Hi! I’m planning to go to Japan hopefully in the fall (Oct 2024) for language school, and I’ve been trying to decide for weeks now and have made little to no progress, my head is so turned, so I’m finally buckling and asking y’all for help directly! Additionally, it’s been pulling teeth to get responses from places to see their trial classes so I haven’t had any luck there yet. Here are some of the important points for me:
\- I’m seeking a two-year program (unfortunately some of the schools that sounded great from y’all, like LexisJapan and GenkiJACS, have confirmed to me via email I’d only be able to do 6 months in the area).
\- I’d prefer to stick to the Kansai area, as I’m more familiar with Osaka and the surrounding region (Kyoto, Kobe) from previous time studying abroad.
\- **Speaking** and **kanji** are important points for me, which seems relevant as not all schools emphasize these. So if you went somewhere where they held regular time for conversation, or conducted regular kanji study/quizzes/drills/etc, I’m interested to hear more.
\- I’m more focused on achieving a decent level of fluency for work/practical purposes vs the JLPT. It’d be nice to pass ofc, but I’m more focused on achieving enough ease to be able to interview and function in an office in the future. I haven’t totally ruled out future education but it would most likely be at a vocational school, not a uni/grad.
\- I’m coming from the US, so schools focused on teaching Westerners/with a more even or Western demographic would probably be helpful.
\- I’ve used the Genki textbooks before in uni classes but I’m honestly not a fan, if that’s a relevant detail to know.
I’ve heard the expected from some of you that it may not be the best option to go to big corporate-owned schools, which was my initial instinct, but knowing I’d like a school that focuses on work and career support it seems like the larger schools may be more equipped for this, plus the smaller schools don’t seem to have as many online resources to get a good feel for them at a distance, and I don’t think I’ll have the time at this point to come do any visits directly before the 2024 application windows close.
Overall I’m super torn and would really benefit from input from those of you who’ve been through it before. My agency counselor recommended one of the many ISIs or JIS (JCIS?) with these goals in mind (I didn’t really intend to go through an agency, it just kind of happened through an instagram page and snowballed, now I’m having trouble contacting some schools directly because of it and I’m even more frustrated). I had also been considering Human Academy as I’ve been familiar with them since I started planning for this years ago and they seem the most responsive and helpful so far, but I haven’t been able to get a lot of details from them as to these points (they also told me they don’t do trials even though on the website you can sign up to view one?), and I got kind of concerned with some of the crowding issues people have mentioned there.
This is a longshot, but bonus points if the school has hybrid options (I 100% intend to go to as many classes as I can in-person — otherwise why go to this trouble lol — but I feel a little safer with remote options to join if needed in case of illness, and I know attendance can be strict on a visa).
Sorry for the length, just wanted to share as many details that may answer any questions preemptively. TLDR: Please recommend me Kansai schools and share your experience! I care about speaking, kanji, and work/career preparation most. 🙂 Thanks in advance!