From Bullet Trains to Temples in Kyoto: Selkirk College Student Travels to Japan for One Year Study Abroad Experience

Having grown up in a small town, Castlegar’s Keegan Taylor, a Selkirk College undergraduate student in Rural Pre-Medicine, jumped at the chance to travel abroad for a one-year research exchange at the University of Toyama in Japan. “When I came here in September of last year, I knew maybe three words in Japanese,” says Keegan. “I was thrown into the deep end, but because of it I was pushed to learn the language quickly to converse with other students and get around the city,” he says.

Keegan is the first student from Selkirk to go to the University of Toyama through a partnership agreement between the two institutions.

To help offset some of the costs, he applied for a One World International Scholarship. Students who go abroad and earn credit towards their college credential can access up to $5000, offsetting the costs of travel and accommodation. “Many students who would not otherwise be financially able to have a study abroad experience are able to thanks to the generosity of the scholarship,” says Danny Beatty, Director, International Education and Development, at Selkirk.

Outside of his language classes, Keegan travels every other day to the University of Toyama’s medical campus to help conduct research under a doctoral student. There, the team is running tests using rodents to check their neural and physical reactions to stimuli and identify how their brains process decision-making up until the point of completing a full action.

“A human example would be returning a serve in tennis – how our brains first recognize the approaching ball, decide on a course of action, start swinging the racket, and finally come to a stop after returning the serve, physically and mentally,” says Keegan.

While he is mainly there to study and learn the language, Keegan has been taking advantage of Japan’s Shinkansen (bullet train) and travelling to different parts of the country on the weekends. “One of the best memories of my trip so far is travelling to Kyoto with a few friends and exploring the city’s temples,” says Keegan. “It’s been a rewarding exchange coming here, and something I would encourage more students to do,” he concludes.

Keegan will be returning home in the fall of 2026 to continue the Rural Pre-Medicine program at Selkirk College and hopes to one day become a general practitioner.