Why JICA Scholarship ?

So today, I just wanna share my thought about "Why JICA Scholarship?" 

As you know that I have written here about JICA scholarship, you can check the old blog here. 

Here, you can read my another opinion about it that has been written in the brochure as follow: 

 I encourage you to take the opportunity if there is a JICA scholarship offering. Especially JICA  Development Studies Program : SDGs Global Leadership Program for the civil servant throughout Indonesia. Why I encourage you to take this opportunity? 

The answer is because you will get so many opportunities. Before I explain detail about it. Let's check first what does JICA scholarship cover? 

JICA Scholarship covers : 

1. Tuition Fees 
2. Living Allowance 
3. Airfare Tickets
4. Outfit Allowance 
5. Moving Allowance 
6. Research Support Allowance (RSA)
7. Visa Fee

Tuition Fees

Tuition fee will be paid directly to our University. 

Living Allowance 

144.000 yen. It will be used for dormitory fee and also our monthly spending. I could save monthly. 

Airfare Tickets 

The ticket will be facilitated by JICA (return ticket). I still remember we took the ANA (All Nippon Airways) when we went to Japan and we took JAL (Japan Airlines) when we returned to Indonesia. 

Outfit Allowance 

100.000 yen for outfit allowance. In my case, I bought the winter outfit in Indonesia, because when I arrived in Japan, it was already winter time. So, I did not have to buy winter outfit again in Japan.

Moving Allowance 

From the first year to last year, I stayed in dormitory.  But, we can move out from the dorm. If we stay off campus, we will be given moving allowance. Because I did not move out from dorm, there was no moving allowance for me. 

Research Support Allowance (RSA)

RSA is given annually (30.000 yen monthly). I can say that RSA is the best part of this scholarship. I attended International conference in Greece which is supported by RSA in 2019. You can see my video here. Unfortunately, due to pandemic in 2020, there was no more international conference. So, how we spent the RSA in 2020? Yup, lucky us, our University and JICA allowed  us to spend it on books. That's why I bought the books (any book I wanted to read).

Visa Fee 

JICA will cover visa fee.

Above all, in my personal experience, why JICA Scholarship is the best, they do not set the high standard for GPA. In other words, there is no special requirement from JICA for the GPA we have to obtain in university. The requirement is just from the University itself. So, we have to meet minimum requirement GPA based on the program we take into in University.  

Additional Information 

JICA Center 

JICA center in Tokyo 

I stayed in Minamiuonuma shi, Niigata. So, if there was meeting/gathering I had to go to JICA center in Tokyo. We stayed in JICA center. We can also stay here for holiday. We have to book the room here and pay by ourselves. I like to stay here very much. I felt comfortable. It is just like a hotel. 

JICA Scholar Gathering (Networking)

One of another benefits of being a part of JICA Scholarship is networking. JICA regularly will host a networking event. JICA will facilitate this meeting. There are also "lecture on specific theme". We can learn a lot from this meeting. 

JICA Scholars from Indonesia" Arief san, Cep Kiki san, Me, Mas Ben and 

Field Trip

The unforgettable memory for me is when we visited Nagasaki. The historical city due to Atomic Bomb. 

My article about Nagasaki Trip 

I wrote the article about Nagasaki and published it on commercial magazine (Vol. 39/2019, MyTrip Magazine). 

That's all for me. 

Good luck for you all who are pursuing education and scholarship. 

My Preparation for Thesis Defense 2020

 Alhamdulillah, 

I have completed my study in Japan for two years. Time passed quickly,  I arrived in Japan in December 2018 and I returned to Indonesia in December 2020. 

I also want to say Happy New Year 2021.  I hope you are safe and sound. 

In the beginning of the new year 2021, I want to share with you about my preparation for my Thesis Defense in last October 2020. My Thesis is a quantitative research and I used the secondary data. I needed to prepare well for my thesis defense because it was the first time I learned about statistics, econometric and also Stata application.  I worked so hard to complete my thesis. 

I am so grateful that finally I could graduate from my thesis defense last year. I realized that I am still far away from the perfect but I love to learn something new. 

