Lonely and Isolating program May 19, 2026

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The Japanese classes were very academically rigorous... if you manage to test/ negotiate your way into the Japanese level you belong in. Many MANY students end up in language courses below their actual level because the university doesn't like the look of people failing their classes as international students. I'm talking people in advanced level Japanese classes at their home institution being placed in classes where they go back to learning how to count. The electives are pretty good however.

On-site administration of your program

Did not do much to help students when issues occurred.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I had the misfortune of living in the all-female dorm (MIGIWA). The staff there are not only incompetent interculturally, but often rude to residents and very VERY little to help international students interact and mingle with the Japanese students. Often, international students would be accused of leaving messes we did not, and I can count on one hand the number of events held there. Also, for approximately a month, two of the four individual shower rooms were broken (that's all they had for the entire dorm) and students were instead instructed to use the large public bathroom in the room with the onsen. This created massive lines for the two working showers (one of which had no hot water) because many of the international (and some of the Japanese) students were not comfortable showering without privacy.

Food at the cafeterias was cheap and delicious, with the only caveats being that they are often only open for small windows of time during the day, and never on weekends.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The entire program was terrible for this. The international students are on a different schedule than the Japanese students, making it incredibly difficult to find and sustain relationships with Japanese students. When we arrived, they were about to go on break, and when they arrived for their next semester, we only had about a month left on campus. This was made significantly worse by the lack of events to facilitate interacting with Japanese students. Oh and also we were given a small list of clubs (around 5-10) that we were ALLOWED to join, and while technically you could join more, you had to kind of push for it. Even if you did manage to join a club however, most of them were not even starting to be active until the end of April, aka a little less than a month prior to the international semester ending.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I did experience a chronic health concerns while I was here, and the international office gave me a list of suggestions, but many of the providers on that list did not have any English translators. I was instructed to either use Google translate or a free service for medical translation via phone call avaliable in Fukuoka. The first practice I visited (I had to see a specialist, and this practice DID accept patients without referrals, and I had my medical documentation from home too if they needed it) refused to see me, even with the telephone translator, and told me they would not see a patient who was not fluent in Japanese, told me to go elsewhere, and refused to suggest anywhere else I could go (I was actively ill, they did not care).

Pretty safe area of Japan, people could leave their bags unattended in public and be fine.

My home institution's other programs in Japan are far more inclusive and much better at integrating international students with locals.

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

Cheap city, cheap rent for the dorms as well (all three of them).

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Encouraged, but chances to practice outside of classes were often left up to the student and were not actively facilitated.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

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• Americans
• International Students

• Near the beach
• Great baked goods on campus
• Electives were good

• Activities for engaging with locals
• Integration of international and Japanese students
• Transparency about policies and classes (we were never given Syllabi and often held accountable for policies we did not know existed)

The Academic or Linguist