether you are moving into a UTokyo dormitory, an apartment, or a share house.

• You must enter Japan with a valid student visa and the CoE scanned copy.

Be sure to print out the scanned data just in case. You cannot apply for a student visa within Japan. If you come to Japan without obtaining a student visa, your admission to UTokyo may be cancelled.

Students will register for courses at the beginning of the semester from early April. Please start planning your timetable and checking courses.

Please note that the courses currently listed on our course catalogue are for the 2024 academic year (April 2024 to March 2025). Please fix your timetable after the course information for the 2025 academic year (April 2025 to March 2026) will be updated in the course catalogue in mid-March 2025. (Courses in the Faculty of Engineering will be updated in late March.) 

In addition, some 2025A semester courses will be undergoing adjustments. Courses details currently not listed in the course catalog will be updated in September 2025.

Courses held in the S semester (April to August) are denoted by “S1S2/S1/S2“ in the field labeled “Semester” in the course catalogue, and courses labeled with “A1A2/A1/A2” will be held in the A semester (October to next March). 

*Please DO NOT send inquiries regarding the course contents directly to the course catalogue contact email.

*At this moment, you are not eligible to use university’s online systems (such as UTAS and UTOL). Please wait for a while until you are provided with UTokyo Accounts and instructed to activate it. (Account distribution is scheduled for mid-March.)

(Reference) Academic Calendar for 2024

USTEP students must enroll in a minimum６periods of courses per week during your stay to meet the USTEP program’s requirement. (This is also a part of Japanese legal requirements for international students to maintain a student visa status.) Intensive Courses do not count as fulfilling this requirement. In addition, under the USTEP policy, at least one of the courses should be a non-language course.

*1 period =105 minutes 

*You can register for more than６periods of courses per week if you can manage it.

USTEP Type U Students are not eligible to take courses offered by Graduate Schools. However, they may take the graduate level courses for undergraduate students listed on the Type U course catalogue. These courses refer to subjects offered at the graduate level by the Faculty/College that UTokyo undergraduate students are affiliated with. They differ from regular graduate courses offered by each Graduate School for graduate students.

If you have a language proficiency certificate which you have not yet submitted to the International Education Promotion Group of UTokyo, please submit it to USTEP office via email before the course registration period starts in April.

Courses offered by the College of Arts and Sciences (course codes starting with 08) will be held on Komaba Campus while most of the other courses offered by the other Faculties will be held on Hongo Campus. There may be some exceptions, so please check the syllabus of each course for the classroom locations.

In order to enroll in seminars offered by the Faculty of Law, students must first submit an application essay for each seminar they wish to attend by the designated date in late March. Essays will first be reviewed by the professors teaching those seminars, and only those who are given permission will be allowed to enroll. You can only apply for one law seminar per semester that is conducted in “Japanese” or “Japanese and English”. However, there is no limit to the number of applications you can submit for seminars that are instructed in “English”. Details will be announced around mid-March by email.

• Requirements:  In order to take Japanese language courses of the Center for Global Education, students must submit through Online Application System, available at the website. Please check the course information in mid-March. System registration will open at that time, and course selection will be available after mid-March. Courses will officially begin in mid-April.

• Notes:

  1. Each student's proficiency level will be determined based on level check results.

  2. For the deadlines to apply to each course, please refer to the application guideline.

  3. Classes will be taught online, allowing you to access them from anywhere.

  4. No credits from UTokyo are granted in the courses offered by the Japanese Language Education Division, Center for Global Education (Center for Japanese Language Education).

  5. After registering for the course, the Japanese Language Education Division will send you information about the course and important instructions via email until the day before the course begins. Information such as the Zoom URL and course materials can also be checked there.

  6. The course might be cancelled if enrollment is below the prescribed minimum.

• Reference: https://globe.u-tokyo.ac.jp/nkc/en/index.html

USTEP program is designed as a course-based program and USTEP students are not allowed to engage in research internship and other research activities in laboratories and research projects at UTokyo. 