Here, I share my preparation for my Thesis defense last year. 

I read the Book " Naked Statistics "

The first time I knew the book is from my campus "Monday Talk". Our library hosted the book talk on Mondays. One of the speaker introduced about the book. When I saw the book,  I insisted to buy it by using my RSA (research support allowance). I ordered the book with the help of JJPO (in charge with my scholarship). Finally, the book came exactly before the day of my thesis defense. When I received the book, I found out the book was understandable and it was suitable for me to learn and to prepare my thesis defense. The first chapter that I read was very interesting. That made me continuing to read the whole chapter.      

I wrote a note/cheat sheet contained of the important points from the Book 

When I finished reading the book, an idea came up. I thought it would be better for me to write a note (cheat sheet) or resume about the important points of the book. So, I could use the note to help me prepare and get ready for my thesis defense. 

The Note is just like this: 

This cheat sheet helped me a lot to understand about quantitative research, about the terms in our research and so on. I used this cheat sheet/note to learn and prepare my thesis defense. It is easier and practical. 

Actually, I feel the need to master deeply about the quantitative research. I want to continue my study to PhD. What I have learned in IUJ, of course as the beginning of my journey. I am grateful for that. 

There are still a lot things to share here. But, my focus is about the book to that can help you understand more about quantitative research. 

I hope my blog is helpful for you who are about to face thesis defense. Good luck.

  

 

About Japan from Our Discussion Result

 A couple days ago (at the end of August) I had Joint Program 2020 webinar. This webinar is held for JICA scholars. This program aims for offering participants opportunities to learn additional knowledge such as innovation and leadership, and build a network with other JICA participants as well as Japanese public institutions/private companies. 

The objectives of the joint program are: 

1. To deepen understanding as JICA participants, share some important points to continue scholarship program, and strengthen networking among themselves. 
2. To promote Cross-Cultural understanding.
3. To gain Japanese social culture and business manner.
4. To learn about Innovation and Leadership through lectures and workshops.
5. etc.   

What  I want to share here is about my group discussion result. Yup, there was a group discussion. I joined group B (one of the targets is SDGs Global Leader Program-my scholarship program). For group B, we are divided again into groups. I was in group ten with other participants. I remembered one of five participants. He is from Salvador.  The group discussed about three questions as follow: 

Question 1 

What kind of system/service/mindset do you want to take away from Japan to your country? 

Answer:

• From Japanese Industry: the mindset about collaboration between the owner and the worker (work relationship or collaboration culture). The Japanese company very concerns about long term relationship with workers. They see it as human capital. In the Japanese industries, they will not only compete, but also work together in order to develop R&D.
• The structure of Japanese industry:  the well structured industries make easier to develop the productivity. Hardworking sense, even it's difficult to adapt or take this quality out is difficult (high motivation is needed) Not giving up is also important attitude feature (continue working despite of the struggles). The serving nature of Japanese people, the way that Japanese consider the costumer feeling, and try to make feel good in any situation. 
• The transportation is very organized and functual. 
• Mechanization of agriculture.
• Health facility system. 
• Human resources focus: how education system is structured and how Japan keep motivated people to train and improve human capabilities. 
• The service industry: standardization of food and hospitalities in various service sectors. 
• The garbage collection system is very well-organized. Each city is committed and concern about recycling infrastructure and keep cities clean. Reducing pollution, environment becomes better for living. 
• The mail delivery system is very functional and effective (time and accuracy). 
• The mindset, how people is facing pandemic (mutual respect, cough etiquette, not selfish behavior).   

Question 2 

What point do you think Japan should learn from your country?

