Starting My Master’s Degree in Japan — Right as COVID-19 Hit
April 2020. I officially became a Master’s student at University of Tsukuba.
No entrance ceremony. No group photos with new classmates. No buzzing campus. Just a laptop, an internet connection, and the news that all classes would be online — because COVID-19 had just been declared a global pandemic.
A fairly unusual way to start what should have been a major life milestone.
The Entrance Ceremony That Never Happened
One of the things I’d been quietly looking forward to before coming to Japan was the entrance ceremony — the formal welcome event that’s a significant tradition at Japanese universities.
It was cancelled entirely. All campus activities shifted to online format in a matter of days.
Honestly, the details of that period are a bit hazy now — I’m writing this in 2025. But one thing I won’t forget is how quickly everything changed, and how strange it felt to be starting a new chapter of life in a foreign country without being able to fully experience the campus.
Course Strategy: Finish All Credits in Year One
The first major task after enrollment was figuring out my course load.
The Master’s in Applied Physics program requires completing 30 credit hours within two years. From day one, I had a clear strategy:
Complete all required credits in the first year — so that year two could be entirely dedicated to research.
This turned out to be one of the best decisions I made throughout my Master’s degree.
Understanding the Course System
When I first looked at the course catalog, it was genuinely confusing. There are three types of courses to navigate:
- University-wide required courses — mandatory for all students
- Department required courses — specific to the Applied Physics program
- Elective courses — with various additional requirements to be read carefully
It took some time to fully understand the system, especially while simultaneously adjusting to a new environment. Once I had a clear picture, I could plan my schedule properly.
Online Classes: Real-Time vs. On-Demand
Because of the pandemic, almost all courses were held online — and there were two distinct formats:
- Real-time — live classes at scheduled times, similar to a Zoom session
- On-demand — professors pre-record lectures; students watch whenever convenient
Most of my courses happened to be on-demand format.
This turned out to work strongly in my favor. My daily routine looked like this:
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| Morning – Afternoon | Research work at NIMS lab |
| Evening | Watch recorded lectures + complete assignments |
This flexibility was far better than traditional in-person classes — I didn’t have to choose between research and coursework; both could happen in the same day.
Course Selection Strategy: Exams Over Reports
Early on I recognized that writing long research reports wasn’t my strongest suit. So I deliberately chose courses assessed through written exams rather than open-ended essays.
The results were fairly consistent:
- Courses with written exams → mostly received A grades
- Courses with long reports → grades tended to be lower
But that was fine. From the beginning of my Master’s, I was clear that GPA isn’t everything — the quality of your research output matters far more. Good grades are a bonus, not the primary goal.
If you’re a similar type — more comfortable with exam-based assessment — this approach is worth considering.
Year Two: 100% Research Focus
With all credits completed in year one, entering year two meant I could focus entirely on research.
And that made a real difference, because:
- Lab experiments often require long stretches of time and don’t always go as planned
- Data analysis and processing is time-consuming in its own right
- Balancing active research with coursework and assignments simultaneously is genuinely exhausting
If you’re heading into a Master’s program in Japan, finishing your coursework early is a strategy I’d strongly recommend.
What the Pandemic Year Taught Me
My first year of graduate school was different from almost everyone else’s — no ceremony, all online, an unusually quiet campus experience. But from that less-than-ideal situation, a few things became clear:
- Adaptability is an asset — being able to work well in any format is a real skill
- Early planning shapes the whole journey — deciding to finish all credits in year one proved genuinely impactful
- Focus on what matters — in graduate school, that’s research, not a perfect GPA