[Life] One Year Exchange Journey at Tokyo Tech
Why Japan?
I’ve always been taking Japanese courses at NTHU, and honestly, the main reason was because my instructor kept sharing amazing stories from past exchange students. Travel adventures, culture shocks, hilarious daily life moments—listening to all these got me more and more interested. Eventually I thought, “why not experience it myself?” So during this final year of undergrad, I grabbed the opportunity and applied for this exchange program!
About the School
Tokyo Institute of Technology (東京科学大学, or Tokyo Tech for short) merged with Tokyo Medical and Dental University in October 2024, becoming one of the few top national universities in Japan that combines both engineering and medical research. The school’s research capabilities have been world-class for years. They even have the famous supercomputer TSUBAME on campus, which has repeatedly made it into the world’s top 30 supercomputers. Whether it’s CPU or GPU resources, they have plenty—absolutely no worries about hardware limitations when doing large-scale computing or machine learning!
The university has three main campuses: Ookayama Campus (大岡山キャンパス), Suzukakedai Campus (すずかけ台キャンパス), and Tamachi Campus (田町キャンパス). Classes are basically all at Ookayama, while Suzukakedai is mostly just research labs. As for Tamachi campus… seems like not many people go there? I didn’t visit once during the entire year. So basically, I spent the whole year at Ookayama Campus. The best part? It takes literally 30 seconds to walk from the station exit to campus. Super convenient!
This photo was taken from the station entrance—you can see the campus right across!
Academic Life (Coursework)
Tokyo Tech offers two types of exchange programs: ACAP (course-focused, with minimum credit requirements each week) and YSEP (research-focused, where you join a lab for independent research and present before leaving). With YSEP, you can also take courses, but there’s no minimum credit requirement. Both programs come in half-year or full-year versions, so there are four combinations total.
I chose the one-year YSEP program, meaning besides taking courses, I also did research in a lab. Let me break down both parts:
1. Courses I Took
I took courses in Japan for two main reasons: fulfilling my NTHU credit requirements and meeting the exchange program’s course requirements. Tokyo Tech’s semester system is different from NTHU’s—they have four quarters per year starting in April (1Q2Q for spring semester, 3Q4Q for fall semester). Each quarter is about 7 weeks long, and credits roughly convert 1:1 back to NTHU (at least for CS department, it worked smoothly for me).
Here’s my full course record with honest reviews:
Applied Probability Theory (MCS.T410)
Mainly teaches Point Process fundamentals. Super mathematical—definitely feels more like a math major course. Several assignments plus a final exam.
Japanese Culture Seminar 3: Multicultural Collaboration (LAJ.C501-02)
Required Japanese course for exchange students. The interesting part? Foreign students and Japanese students take it together, discussing various workplace situations foreigners might encounter.
Network Applications (CSC.T442)
Covers everything from network applications to protocol origins—incredibly broad. But the professor already retired, so this course might not exist anymore.
3D Computer Vision (ART.T466)
Follows the professor’s published book on point clouds. Each class ends with a form asking questions about that session’s content (attendance). No regular assignments, but requires a final paper presentation (in English). During presentations, I truly experienced firsthand why people say Japanese people fear English😅.
Time Series Models (CSC.T365)
This is an undergrad course, so it felt closer to my NTHU experience. Starts from mathematical basics and includes midterm and final exams. Content focuses on analyzing time series data and finding suitable models. The hardest part? All those katakana English terms in Japanese instruction—familiar technical terms appearing in unfamiliar forms took serious time to adapt to.
Fundamentals of Optimization (CSC.T342)
Also taught in Japanese. Introduces various optimization algorithms and solves problems with them. Weekly assignments required, with a final exam. Basically zero programming component though.
Practical Parallel Computing (MCS.T418)
Follows the professor’s published book. Each class ends with a form (attendance). No regular assignments, but final paper presentation required (in English).
Distributed Algorithms (CSC.T438)
Probably the most intense course I took at Tokyo Tech. Besides the final exam, there’s homework after EVERY class, plus three implementation problems using the professor’s custom Python simulator to implement algorithms from class. Problems you’d never think about when solving graph algorithms become incredibly difficult with distributed computing. A really worthwhile course!
Robot Audition and Environmental Understanding (CSE.I434)
Professor introduces various robot audition technologies—from old non-ML methods to recent approaches. Grades mainly from in-class group discussions and final presentation.
Important notes for course selection:
- Graduate courses (碩班) are mostly taught in English; undergrad courses only in Japanese
- Fourth-year students can take some (not all) graduate courses. Third-year and below can only take undergrad courses
- Taking Japanese-taught courses requires proof of Japanese proficiency*
- All courses for the same semester are selected together; dropping courses seems unrestricted
- Getting transcripts (sent to Taiwan) takes longer; can directly visit the office to request printing
*But honestly, I just asked the instructors directly, and if they said okay, it was fine. So this requirement is kinda… nominal.
