Living in Tokyo from the Perspective of a CIEE Student Participant

The following blog was written by a student intern on a Summer 2026 CIEE high school summer abroad program. Read on for a first-hand account of what it's like on program in Japan. 

In the past few years, Japan has seen an explosion in tourists and foreign visitors, with Tokyo, the largest metropolitan area in the world, and home to over 37 million people, at the top of that list. This has also increased the number of students studying abroad, with Tokyo becoming the number one destination for summer sessions amongst high schoolers here at CIEE. So to say Japan has become a hot spot for teenagers and young adults would be a pretty fair assessment. There are many reasons for this surge of visitors, such as more favorable conversion rates, the success of Japanese pop culture reaching western audiences, and even the 2020 pandemic, causing potential travelers to push off their plans for a later time. 

But even beyond factors like that, many aspects of Tokyo have made it a sought-after travel destination. For one, Tokyo is a very accessible city in many ways, especially for English speakers, as it hosted the 2020 Olympic Games, which led to services like the metro and convenience stores being updated to accommodate the incoming spectators. This makes their very accessible systems even more approachable to learn and understand, since these services are what make Tokyo function the way that it does.

Tokyo Metro and JR rail lines are the main transportation methods in Tokyo, with around 7 million people using the metro alone every day to get around, with routes reaching every corner of the city and beyond. Most people access the metro with either a Suica card or a Passmo, which are rechargeable cards that allow users to easily pay for train fares with just a tap. It's also usable at convenience stores and vending machines around the city as another way of payment, like a debit card!

Personally, one of my favorite parts of Tokyo has to be the variety of food and restaurants on offer, and how each one can be its own experience. Many restaurants are much smaller than what you might be used to, and in some cases, can only hold a handful of people at a time, creating a more intimate feeling while you eat. Cafes are scattered throughout the city and offer a wide variety of quick drinks and meals for people to take a break from the busy city. There are also, of course, the famous convenience stores or konbinis such as 7-11 or Family Mart, which offer a plethora of quality snacks and drinks for affordable prices, and are available on what seems like every street in the city, even right next to each other in some cases. 

Shopping is also very popular in the city, with massive stores catering to every niche you could be looking for, such as clothing, collectibles, souvenirs, video games, books, and anything else you could think of. There are, of course, the major department stores that sell a wide variety of clothing, such as Uni Qlo, which offer high-quality everyday clothing for everyone. They also offer collections which feature many popular anime and other cartoon characters, such as One Piece and the Peanuts, so they always have something new to check out. But if thrifting is more your style, Japan has got you covered with several second-hand shops such as Hard-off, which offer a wide variety of goods, from jackets and shoes, to DVDs and music. You never truly know what you're going to find, so always keep an eye out for them.

Interested in learning more? Browse CIEE's high school summer abroad programs in Japan.