Knowing that she's too shy to ask or post anything here at Reddit, I'll just create this post for her. Hopefully, we can get some tips/guides from the people here.
My fiancee (31F) will be studying as a graduate student (PhD) at TUMSAT (Kaiyodai). She received a scholarship under MEXT and will be moving from the Philippines to Minato, Tokyo this October 2024 for her studies. Even though this is a scholarship program with tuition fees, allowance, health insurance, and dormitory (only free for the first year) covered, I'm still concerned about her whole 3-years of stay in Japan as this would be her first time living alone with no companions, more so due to her condition.
*** will list the concerns by priority
- Health: She's a type-1 Diabetes Mellitus patient (adult-onset; auto-immune), uncontrolled (frequent episodes of hyper/hypoglycemia), and is currently on insulin and other anti-diabetic meds. We have already consulted with her endocrinologist/diabetologist here in the PH. Her doctor is willing to make a medical abstract as a form of referral to her soon-to-be attending doctor in Japan. My first concern is whether the health insurance would cover for her pre-existing condition. Or if not, is healthcare cheap/expensive in Japan in general? Even if there is a big chance that it would not cover her chronic condition, we are still hopeful that her quarterly checkups will not cost much. My other concern is that would she easily be able to find a doctor/specialist who is English-speaking around the area of Tokyo.
- Communication: Her native language is Filipino/Tagalog, her second language is English, and almost "0" Japanese language. Will she have a hard time in her studies and even just roam the streets of Tokyo? Some of my friends who've been to Japan told me that having Google Translate on your phone is enough as a traveler but I'm not sure if it would be easy for someone who would be staying there for a few years.
- Work: She works as an assistant professor but would be stopping due to the scholarship. Would she be able to do any form of work, or even part-time or remote work while she's taking her PhD? If she's possibly given remote work in the PH before moving to Japan, would she be able to continue her work while in Japan? Or is it better for her to look for jobs available to students with a student visa?
- Residence: The dormitory provided in the program only includes her first year of stay in Tokyo. If she were to look for an apartment around the areas/cities near Minato, do any of you have recommendations around the area that would not cost much? She knows that the allowance she'll receive while on the program would just be enough for her daily spending, but would not be enough to cover the next 2 years of monthly rent after her first year.
- Community: In countries like USA, UK and even Hong Kong, it is very common to find Filipino communities around different areas of the country. Is it easy to find Filipino communities around Japan? It's just something that I would like for her to join just for the company or if she suddenly needs emergency assistance (due to her condition).
We do have other concerns but this is the 5 main concerns we have for now. If you have any other insight/tips/advice, we would gladly take note of them. 🙂
by japetskimmedmilk