Hello, I am Verdiane Yemata K. I come from the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon, anthropology major, medical option. I was under the university exchange program with Tokyo University of Foreign Studies . I arrived here in Japan in April 2024 and my program extended over two semesters (10 months), namely from April 2 to February 28, 2025. I was receiving JASSO Scholarship.

I was really excited to come in Japan because I heard about the Japanese culture especially food (ramen) and clothes (kimono), Japan was the right destination for me as a student in anthropology which is based on culture. My dream come true when I got this opportunity.聽 I have had lots of memories of my life here and I will talk about some of them in this report because they are so bombastic that I cannot mention them all. I鈥檒l go into greater details about my experiences in my social and academic lives while I was living in Japan.

But before anything else, I would like to express my gratitude to JASSO for giving me a scholarship that permitted me to cover all my different expenses at TUFS. Also, I would like to thank the African Study Center, the Student Exchange Division, and International Student Support Association (ISSA) for the great support they provided to me thereby facilitating my life and my insertion as a student. Finally, I wouldn鈥檛 finish without saying thank you to my home university of Yaounde I , to my supervisors Prof Antoine Socpa and Oishi Takanori Sensei and to the students who were very caring towards me escorting us to every unknown place and making sure that I will not lack anything.

1. My academic life

As a student, I started classes during the spring quarter in early April, I then discovered a new way of teaching and learning with a lot of interactions between students and professors. We were very busy by making presentations, doing 聽homeworks, documentary research and discussions but it was interesting and amazing. This allowed me to have more experiences, get more knowledge. In the end, it was such a beautiful experience that every student should live. The second largest challenge for me was to succeed my Japanese classes because I was discovering Hiragana and Katakana characters. It was not easy at all, but I did it the end and I am now able to carry on a basic conversation in Japanese.

2. My social life

Living in Japan was such an amazing thing because I have also participated to many events and outings such as zoo visits where I saw some animals for the first time, music concerts, cultural events in traditional Japanese homes and so on 鈥 these are moments that allowed me to have pleasant and joyful experiences. The most striking thing was especially the exchanges that took place about Cameroonian and Japanese habits. I was curious to know more about Japanese customs and I also received lots of curious questions about our customs.

3. Challenges

Living in Japan was not easy every day, sometimes I faced difficulties due to language, culture, education system and daily facilities. I realized so soon that someone couldn鈥榯 be able to easily live here alone without being able to ask something on the street in Japanese, to understand the railway system which is not easy for a person who used to take car and bikes, I can forget how I struggled at the beginning and I lost myself many times while going somewhere, finally by practicing, it become easier and funny that I got confidence and I started moving everywhere.

I also faced the climate change with the weather in Japan which was very rude and cold for me especially during winter. I noticed that all the seasons are actually extreme in Japan, the summer is really hot, much hotter than in Cameroon where I come from and the wind is also so cold that you have the feeling that your bones are taking a hit so you have to take precautions at the risk of catching a fever.

4. Outside tours

Time flies very fast that we finally came to the end of this exchange program but I still want to live in Japan. I hope I could come back again and get more experiences. From my time in Japan, I keep interesting memories that I cannot count on paper. I think about it with peace of mind and joyful heart. I sincerely think that every student should be able to have such an experience and I wish it to all my classmates here and elsewhere.

Long life the exchange program!
Long life TUFS!
Thanks!

Verdiane from University of Yaounde and Dorcas from University of Ghana completed their exchange program. Verdiane arrived in April 2024 and stayed for 2 semesters. Dorcas arrived in Sept. 2024 and stayed for a semester. We are wishing for their bright future!!

We hope that our exchange will continue for a long time, expanding and deepening through their junior colleagues and friends.

Hello everyone. My name is SAEKI Ayaka. I am currently studying abroad at the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon, majoring in Anthropology.
It is said that there are more than 250 ethnic groups in this country. In fact, I encounter various food cultures and languages in my daily life. The official languages are English and French, but in the capital city where the university is located, people mainly speak French from casual conversations to class. I am working hard to learn it, with the assistance of my kind classmates. The situation in Yaound茅 is very interesting to me in terms of ethnicity and sociolinguistics. It is a great honor to study here as the university鈥檚 first long-term exchange student. Sometimes I feel anxious because there is no other exchange students like me, but the warm welcome I鈥檝e received helped me enjoy the moment.
Besides my classes, I have volunteered at a music school and a Japanese language institute and have visited a museum and a national park. I will continue to make an effort to lead a full life.
Last but not least, I deeply appreciate everyone who supports my studies in Cameroon.

In the spring of 2024, IAfP welcomed three new students from Africa. They have started their progrom from 8th April.

They are Peggy and Mupelwa from 聽University of Zambia (UNZA), Verdiane from University of Yaound茅 I (UY1).

UY1 and TUFS has concluded MOU last May. This is the first time TUFS has been able to accept exchange student from the UY1. Welcome Verdiane!!

Peggy and Mupelwa will stay at TUFS for one semester until July 2024. Verdiane will stay at TUFS for two semesters until February 2025.

Please check the聽鈥淎ccepting鈥 page聽for their self introduction.

Photo 1: With Head of the Department of Anthropology of UY1, Prof Abouna (far left) and contact faculty, Prof Socpa (far right), before the start of the student exchange launch seminar.

Photo 2: A talk about TUFS and the exchange programme.

Photo 3: Graduate student Ms. Yamamoto reporting on her research.

Photos 4 & 5: During the briefing, video messages were also shown from Mr. Jato Emmanuel, who is from Cameroon and has experience as an exchange student at TUFS from PIASS, the partner school in Rwanda, and Ms. Ayaka Saeki, who will be sent to UY1 as an exchange student from October.

Photo 6: A group photo聽 of all participants after the seminar.