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While many young Singaporeans<\/a> can only dream<\/em> of studying abroad thanks to sky-high rent and international tuition fees, 24-year-old Sabrina has managed to make it a reality \u2014 and<\/em> keep it affordable.<\/p>\n Currently living in Fukuoka, Sabrina has already completed her degree and is now pursuing her Master\u2019s at Kyushu University, one of Japan\u2019s top national universities.<\/p>\n On the latest episode of\u00a0Gen Z Crash Course<\/em><\/a>, she shows host\u00a0Joey Tay<\/a> what student life in Japan really looks like.<\/p>\n Her mornings begin with a bicycle ride to her part-time job at a local confectionery shop, where she works the morning shift before cycling just seven minutes to school for lessons.<\/p>\n The income from her side job covers both her S$500 monthly rent and her daily living expenses and she doesn’t rely on her parents for allowance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my biggest reasons for studying abroad was wanting to explore a new environment outside Singapore. Japan felt close enough to home,” she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tuition at Kyushu University costs about 268,000 yen (S$2,238) per semester, roughly on par with other national universities. Private university fees, she notes, can be double<\/em> that amount.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Sabrina\u2019s undergraduate and postgraduate studies are fully funded by scholarships.<\/p>\n “Japan is very welcoming to international students, so when you apply for undergraduate programmes, they normally have scholarships from the university itself, or sometimes even from the government,” she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n She secured hers from a private foundation and is not bonded after graduation.<\/p>\n Classes at Kyushu University are conducted in both Japanese and English. First-year international students mostly study in English.<\/p>\n So what happens in Year 2 when lectures switch to Japanese?<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that’s mandatory in most of the Japanese universities is that you have to take Japanese classes. But many professors now use AI translation tools. They teach in Japanese, but the content gets instantly translated to English,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n