 Answer:

• To understand other cultures. Indonesia has the largest ethnicity and languages. The religion of the country, Islam is majority in Indonesia. Good hospitality  (attitude like to be smiling, welcoming, friendly, more social interaction, and understanding about diversity).
• To make a social relation better in Japan: understanding about other cultures and interact with and from other cultures (industrial context). 
• To wide knowledge about different continents in order to understand other different context. 
• To make a better human relationship: stressing family and friends feeling (strengthen feeling, not to have a cold relationship).
• Self expression, how Japanese people express what they are thinking, how to distinguish what is acceptable or not (how to know what they consider negative or positive).
• Medicine beliefs. They do not believe kind of traditional medicine, but sometimes natural and traditional medicine may be considered into Japanese mindset (with less secondary effects). 

Question 3 

By combining the ideas of the two steps together, what kind of global collaboration should be done by Japan? (for example, which industry or field?)

Answer:

• Natural resources (oil and gas industry).
• Agriculture : the implementation of new technologies, like makin seeding automatically (truck and machines, fertilizing and insecticides by helicopter) for producing more efficiently. 
• Education: ICT development. 
• Automobile industry.
• Train and railway system. 
• Tourism.
• Housing.
• Exchange system of collaboration in order to understand developing countries contexts and people, but also people from other countries come to Japan in order to understand the innovation and key ideas for development.  

 

How much monthly spending for a student in Japan ?

 Dear my friends, 

I hope you safe and sound. Today I would like to share with you how much I spent my monthly in Japan. Before I started informing you. I would like you to know several things as follow: 

1. I have been pursuing my master degree in International University of Japan (IUJ).
2. I am a JICA scholar. So, all my tuition and also monthly spending are given from JICA. 
3. IUJ is located in Minamiuonuma, Perfecture Niigata. It is a country side and my campus is surrounded by rice fields. I close to nature. 

Because I have been living in country side, I didin't spend to much for my monthly needs. Except, I visit another place and buy the clothes or others, I will spend more.  

Here is my spending. 

STUDENT DORMITORY (SD) 

I am staying in a student dormitory which is a bit expensive than staying off campus (rental house outside campus). But, staying in SD 1 is cheaper than staying in SD3. There is no lift in SD1. My friend ever asked me whether I wanted to move out to SD3 or not, because she told me that SDI was spooky. But I like its lounge. SDI's lounge is the biggest I think among other dormitories. Actually, I am afraid of ghost. But I remember my father ever said that no human was died by a ghost (eaten by ghost). I can recite Quran or sleep whenever I feel scared.   

For example my expenses for December (related to my Dorm) in 2019, as follow: 

You can see that my hot water expense is bigger than electricity. It because in December was snowing, so, it was cold and I have a bad habit for taking a long shower. For the printer use, you see that in each of dormitory also available the print. It is connected via campus wifi. When we want to use the printer we have to log in with our username through the wifi. That's why, I like living in a dormitory for its access and also close to the class room.  

Oh yeah, actually if you choose to live off campus, you can get cheaper monthly payment by sharing with your friends. If you are lucky, you can get a sharing house. For the information of a sharing house, you can join facebook group : Uonuma Network Group.

Next, 

MONTLHY SPENDING (SHOPPING)

My monthly spending is varied from about 20.000,- yen to 50.000, yen ... Every Saturday I can shop at DAISO and AEON. But, for weekly needs, Cupid Yamato will do. I forgot what I spent about 9.670 yen. It was the most expensive I ever spent in a supermarket. 

For the tuition, I do not know, because JICA directly gave it to my university. 

I hope this blog is useful for you who want to continue study in Japan. Especially, in International University of Japan. 

Maybe in other blog I will share the different season in Minamiuonuma. 

Thank you. 

How my Friends respond to Covid19

Good morning all ... 

A couple months ago, I created a form asking my friends' opinion (IUJ students from IDP Program and Indonesian Friends) on Covid19. I made the form with nameless.  Some of my friends (only nine people) answered my question as follow: 

Question nomor 1: How did you see the effect of Corona Virus on economic condition? 

Answer : 

Student 1= Global recession.

Student 2= No worries. 

Student 3= TFP will decrease because some industries cannot get enough resources for production, especially resources from China. 

