15/09/2026
Impressions of JICA long-term training participant from Serbia, Mr. Luka Zmavc, on his master’s studies in Japan
My perspective about life in Japan, after one year has shifted many times, and I’d say for the better. A few months ago, I had a thought, or a realization of: “I could live in Japan, if I wanted to make a life here”. Although my integration is not complete, my personal feeling is that I can call this place “home”. This wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t had the active student lifestyle, offered by JICA, Waseda University (and my laboratory) and finally the city (Tokyo).
At first, it was a bit difficult to adjust to the life in Japan due to the unfamiliarity of the place. However, after a few months, I was able to adjust to the new life. My laboratory (Morimoto laboratory – 森本研究室) consists of many students, mostly Japanese, and the later are English program students from all around the world (USA, South Korea, Kenya, Singapore, China, Taiwan, France, India, Indonesia).
After two semesters, I’ve completed all necessary subjects. Moving forward I’ll need to focus solely on research. Regarding research so far, I was able to complete a full paper and attend and present my work at the International Conference of Asia-Pacific Planning Societies (ICAPPS) held this year, in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The title of the research is “Analysis of the Belgrade Planned Bicycle Network”, focusing on bicycle infrastructure and urban planning, in the case of Belgrade, Serbia. This research showed that most of the planned bicycle network in the city of Belgrade has connectivity and continuity issues, on both the macro level (between municipalities) and micro level (within municipalities). Additionally, the planning coordination system defined by the law isn’t respected by planners, since only 35% of the planned bicycle networks in urban plans aren’t harmonized with the higher instance plans (in this case the Master Plan). Currently, the paper is under revision and awaiting submission for the Urban and Regional Planning Review (URPR) journal.
JICA scholars take part in JICA activities. My first activity was a one-day sport event at JICA Tokyo, where we had kind of sports tournament with people with impairments and small children. Another event was training session for experts from the countries in western Balkans. Even though I wasn’t a part of that group, I was invited by JICA to participate. It was eye-opening to hear what my colleagues from other countries had to say and what kind of challenges they have. Finally, JICA offers access to many cultural events in Tokyo and Japan in general, such as concerts, plays, traditional workshops, and many more.
Apart from regular university and JICA activities, one must adopt some kind of personal activities to sustain proper life conditions. My choices include judo, dancing and outdoor activities with new friends. I’ve been a member of the Waseda Science and Engineering Judo Club (早稲田大学重度会 – 理工学部) for 6 months and have been training under Hideki Furuta sensei (古田英毅先生). When it comes to dancing, I’ve been a dancer for the past 10 years, so I kind of had an idea on how to fit in the “new” community. I’ve been accepted very warmly, ever since I came to Japan, and have met wonderful people from all around the world.
Since we don’t live in an ideal world, and Tokyo being part of this world, makes it not ideal to say the least. However, I’ve come to realize that a person can only be pleased with their situation and life, if they are pleased with and within themselves. The outside world doesn’t offer such services, rather you offer yourself to the world and make it a better place or not. I could go on forever talking about all the small interactions, anxieties, funny moments, and struggles, but that would take more time and text.