My honest take: Tokyo Tech courses weren’t as intense as I imagined. At least compared to NTHU CS, they’re way more relaxed. I think partly because only 7 weeks can’t cover content too deeply; another reason is cultural—students don’t invest much energy in coursework. If they really want to learn seriously, they’ll study independently or join relevant labs. This phenomenon is quite different from what I experienced in Taiwan.
2. Research in the Lab
The other main part of exchange life was lab research. I was introduced to Professor Asako Kanezaki at Tokyo Tech through my NTHU professor. Her lab mainly focuses on computer vision and robotics research.
Inside the lab. I had my own desk and monitor—super helpful for research!
My exchange research topic was related to this field: we studied using Video Diffusion Models as World Models, generating a series of plans to control robotic arms for executing tasks. Although I didn’t reach the actual robot experimentation phase before leaving (unfortunately!), as an intermediate result of this research, I wrote my first ever paper and submitted it to MVA 2025, a conference focused on machine vision and applications. Luckily, my paper got accepted! I went to Kyoto at the end of July for the presentation. Currently still working on wrapping up this research.
First time attending an academic conference—discussing with researchers from around the world was such a unique experience!
Life Beyond Academics
Besides academic stuff, the activity I actively participated in during this year was club activities! I was already in the Magic Club at NTHU, so when I heard about Japanese people’s legendary enthusiasm for club activities, I really wanted to experience it firsthand. During the Institute Festival (工大祭, this school’s campus festival) in November, I visited the Magic Club and applied to join. The club’s main activities include Festival performances, irregular performance requests, new student welcome events, and weekly regular practice sessions where members practice tricks, interact with others, or prepare for upcoming events.
I became a member and occasionally joined everyone to accept performance requests. I’d always performed in Chinese back in Taiwan, but now I had to interact in unfamiliar Japanese while ensuring the performance itself was flawless—that was a huge challenge!
This year in the Magic Club wasn’t just performing—also helped with promotional video production for new student welcome!
What I Actually Gained
I feel like I got massively stimulated and inspired in various aspects. Compared to before the exchange, I’m really quite different. Here’s specifically how:
1. Academic Growth
The research I chose in Japan was completely different from what I did at NTHU, so I had to learn everything from scratch. Plus, the Japanese professor’s personality was totally different from my NTHU professor’s, giving me a chance to experience different cultural and mentorship styles. I now understand better what kind of research environment suits me.
2. Life Skills
Besides basic self-sufficiency, I learned to have conversations with myself. I rarely traveled in Taiwan before, usually just with friends. After coming to Japan, I started trying solo travel. Once I went to Hokkaido alone and totally fell in love with that sense of freedom and openness: working while chilling, no need to compromise on itineraries, and space to think about life directions. Seriously recommend trying solo travel when you come to Japan!
If you ever get to Hokkaido, definitely try the Lavender Express—it’s incredibly comfortable!
3. Language Improvement
Because the exchange program required joining a lab, I had daily opportunities to converse with Japanese people. Plus with club activities, I learned tons of everyday expressions. My previous way of speaking was pretty stiff and textbook-like; now it’s way more natural. For YSEP students, I’d really recommend chatting more with lab seniors. For ACAP students, seriously consider joining a club!
4. Building Connections
As a native Taiwanese, I really had zero opportunities to meet Japanese people normally. Through this exchange, I met friends with the same interests, seniors doing similar research, and even unexpected friendships during travels. All these connections made me truly feel like I lived in Japan, not just a temporary visitor.
Various photos with everyone
Final Thoughts
My imagination of exchange programs before was probably just “being able to see things from different perspectives after going abroad.” But after actually experiencing it, I realize how massive this change really is. Although it’s still hard to fully describe in words right now, I’m certain I’ve genuinely changed. Maybe after some more time, I’ll be able to evaluate this experience’s value more clearly. But I’m 100% certain: there’s no such thing as an unworthy exchange—I’m super grateful to myself for deciding to take this step back then.
Also, if anyone’s like me planning to exchange during senior year then go straight to grad school: exchanging at Tokyo Tech during NTHU senior year, then directly entering NTU master’s program—everything connects smoothly for both graduation and enrollment. No worries!
As for detailed exchange life info, expenses, graduation timeline, and various procedures—since the content is pretty complex and I haven’t organized it yet, I’ll update everything at the link below for juniors who need it.
Hope everyone can have an awesome and fulfilling exchange life!
Campus during full cherry blossom bloom in March—absolutely gorgeous!
If you need to contact me:
Email: kuanting.titech@gmail.com
All exchange details organized here:
https://hackmd.io/@tropical08842/koukanryuugaku
Related Video:
清大交換留學 | 東京科學大學 | YSEP 計畫 | 一年 (04:53)
https://youtu.be/zclQPQSDOG4