In July 2023, I came across a post advertising fully or partly funded scholarships for the Autumn Japan Culture Camp 2023, a program organized by AYFN Academy. After searching about AYFN and the program, without hesitation, I submitted my application. To my delight, I was selected as the sole fully-funded participant, together with two others who received partially-funded scholarships. The experience I had during this program was truly remarkable, and today, I am eager to share the details with you.
About AYFN Academy & Autumn Japan Culture Camp 2023
ASEAN Youth Friendship Network (AYFN) was founded on January 19, 2010, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Its primary objective is to facilitate youth engagement, knowledge sharing, and cultural exchange by offering high-quality and secure placements in various countries.
As a past participant of a program held by AYFN, I think of AYFN as a educational tourist agency. Its founder is Setiawan, an Indonesian entrepreneur. As it doesn’t seem to be backed by any NGO or government, I think its revenue comes partly from self-funded participants’ program fee. If you know Education First (EF), a company providing language programs in the country speaking that language, AYFN somehow operates like that. Most of its main programs provide several fully and partially funded scholarships, whereas other participants have to pay fee, including accommodations, transportation, tickets, meal, and excluding airline tickets, visa, travel insurance and other personal expenses.
In my opinion, Autumn Japan Culture Camp 2023 is like a customized package tour with tourists from all around the world, mostly Asians. There is a tour guide (or the leader of the team) taking you to the places in itinerary, making sure everyone is present on the way of moving, buying entrance tickets to destinations and transportation pass tickets, paying for meals, etc. It didn’t include any visit to companies, organizations or schools. It didn’t require you to do tasks like presenting or making a proposal. All is travelling, exploring culture of the country you visit like a tourist and communicating with fellows.
A typical program day starts at 8:00 AM when everyone gathers at the hotel lobby and ends around 5:00 PM when the leader takes you back to the hotel. Then, you’ll have free night time to spend as you wish. Of course, lunch is not included in the program fee, so you have to pay by yourself. Also, though breakfast is covered in the program fee, the leader gave us 5000 yen to buy our own breakfast in convenient store, meaning that we have 1000 yen for each breakfast. It is because the itinerary starts early, so we have to eat breakfast before 8:00 AM. In addition, it doesn’t look like a package tour as you won’t travel by private bus or car, but by public transport.
Fully Funded, Partially Funded and Self Funded Schemes
As I know, AYFN has other programs specializing in leadership, business, etc., but for the culture camp (also the most occasionally organized programs throughout the year), there are usually several scholarships. The program I participated had 3 scholarships, including 1 fully funded and 2 partially funded).
Fully Funded
✓ Round-trip flight (Osaka – home country’s capital city) → I’m paid max US$ 400
✓ Visa processing fee → I’m paid US$ 50
✓ All fees that a self-funded participant has to pay for the programs
Partially Funded
✓ Flight expense support (Up to USD 500 depending on the distance from home country’s capital city to Osaka)
✓ All fees that a self-funded participant has to pay for the programs
Self Funded
✓ Accommodation 6D5N (Twin/triple shared)
✓ Airport pick up (Kansai Int’l Airport)
✓ Meal (Breakfast and Lunch)
✓ All activities indicated on schedule
✓ Local transports
✓ E-Certificate of participation from AYFN
✓ Program supervision
✓ In-country administration costs
What you should know
✧ How AYFN pay for fully funded participant – For my case, as I had applied for single visa for 15 days, so I planned to make use of the remaining days allowed to travel to other cities after the program ended. Thus, I asked AYFN organizer if I’m able to book the ticket by myself, then they returned me the amount later. The result was they were really flexible and supportive to me. Besides that, they told me to give me USD cash when I came to Japan, but later they asked me to send them my banking account info to transfer that amount.
✧ Japan Visa – Make sure you’re able to get a tourist visa to Japan by yourself, as AYFN will not support you apart from sending you offer letter and documents related to the program. In Vietnam, Japan visa application must be made through the travel agencies accredited by the Japanese overseas establishment. At first, I didn’t provide any financial proof as I thought I got the offer from AYFN. However, the Consulate General of Japan refused to receive my application, which made me to redo the whole itinerary and financial proof as a normal tourist. Finally, I didn’t mention AYFN scholarship in my latter application.
✧ Cash for personal expenses – I brought 30,000 yen in cash with me. It was enough for paying dinner, which was not covered in the program, paying for additional tourist destination tickets, souvenirs, etc. So make sure you have enough cash.
What you shouldn’t expect
✧ A relaxing trip – I think the reason why they limit the age of participants to 15-35 years old is that you’re expected to be healthy enough to do A LOT OF walking. I don’t think my parents could walk like 40,000 steps every day.
✧ Food tour – Japanese cuisine has been well known for its diversity. Some common Japanese dishes are Sushi/ Sashimi, Ramen, Tempura, Kare Raisu (curry rice), Okonomiyaki, Shabu (hot pot), Miso soup, Onigiri, Udon, Soba. Quite a lot of dishes use pork, whereas there are Muslims and vegetarians in our teams. In addition, most Japanese restaurants and eateries can’t accommodate all of us. Thus, we have to separate into 2 teams to have meals. I belonged to the team that can eat everything, but separating to eat was not so fun.
✧ Japanese staff/ tour guide – This is the only drawback I think AYFN should improve. There’s no Japanese at all, or at least one participant who used to learn about Japanese culture and language and really understand the culture. Our tour guide is the past fully-funded participant from the last culture camp and it was the second time he travelled to Japan. Though he led us the way, showed us the operating time of some malls and told us a lot of useful tips of travelling in Japan, he hardly explained to us about the tourist destinations. Therefore, I had to research about the destinations in advance to know what the interesting and cultural stories are about each place we went to.
Why Autumn Japan Camp, Not Others?
There are 3 reasons why I applied for Autumn Japan Camp but not others.
First, it’s a perfect program for an office worker like me. Unlike the time when I was a student, it’s very hard for me to participate in a program abroad with a 9 to 5 work schedule. Six days are short enough for a short leave and long enough for a quick exploration trip in Osaka and Kyoto.
Second, I realized that besides Japan, AYFN also offers similar culture camps in Korea and Netherland. However, I have been to Korea already, so I want to visit a new country. Regarding Netherland, I know very little about this country, so it may be a drawback when I fill in the application form for fully funded scholarship. Finally, Japan is the most suitable choice. I have been interested in this culture since my childhood and amazed by its economy. So, why not?
Third, the visa application to Japan is simpler and easier for Vietnamese. Moreover, I may stay some days after the program ends to wander around by myself. Thus, I think I can cover the cost of a self-planned tour to Tokyo, Kamikochi and Kawaguchiko to watch the Mount Fuji, the Japanese iconic image. There’s no other destination which is more ideal than Japan at that time.
Overall, it was a memorable trip, I meet a lot of new friends all over the world, travel to places in Japan that I used to watch on TV and internet, and feel some part of Japanese vibe. Definitely, it’s worth, really worth!
I love it when folks get together and share thoughts.
Great blog, stick with it!
Thank you, Mark! Glad that you enjoy the blog.