Hello! I’m soon graduating high school in the US and have been looking into different ways to study abroad in Japan (specifically for learning the Japanese language) and have seen many different programs and i find it hard to know which are good or bad considering most of the videos or reviews are from the schools themself and are obviously bias. My goal is to live in Tokyo for 1-2 years and study Japanese. I am also 18 and ideally would be going to school with people on the younger side. I mention this because a lot of the programs I’ve seen have a decent amount of older (30+) people in them, obviously that’s fine but as someone that’s only 18 it would be hard to make good friends with people that much older than me. if anyone has good or bad experience with study abroad programs in Tokyo, Japan please let me know! (if they are bad let me know so i can stay away from them).
P.S. I’ve been looking at EF Tokyo a lot because although they seem overpriced they do look like they have very nice facilitates and it looks like the way the do classes is a bit more fun then just lectures and it looked like there are mostly young people ( from what i researched it looked like mostly 18-25) . But i have heard somewhat mixed reviews and am not sure.
4 comments
The international Christian university is probably quite good for what you’re looking for. They have university entrance twice a year, April and September, with many foreign students entering in September. The classes are taught in English and in Japanese, with September entrants being required to leave the school having taken Japanese language classes. Programmes are 4 years minimum I believe.
However, if you are in the U.S, I have to wonder what your motivation for wanting to study in Japan is. The quality of university education in Japan, especially in English taught degrees is way below a lot of the rest of the world, you would likely receive a far better education somewhere else.
Over the past decade, I saw a large percentage of students in Tokyo language schools were Chinese and Koreans trying to enter Japanese university or trade school. There were a small percentage of westerners from “junior year abroad” or summer programs with their universities; and a handful of westerners who were in Japan on their own accord, mostly after graduating university. Language schools have niches so this varies a lot. I was told the trends vary by decade too.
Just to set expectations, and your experience may vary. But I didn’t see too many long-term “friendships” being made in language schools. Sure most people were cordial but many students are hyper-focused and/or exhausted from working part-time jobs. And many people are in language school for just a few months.
When searching for a school, you might avoid contacting US “agents”; some have tricky websites so be careful. Contacting the Tokyo schools directly may offer much lower tuition rates; many schools can manage the student visa process for you (but some schools do not offer student visa sponsorship so you would be stuck with a tourist visa, which for US folk is just 90 days I think).
The US “agents” might offer value to some students (e.g. those looking for US universities credits looking for extra-curricular activities, etc.). I would NOT assume any US university credits you earn in Japan would be accepted by any US university (unless you obtained a written agreement from a US university before leaving for Japan).
Finally, study as much as you can before going to Japan to maximize your experience.
Good luck!
Have you considered going to University in the US and go to Japan as an exchange student for a year ?
A while back, I attended a talk given by Hosei University out of curiosity. I unfortunately don’t remember enough to go in detail, but they looked to did have amazing student communication teams, and excellent international programs and extracurricular activities for many branches of study.
It’s worth checking them out, I’d say.