There are tons of schools out there, and everyone recommends a different one, the most reoccouring I see are Kai and ISI. I can barely afford ISI, and Kai is way too expensive.
This is a lot of money for me, so I want to be extra careful on which one I choose, but the more careful I become the harder finding the right one gets.
I’ve been looking at the ones on gogonihon, but for example, I still haven’t decided which intensity to choose. I want to learn Japanese in a fast way, but I also need to work part time, so, is the middle intensity enough? But then, the most popular schools are the ones with high intensities, agh.
I haven’t even decided on the location. I don’t really care where it is as long as it’s in a biggish city, so that I won’t need to travel too far in order to buy electronics or something (I always lived in small towns, so a bit of a trauma)
So, uhm, I don’t really know what I’m asking for here, I guess advice on how to find a good school? Or what you heard about certain popular schools, and so on.
I guess the stuff I want is,
\-800k yen or less for 12 months (can go a bit above, can’t go near 900k),
\-It’d be really nice if it had at least some diversity, so I won’t stick out among Chinese dudes and be lonely.
\-I would love to study in Japan afterwards, so, it’d be nice if the school could help with that.
\-Input heavy, as I have a lot of faith in it
\-Cheap housing in the area would be fantastic, I don’t care to have roommates, so I’m expecting to pay around 35k a month, don’t know if that’s possible though.
\-Job availability is important too.
3 comments
Hi,
I joined in June a school in my area in Kawagoe (in Saitama), about 40 minutes by train to Tokyo. The price is 50k yens per month, so even with some fees they added it is less than 800k per year. I work full time as a programmer (I have flexible time), but the other student have a part time job, which was found by the school – it’s hard though, they work at night – and they live in dormitories, provided by the school. My class has only two Chinese, the rest of the students are from Mongolia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Russia and France (me), but this can change when they get new students. They also help to prepare for the EJU (but I am not really interested in that).
The classes themselves are OK (I think), but my level is low so I guess the quality for this level would be similar everywhere.
If you are interested, this is the url of my school: http://seikouschool.jp/ feel free to DM me if you want some more info.
I live in Japan in a farming town of 3,000 and have to drive over an hour to get to the nearest electronic store. Believe me, any place that small is too small to have a language school lol. You should be fine to pick anywhere location-wise. The most rural situation you’ll run into is having to catch a bus to the train station.
As far as housing costs go, that’s quite low for a Tokyo apartment. It is doable, but you’d be looking at a pretty small, older 1K (read: studio) further out from the city center. It might be more financially feasible to look at other cities.
What’s your current level? Unless you’re interested in a program taught in English, I’m not sure that it’s feasible to go from 0 to university level in one year. If you already have some Japanese experience, then be sure to look for schools that have university entrance prep programs.
I don’t have any recommendations for specific school, but hopefully that gives you some things to consider
Arc Acadmey Kyoto is a good option for you.
Living is cheaper then big citys for a private apartment. However finding a place for that price is going to be a little rough so id suggest going just a little above your price point.
Higher education in the area.
Osaka (30-40 minutes by train) has some diversity and all your tech needs. Kyoto most likely has some tech stuff as well.
Jobs are pretty openly available in Kyoto especially for those of us who speak and understand English, as its a tourist location. With Japan borders slowly opening back the jobs will start to be in more demand again.