Student 4= Hm... karena wabah penyakit ini telah menyebar kebeberapa negara. Tentu saja kebijakan yang diambil oleh pemerintah negara tsb berbeda-beda. Untuk Jepang yang menyarankan warganya untuk mengurangi aktivitas di luar rumah, tentu konsumsi dan produksi berpengaruh terhadap ekonomi. Begitu juga dengan Italia. Di Indonesia pemerintahnya menganjurkan untuk melakukan perjalanan wisata dengan memberikan diskon tiket. Namun kekhawatiran akan terjangkit menyebabkan warganya tidak mau melakukan perjalanan wisata walaupun diberikan subsidi harga tiket. 

Student 5= It will effect economy by both supply shock.

Studendt 6= Kondisi ekonomi melemah, dikarenakan pemerintah dan perusahaan besar fokus untuk mengurangi resiko dan dampak dari virus tersebut. Kondisi seperti ini mungkin hanya bersfat temporary, dan diharapkan ke depannya ekonomi kembali berfungsi dengan normal. 

Student 7=It is fasting spreading. 

Student 8= In my home town in Central of Vietnam, Corona Virus has effected on tourism significantly. Since tourism is one of the key industries with top list of countries from Korea, Japan, China, and Australia, America, etc. The number of tourists is dramatically decreasing due to the infection that the government is restricting most of flights from those countries. Some of the hotels or resorts are considering to be closed down for temporary due to the high cost of service maintenance while other entertaining places such restaurants, bars, parks, etc are not in business. People are in danger of losing their jobs.

Student 9= Many trends are going the opposite way, contigency plan therefore is always important at anytime.

 

Qestion number 2: Do you have any advice how to deal with this Corona Virus? 

Answer:

Student 1=Just listent to what expert says.

Student 2= No.

Student 3= Keep clean (washing hand).

Student 4= Follow all regulation and advice from your local authority. For us in IUJ, follow the guidelines that IUJ given. In terms of medical, we need to find the "vaksin" asap. 

Student 5= Don't be panicked and be well prepared with proper information. 

Student 6= Bersikap biaja aja, jangan panik, namun tetap menjaga kesehatan. Tidak hanya karena virus corona, menjaga kesehatan itu harus terus dilakukan, bahkan setelah wabah ini usai.Tingkatkan daya tahan tubuh dengan cara mengkonsumsi makanan yang baik dan berolah raga, dan menggunakan masker apabila sedang flu atau batuk, untuk mengurangi penyebaran kepada orang lain. 

Student 7= Wash your hand systematically and frequently and keep yourself healthy. 

Studnet 8= One of the advice is that through TV and social channels, the government should provide further information on the spread of Corona Virus as well as instructions on preventing themselves from getting infected so that people can have a higher awareness on this global epidemic. Next is that people should seriously take this issue into account and properly follow basic necessary prevention measures such us washing hands frequently every 20 seconds, wearing a mask whenever going to crowded places, getting checked at hospitals if any symptoms such as fever, coughing, etc. Beside, the government may call for help by fundrising from big corporates or other stakeholders together to offer people who are in quarantine period and provide the locals with medical consultant or toolkits  so that the locals can have immediate check-up when needed as well as free supply of masks to the locals etc.

Student 9= Don't travel to those infected places much. 

NB: I wrote the form in March 2020

The basket and the Lady who gave us the dried flowers and chilly : a story from a small cafe

How to keep ourselves in a positive condition is by making ourselves busy. 

Yesterday was a full day for me. I had a lovely activities with my friend, Alex, in Koide making a basket. 

Here is my basket made by me in collaboration with the coach. 

My handmade 

Please, do not disturb with the flowers in the basket. Hehehee.. this photo is taken after we finished basket making. I took a moment with Alex to take the photos. We picked up selected flowers and put it in the basket. Really nice right? 

For the basket making we only paid about 1000 yen. But, this cost also including our lunch. I think it is cheap. There were no many participants. I think it was only about 7 people who registered. But it was fun engaging with local people, though I can not speak Japanese. Unfortunately, Popi who can speak Japanese could not come due to working reason. 

