Beppu.

Student life here revolves around the APU community up on the hill and the small, welcoming town below, so it is intimate rather than sprawling. Nights out mean cheap izakaya, karaoke and the odd bar in the backstreets by Beppu Station, capped by a late soak in an onsen. University 'circles' and the huge international mix make friends easy to find, though you will travel to Fukuoka or Oita for bigger nights.

• Join an APU circle (club) to meet people fast across the international and Japanese student mix.
• End a night out with a soak at a cheap public bath like the Takegawara sand onsen.
• Ask the Beppu Studcasa group where students gather and which izakaya do student deals.

Beppu is one of the cheapest places to be a student in Japan, so you can live well on 650 to 950 euros a month, below the national band. Rooms and small flats are strikingly affordable, onsen entry is often just a few hundred yen, and a filling meal at a local diner costs little. The main expense is travel off the island for weekends.

• Flats are cheap by Japanese standards, often 25,000-45,000 yen a month for a small place near APU.
• Neighbourhood onsen cost around 100-300 yen; buy a spa pass to sample several.
• Eat at a teishoku diner or the APU cafeteria for a full meal on a small budget.

First-year international students often start in AP House, the university's international dormitories, which are an easy, social landing; after that many move to private flats in the town below. Look around Beppu Station, Kamegawa or Jumonjibaru near campus, and factor in the APU shuttle bus when choosing. Rents are low, but check the commute up the hill.

• AP House dorms are the simplest first-year option and a great way to make friends.
• Private flats near Beppu Station or Kamegawa are cheap; check shuttle-bus access to APU.
• The Beppu Studcasa group is useful for flats and picking up departing students' furniture.

Beppu is small but hilly, and the campus sits high above town, so the Kamenoi buses (Oita Kotsu) and the APU shuttle are your lifelines; a bike works in the flat coastal parts but not for the climb to APU. The JR Nippō line links you to Oita city in about fifteen minutes and up and down the coast. An IC card like SUGOCA works on trains and most buses.

• Use the APU shuttle and Kamenoi buses to get up the hill to campus.
• The JR Nippō line reaches Oita city in about 15 minutes for shopping and more nightlife.
• Tap a SUGOCA IC card on trains; a bike suits the flat seafront but not the campus climb.

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) is the reason most exchange students come, a bilingual campus where classes run in English and Japanese, with strong programmes in international relations, management and tourism. The atmosphere is genuinely global and supportive, ideal if your Japanese is a work in progress, and there are dedicated Japanese-language tracks. Beppu University offers more traditional Japanese-taught options.

• APU teaches in both English and Japanese, so you can study even as a Japanese beginner.
• Take advantage of APU's Japanese-language classes to level up while you're there.

For a full semester you'll need a Student visa, and the reality depends on your nationality, but the shape is broadly the same. Your host university applies for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) on your behalf inside Japan, which can take 1–2 months. Once it arrives, you take it to a Japanese embassy or consulate at home and they issue the visa, usually within a week and often free or cheap.

At the airport you're handed a Residence Card ('zairyu' card), carry it at all times. Within 14 days you must register your address at the local city hall and enrol in National Health Insurance (around ¥1,500–2,000/month, covering 70% of medical costs). Want a part-time job? Apply for 'permission to engage in activity other than that permitted' and you're cleared for up to 28 hours a week.

• Student visa needs a COE, your uni applies, allow 1–2 months
• Register at city hall and join health insurance within 14 days
• Work permit clears you for up to 28 hours/week part-time

Beppu's food is Oita comfort cooking: toriten (light chicken tempura), cold reimen noodles, and jigoku-mushi, where you steam your own seafood and vegetables over natural hot-spring vents. The famous 'hells' (jigoku) are vividly coloured hot springs you tour rather than bathe in, and onsen etiquette is part of daily life. Bungo beef is the local splurge.

• Cook your own lunch at a jigoku-mushi kobo, steaming it over hot-spring vents.
• Try toriten, Oita-style chicken tempura, at a local teishoku restaurant.
• Learn onsen etiquette early: wash thoroughly before entering, and go in with no swimwear.

Jumonjibaru up on the plateau is the campus neighbourhood and where much student housing sits, while Kannawa is the atmospheric onsen quarter wreathed in steam. The Beppu Station area is the town's flat, convenient centre for shops and cheap eats, and Kamegawa along the coast is quieter and cheap. Choose between being near campus or near the seafront and shops.

• Jumonjibaru: closest to APU and full of student flats and dorms.
• Beppu Station area: flat, central and handy for shops, buses and trains.
• Kannawa: steamy, scenic onsen district if you want the classic Beppu atmosphere.

Beppu is a fine base for Kyushu. The upscale onsen town of Yufuin is under an hour inland, Oita city just fifteen minutes, and Fukuoka, Kyushu's big city, about two hours by bus or train. Further out lie the Aso volcanic caldera, the stone Buddhas of the Kunisaki peninsula, and the ropeway up Mt Tsurumi for coastal views.

• Yufuin (under an hour) pairs a charming onsen town with mountain scenery.
• Fukuoka is about two hours away for a proper city fix and nightlife.
• Ride the Mt Tsurumi ropeway for views over Beppu Bay.

Embrace the onsen and learn the etiquette early, a small towel, wash before you soak, and be aware tattoos can bar entry at some baths. Budget for travel off the island, since Beppu's charm is its smallness and you will want city weekends. Winters are milder than the mainland but the campus hill gets windy and cold, so pack a proper jacket.

• Carry a small onsen towel and follow bathing etiquette; check tattoo policies in advance.
• Set aside money for weekend trips to Fukuoka or beyond, the town itself is small.
• The APU hilltop is colder and windier than the seafront; bring warm layers.