<p>He will have a great time. I just spent the summer interning at a Japanese company (I’m a college senior) and it was a great experience. If you have any questions about living in Japan, feel free to PM me. </p>
<p>My mother and I used skype, and it worked pretty well. However, keep in mind that the time difference makes calls reasonably difficult. I usually ended up staying up late ~12 PM (I woke up at 6 AM for work) to talk to my mother, for whom it was early morning. You might find that scheduling a time to talk works better for you, depending on his schedule. </p>
<p>I also posted all my pictures on Facebook (over 1000 of them, :p) and I know my family liked to be able to see them.</p>
<p>Reminds me of how my mother-in-law would consistently call from India at around 3:30 am- 11 1/2 hour time difference and back then she would be using a commercial long distance phone service downstairs during its business hours before they had a phone of their own (1980’s into the '90’s). At least H was usually home then (sometimes on call to hospital so I had to reach over for the then sometimes corded phone…). Had forgotten about time zones.</p>
<p>Hi, Ronala–I’m sorry you are having a tough time. As other posters have said, your son will have a great experience (but be prepared for some homesickness and ups and downs the first few weeks!) My D is studying in Zurich this semester; her brother studied in Germany a couple of years ago. A couple of suggestions: send him with an international phone card and all the necessary instructions and have your own passport up-to-date. My D’s dorm was experiencing internet problems for the first week she was there, and the easiest way to communicate was to find a pay phone and use the calling card (or use the calling card with her cell phone, once she got one.) Using Skype has been great since then, but we were glad we had plan B. As for my second suggestion, having your own passport up-to-date, you hope you don’t have to use it for a quick trip if something goes wrong, but it feels better to me to have my passport available in case of an emergency.</p>
<p>I certainly don’t want to add to any angst, but it might (for me it does) make you feel better if you track his flight/s. Last year when My D was abroad I tracked her flights all over Europe and between here and there. </p>