• National Health Insurance

USTEP students must enroll in the National Health Insurance (NHI) Program regardless of whether they may already have obtained an insurance in the home country. This is a strict legal requirement in Japan. To enroll in the NHI, you must go to the relevant section in the municipal office where you register your address, taking your residence card with you. The NHI card will be sent to your registered address later. The insurance fee will vary depending on which municipality you live in and some other criteria, so please contact the NHI section of your municipal office for more details. (Usually, it is around JPY 1,200 to JPY 1,500 per month for students.) Under this required health insurance program, whenever you receive medical treatment for an illness or an injury, 70% of the cost will be automatically covered by the NHI so you only need to pay 30% at the hospital if you show your NHI card.

If you arrive in Japan before moving into a dormitory or apartment and obtaining National Health Insurance, we strongly recommend purchasing overseas travel insurance for that period.

• IMAS: Inbound Medical Assistance Service

The University of Tokyo provides IMAS (Inbound Medical Assistance Service) through the Emergency Assistance Japan for international students free of charge. All USTEP students must register for IMAS. The registration will take place after you enter UTokyo. Once registered, students will receive the services listed below.

• Telephone Consultation available 24/7, 365 days a year

• Referral to an appropriate hospital

• Interpretation service provided over the phone while in hospital or during transfer to hospital

• Contacting the University if necessary

*This service is available only in Japan.

*This service is NOT an insurance. Thus, medical treatment is not included in the service. Make sure to join the National Health Insurance.

• Living Expenses / Prices

The minimum breakdown of living expenses for USTEP students is as follows. 

Monthly Rent / accommodation fee: Approximately JPY 80,000

Monthly Food expenses: Approximately JPY 30,000

Monthly Transportation / Others: Approximately JPY 10,000

Make sure you have enough information in advance about your living expenses to avoid financial insecurity.

• Bank Accounts

There are two ways to open a bank account: one is to open an account during the on-campus account opening service period (the International Education Promotion Group of UTokyo (USTEP office) will give you more details by email as soon as we know the schedule), and the other is to open an account yourself at banks/website. When opening a bank account, you will need to show your residence card with your address listed at the back of the card, your student ID or a certificate of enrollment, and your personal seal. (In some cases, a signature can be used instead of the seal.)

• Credit Card

Please research and decide in advance how to bring money with you to Japan (e.g. opening an account and creating a credit card with a bank in your country that also operates in Japan, using a money transfer service, etc.). Credit cards are required for many services in Japan (e.g. contract with cell phone companies), so we recommend that you apply for one before coming to Japan, as foreign nationals may find it difficult to apply for one in Japan.

• Part-time Job

UTokyo does NOT encourage USTEP students to engage in part-time work. If students wish to do so, however, they are required by law to obtain a proper work permit before starting part-time work.

The work permit (“permission to work outside the status of residence”) may be obtained at the airport when entering the country or at the Immigration Services Agency of Japan nearest you after entering the country. Receiving compensation without obtaining this permit is a violation of Japanese Law.

(Reference) https://www.isa.go.jp/en/applications/procedures/16-8.html

• National Pension

The National Pension is a public pension system in Japan that pays out when members reach old age or when they become disabled. People between the ages of 20 and 59 living in Japan, even if they are foreigners, are obliged to join the national pension system and pay insurance premiums if they are eligible for resident registration. Students with no income are exempted from paying the premiums. Please remember to apply for an exemption from payment of National Pension Insurance when you apply for the National Health Insurance at your ward office.

• My Number

Once you have registered your address at your local municipal office in Japan, you will be issued with a “My Number” (an individual number). A letter containing your “Individual Number Notice” will be sent to your registered address, so please keep it in a safe place. My number will be required when you work part-time jobs or when you apply for the move out or move in procedures at the city/ward office. Never provide your My Number to a third party without knowing the purpose of use, and do not lend or borrow My Number Cards from/to others. In addition, since My Number is a lifetime number, please keep it in a safe place, even after returning to your home country.

*Although My Number is automatically assigned and notified by post, issuance of my number card is optional. The application for the issuance of the card is done at the city/ward office, but it will take about several days to be issued.