How doable is living in Kobe for 6 months without income?

Hi all,

I'm a 26 year old guy currently living in the UK, and I have received an invite for a 6 month research placement studying neural stem cells in RIKEN, at a laboratory in Kobe. I essentially sent out prospective applications to a few laboratories in Japan so I could add to my research experience to ultimately apply for trainee patent attorney positions here in the UK or a possible PhD, not expecting much since there were a lot of criteria that needed to be ticked for it to even go through and it just so happens one passed lol

Anyway, since I am not going through a scholarship route (since it is 1-2 years that I cannot commit to right now) and I am ineligible for a fellowship position (since I do not have a PhD, only an MSc) RIKEN will be unable to pay me a salary for this. I kind of expected it since, since to host someone like me for 6 months – they really don't get much out of this and in fact it's probably a net loss for them considering time and labor costs.

I, and many of my family and friends think this is a good opportunity and will be really beneficial career building wise (whether it be in patent law, research or even beyond) – though I'd love to hear opinions if anyone thinks otherwise – but of course the issue is the financial side of things, how can I sustain myself whilst there? Especially since I am actually renting with my girlfriend right now so that will probably have to be paid for too.

I do have a decent amount of money saved up (and will have more by then – possible start date in February/March) and I 'think' I'll be able to afford it since I'm not a big spender anyway but wanted to get people's experience of financial costs living in Kobe, and if possible, what part time jobs I could do whilst there to fund myself a little bit.

So, has anyone done something similar before?

What is the cost of living like in Kobe? Especially compared to Tokyo.

General thoughts and/or advice?

I think this is something really excited I have wanted to do for some time now (living and working in Japan, at least for some time) and if I travelled Japan, #1 It would be much more fun with my girlfriend anyway and #2 I'd be spending the money travelling anyway, if not at a faster rate, but getting 'nothing' out of it (I realised the experience is the thing you're getting, but I mean in a professional/career way since its a gap).

Thanks all!