Money
Funding Your Trip
You have several scholarships available to you to help fund your trip. This is just a summary of the highlights. Make sure you also check out the Scholarships page on the IPENG web site.
- CEAPS Undergraduate International Exchange Scholarship - $2,500 USD, Open to all participants. This link is to the main CEAPS page because I couldn't find a direct link.
http://www.eaps.uiuc.edu/ - International Engineering Fellowship - Pays for your airfare. You get this by default.
http://www.engr.uiuc.edu/international/scholarships/eng_fellowship.htm - William R. Miller and Martha L. Behr-Miller Scholarship - $1000 USD, Open to Mechanical or Industrial Engineering students only
Q: Cash or Credit?
A: Cash!
Japan is a cash culture. You will not be able to use credit cards to pay for things. If you are very lucky, your hotels (after the program) might accept credit cards, but don't count on it. I used my credit cards a grand total of 4 times while in Japan. (2 hotels [out of 5] and 2 major department stores [out of dozens of stores]) You will need to Japanese yen on hand, and sometimes a fairly large amount. Japanese customers think nothing of making $200-$300 purchases in cash. I'd recommend that you always make sure you have a reserve on hand. Running out would not be fun. (Remember, you can't just use a credit card.)
Getting Cash
There are several options for getting cash. Debit cards are best, with traveler's checks being worst.
- Debit Cards are by far your best option. Every post office has an ATM which will accept standard US VISA debit cards. (You can also get cash advances on VISA credit cards, but I don't recommend it.) This is definitely the most pain free way of getting cash while in Japan. There is usually a post office in every town, and many times more. There is also an English menu which makes things a lot easier.
- There is one on your walk to the train every morning near the dorm, one in Rakurakuen near where you get off for school, and even one on campus (only an ATM). (See Shopping section for exact locations.)
- When entering the amount to withdraw, make sure you double check your entries. Adding an extra zero could be bad, and if you don't add enough, you just get an error. (Try withdrawing 100 cents in the U.S.)
- I'd recommend that you read up on your card policies in advance and see which is going to be your least expensive option. All cards charge fees, and you'll need to figure out how to minimize them. (Many small withdrawals or one large one?)
- You can bring US cash from home and visit a currency exchange. This works well at the airport when you first arrive, but is probably a bad idea long term. (Remember we're talking several thousand dollars!)
- You can bring traveler's' checks and cash them at major banks. Most stores and even smaller banks/post office will not cash traveler's' checks. You will need to visit a bank in downtown Hiroshima to cash your traveler's' checks. Overall, this is not the best way of getting cash. I took $1000 in traveler's' checks and didn't use any of them. I had to cash them all when I got back to the States.
- You can open a post office savings account and wire money into it from the States, but I don't recommend trying it. (I never did.) You'd definitely have to be comfortable speaking a decent amount of Japanese, and you'd be stuck with transfer fees both coming in and out. This is only really an option if you will be there a year or longer.