Cafes in Jimbocho

Jimbocho is famous for being the haven of new and secondhand books in Tokyo. If you are a bookworm and can read kanji without twitching, then Jimbocho is a place for you. However, if you are a mere traveler who has limited time in Tokyo, then this area might not be on top of your priority list. However, bookshops are not the only interesting thing in Jimbocho. It is also the home of several interesting cafes that are scattered around the area that would make the visit more worth it. Here are some of the cafes that you might want to check out when you visit the area.

Sabouru. This cafe is situated right outside Exit A7 of Jimbocho Station. It is difficult to miss before it would catch your attention right away with its detailed architecture outside. This place was used as a filming location for the movie Shitsurakuen (Lost Paradise), which was released in 1997 and was based on Junichi Watanabe's novel with the same title. Order their classic milk shake for Y500 and enjoy it as you chill and people watch as it is said that writers and actors usually frequent the place. If you are up for a bigger meal, you can transfer to Sabouru 2, which is right next the cafe, that serves Neapolital Spaghetti for Y650.

A Cafe called Sabuouru outside Jimbocho Station

Paper Back Cafe. If you want to sit and read while enjoying a cup of coffee, this cafe is highly advised. This cafe is in the same building as Toyodo Bookshop so you can shop for books then drink coffee after. The English books are situated in the second floor of the building, although the selection is not outstanding. They only have a few art and photography books. It is still worth checking out. The cafe also has a few seats on the counter facing the street, which is a nice place to people watch.

Paper Back Cafe is in the same building with Toyodo Bookshop

Big Boy. Jimbocho is also home to a few jazz cafes, Big Boy being one of those. You can find Big Boy a few shops away Sabouru, in a small alley right next to Exit A7 of Jimbocho Station. As you near the cafe, you can already here the melodious jazz playing inside as if inviting you to come in. You can get a cup of coffee for Y650 while listening to relaxing jazz. They were playing instrumental jazz when I came in. The wall behind the counter are lined with hundreds (or maybe thousands) of old vinyl records. The atmosphere is calm and relaxing. The old man, I suppose he's the owner of the cafe, if friendly and jolly. He can speak a little English and he's always enthusiastic when serving customers. See my full review of the place here: Jazz Bar in Jimbocho: Big Boy

Entrace to the jazz cafe Big Boy

How to Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): AnOverview

If there’s one important thing you need to do to jumpstart your application for the Japanese Government Scholarship, I think, that is: To get enough information about it. Having an idea on what you’re about to go through will somehow help you prepare for the whole process. Although, I have to warn you that there are always surprises in life. My experiences will definitely be different from yours or from others who had already been through it. How you handle these surprises is totally up to you and this is what will make your journey to achieving the scholarship a worthwhile one.

Getting “enough” information about the scholarship is more advisable, though, than getting “as much information as you can.” Holding too much information in your head usually makes you even more nervous of the process and makes you over think about stuff. When I was applying, I searched too much about the process and read too much about personal accounts and testimonies shared on various forums and websites. I read a lot of stories of victory but I also read a lot of cries of disappoint. So to save yourself from all the psychological battle that I had been through, only get the information you think you need. And as I said, there will definitely be surprises along the way so you can only be prepared and not too prepared, thus, it is fair to just know enough and not more than enough.

I know how tedious it is to apply for this scholarship, not only physically and mentally but also emotionally especially when you really, really, almost desperately, want it. I am writing this post because I want to help other students like me who had dreamed, tried and failed, failed, tried again and are continuously trying to get the Japanese Government Scholarship.

I have to warn you though that most of the pointers that I am going to offer in these series of posts were extracted from my experiences as an applicant of the research category. If you are applying to a different category, the process of your category might might be a little different from mine but I hope you will still find some useful insights from this post.

What is the Japanese Government Scholarship?

The Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho) is an annual full scholarship granted by the Japanese government to students of countries that have diplomatic relations with Japan. Full scholarship covers he student's full tuition expenses, roundtrip airfare from the home country to Japan and a monthly stipend to cover the living costs. Sounds too good to be true?

The scholarship has five categories: teacher training, Japanese studies, undergraduate, research and special training school. The information below was sourced from the website of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines. Please feel free to check the website of the Japanese Embassy in your country for further details and clarifications.

Teacher Training Student Scholarship. This offers the opportunity to spend one and a half year conducting research on school education at one of several Japanese universities.

Qualifications:

-         Applicants must be graduate of universities or teacher training schools.

-        Applicants must be between 22 and 34 years old.

-      Applicants must have worked as teachers at elementary or secondary educational institutions or
teacher training schools in their home countries for in principle five years in total. In-service university faculty members are not eligible.

Japanese Studies Scholarship. This scholarship offers the opportunity to spend a year continuing their study of Japanese language or culture at one of several universities in Japan. 

Qualifications:

- Applicants must be from 18 to 29 years of age as of April 1 of the year of departure.
- Applicants must be enrolled as undergraduate students in a Philippine university.
- Applicants must be studying Japanese language and/or culture as their major or minor, and must have a high level of Japanese language proficiency.

Undergraduate Student Scholarship. This scholarship offers the opportunity to spend up to 5 years at a Japanese college or university as an undergraduate degree student in one of 2 fields of study: Natural Science and Social Science.

Qualifications:

- Applicants must be from 17 to 21 years of age as of April 1 of the year of departure.
- Applicants must have graduated from high school by March of the year of departure.
- Applicants must learn and receive instruction in the Japanese language.

Research Student Scholarship. This scholarship offers the opportunity to spend 18 or 24 months conducting independent research under a Japanese professor. Any field of study is eligible for the scholarship, but applicants must find a Japanese professor willing to supervise their research. However, this does not guarantee that the applicant will be placed with that professor.

Qualifications:

-Applicants must be under 35 years of age as of April 1 of the year of departure.

- Applicants must be university or college graduates.
- Applicants must intend to continue a course of study previously begun, i.e. shall not begin study in a field new to the applicant.
- Applicants must gain a pledge from a Japanese professor that he or she is willing to supervise the study of the applicant.

- Applicants must learn and receive instruction in the Japanese language.

Specialized Training Scholarship. This scholarship offers applicants the opportunity to spend up to 3 years at a Japanese professional training schools.

Qualifications:

- Applicants must be from 17 to 21 years of age as of April 1 of the year of departure.
- Applicants must have graduated from high school by March of the year of departure.
- Applicants must learn and receive instruction in the Japanese language.

Important Pointers to Take Note of:

First and foremost, check the qualifications of the category you are applying for especially the age limit and the years of education required. The Japanese embassy is pretty strict when it comes to these qualifications. For example, in the Philippines, we only have 14 years of education from elementary school to university (we only spend 4 years in high school). This means that we lack two years of education because the Japanese embassy requires 16 years of education for the research category. What I did was, I tried to fill these two years by taking a Master’s Degree in my home country and then I applied for another Master’s Degree under the research category.

Also please take note that the age of the applicant asked by the Japanese embassy is the age as of April 1 of the year of departure and not on the time of application.

The Japanese embassy also offers a free consultation regarding the scholarship. Please contact your local embassy for the specific schedule. This is an opportunity for you to be able to gain a clearer understanding of the whole process so I strongly suggest that you grab it. If you have questions, feel free to post on the comments section of this post. But if you have immediate, technical and complicated questions, your local embassy might be the best venue to have them answered.

To read more about the application process of the research category, please see this link How to  Get the Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho): The Research Category

For Filipinos, I have an article titled Ako at ang Monbukagakusho: Isang Bagong Simula sa Tokyo published in the Pinoy Gazette, the pioneering Filipino newspaper in Japan last August 2013. Please click the link above to read its online version.