Viewing Japan: The Amalgamation of Old Culture and New Technology Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Teachers expected a lot of every student, and were confident that we could complete the tasks assigned to us. We were expected to conform to the deadlines and put forth our best effort. It is a dedicated language school, so I'm unable to actually compare it as a university to the US educational system. Workload was often busy, at times very intense, but as long as you didn't get far behind it was manageable. Teachers used a full immersion teaching method since Japanese was the only "common" language among all of the students, which allowed for a more natural language acquisition experience.

On-site administration of your program

The admins were incredibly helpful and had a good working knowledge of what we needed to do/with whom we needed to speak to arrange transfer etc. They were always available whenever we needed help with any aspect of daily life to the extent that they passed out their personal cell phone numbers to all of us. They took us to the doctors to translate for us when we were sick, helped us mail packages back home, and hung out with us outside of school. They became as much friends and teachers/administrators. The school hosted a fair amount of students, but each and every student ALWAYS got personal attention and special help if they needed it. The teachers were attentive to the fact there were few western students in a school full of Korean and Chinese students, and as such we were scared or had trouble with a language so different from English. Class size for the lower introductory levels was roughly 20 people an decreased when you got to the higher levels.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The dorm I stayed at was less of a dorm by Western standards, and more like an apartment building. There were other students there, but a large amount of Japanese businessmen/women and some other international ethnicities present. The dorm manager/landlord provided things such as sheets, but sundries and toiletries were my responsibility. My room had a tiny kitchenette, so I was also responsible for any food items I wanted to cook/buy.

The meal plan was optional at my dorm; it was a ticket-based system that allowed me to "reserve" a meal for either breakfast or dinner at a very reasonable price. Each meal consisted of a variety of food items covering the "food group" basics which provided a healthy traditional Japanese meal to me. There are a variety of local restaurant options that can accommodate some dietary restrictions but given that Japan is an island nation, someone on a strictly vegetarian diet will have difficultly to find many options. That's not to say they're not there, you simply have to look a bit harder and pay closer attention. There was an amazing amount of high-quality sea food that was always easily accessible, and oftentimes food like that had been caught and delivered to a supermarket so recently it never needed to be frozen. For those having cravings for more typical western food, it's readily available. There are also stores catering to foreign ex-pats so you can find ingredients you are more used to.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

KCP arranges special trips for each semester's students, as well as has a weekly culture class to allow for more exposure to the local life and traditional Japan. My semester's class went to visit the traditional Kamakura to see the giant Buddha, traveled to the island of Enoshima, and went to see traditional arts such as kabuki.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Tokyo is an incredibly safe city, especially despite the fact it is gigantic. There are obviously districts more dangerous than others, but the school's admins go over all of that in the initial day-one orientation so that everybody knows where to go and where not to go. Healthcare is efficient, and if you're there on a student visa you will register for the national health insurance. The insurance covers about %70 of everything (dental included) regardless of where you go from day one when you sign up. The program admins help the students with setting up that coverage at the local governmental office if it's needed, and provide any other support such as taking you to the doctor's office to translate. Japan is a well-developed country with no current special vaccination needs for incoming students, and no concerning health issues.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Use of the language was an every day occurrence: I needed it to function on a daily basis, from things like registering as a foreign national with the government to buying coffee and breakfast. All the teachers were native Japanese speakers, and many spoke minimal English which encouraged me to use the things we had been learning in class. The "average" random person on the street spoke minimal actual spoken English but had a handful of vocabulary knowledge. If I wrote something down in English that I couldn't express in Japanese they typically understood better than spoken English.

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• Dorm

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• Other
• Local Students
• International Students
• Americans