My basket and the flowers 

Also,

My basket with the pink flowers

Next, from Koide we return to Urasa. While waiting the IUJ bus, me and Alex having an ice cream in a  cafe behind Urasa station. 

When I entered the cafe, I thought the cafe was a big, in fact, it was a small cafe. 

Here is the ice cream. 

Ice cream 

The price of the ice cream is about 670 yen. The portion is worth it with the price.

There was a surprised story from the cafe. The lady whom the owner of the cafe I assumed, she looked at our basket and told me that the seeds in my basket from the flower which I could not remember it in Japanese. We told her, that the seeds were from Koide area. From the flower that has long diameter. 

This flower what I meant, do you know what is the name? 

 

So wide

Then, surprisingly, the lady return to us with the dried flowers, chilly and another one (in Indonesia we call it ciplukan). She told us, it was from her garden. When I saw the dried flowers, it was dried lavenders and hydrangea. 

The dried lavender from the lady

The dried lavender was smelled good. 

The dried "ciplukan" ore golden berry from the lady

Then, 

My basket with the lady's given to me

 Okay, before finish this blog. I have another thought about the cafe. It inspired me as follow:

1. If you want to run the small business, start it from the home. It is what Japanese people do here. The cafe is just a small place actually, but she manage to open the coffee shop. Sorry, I didin't take the picture of the place. 
2. The cafe can only served about 12 people I think. 
3. For making the place looked beautiful, we can add beautiful ornament. 
4. Even though it is a small coffee shop but there is toilet. It is very clean toilet. 
5. The menu itself has to be okay. The ice cream is delicious. 
6. Unfortunately the menu is written in Japanese. I think if the menu written in Japanese, the picture should be added. So, for non Japanese speak language, we can see the picture. 
7. The lady is so communicative with us. I think it because my friend, Alex, is so friendly and communicative as well. That's why the lady welcomed us and gave us dried flowers. 

NB: for the basket making, I will post it in my Youtube. 

Voucher from Minamiuonuma City

Good morning my friends, 

Start from today, I have decided to write my blog in English. 

I have told you about some of the benefits I received from Minamiuonuma city during this pandemic as a foreign student here.  

I will call to mind those benefits that I have received here: 

1. Subsidy benefit. 
2. Free masker. 
3. Voucher.  

Voucher is the most recent one. To get the voucher, we need to received the invitation card from the city office first. The invitation is just like this. 

From City Office 

This card is delivered to our dorm mailbox.  We need to exchange this card into voucher in certain place just like in  the Urasa station. 

Back look

In the back, they provide an empty box. We need to write how much the voucher we want to exchange. The minimum is 1 voucher, and maximum is 4 vouchers. The detail is like this;  

• I voucher = 5000 = 2500 yen 
• 2 voucher=10.000 =5000 yen 
• 3 voucher=15.000 = 7500 yen 
• 4 voucher = 20.000= 10.000 yen 

I only bought 1 voucher for 2500 yen, and I have used the voucher to for the meals. Here is the voucher's look. 

This Voucher can be used only for the things as follow: 

Notes for using this voucher: 

1. This voucher can only be used on transactions for dining, accommodation (souvenirs or services you are billed for at lodging facilities), or taxi and daiko services. This can not be exchanged for cash. 
2. Small change can not be made even when you purchase total is less than that of the total face value of the voucher. 
3. This voucher can not be exchanged, transferred or traded. 
4. Minamiuonuma City and the Minamiuonuma City Resort Tourist Association will assume no responsibility in regard to the theft, destruction,  or loss of this voucher.
5. This voucher cannot be used after the expire date has passed. 

This voucher is valid until December 31, 2020. 

Actually, if we see the voucher, there is barcode.  If we scan this barcode, we will find out the lists of the places/stores that accept the vouchers. 

But, this voucher is not eligible for the stores handling groceries and electrical appliances. 

My impression: 

I see this voucher as a policy to help the local economy. Especially, for helping the household business. As long as i knew, there are some stores owned by particular family that runs for dining business.  I personally say thank you very much for the concern of Minamiuonuma city's concern, especially to foreign students who have been studying here.