Get out and do something every single day, especially those studying only for the summer short term. My best weeks were those in which I spent the afternoons having fun with my friends and my evenings studying.
–Ryan Easterling

Be prepared for a rigorous program.  KCP has high achievement standards; I highly recommend it only to those who want to study hard and learn as much as they can.
I spent no time with Americans at first because I took an all-or-nothing approach to speaking Japanese. I met only Asian friends, but after 2 months my stress level was very high.  I learned it is better to spend time with Americans too. It won’t hurt Japanese studies to speak English every once and a while . . . less stress helped me do better in my Japanese classes.
–Brian Metz

If you want to shop, go to Harajuku and Shibuya in Sunshine City (Ikebukuro) for sure. And Shin Okubo is great if you like Korean food.
–Adela Chang

You have to be the right type of student to succeed at KCP and really improve your Japanese. I let the pressure get to me sometimes, since I went for the gamble in Level 2 without having taken Level 1. Unless your speaking and listening are really good, take Level 1 first.
–Casimir Ninichuck

Don’t assume this is a free pass. Studying will engulf a large amount of time for those who are serious.
–Lynn Asselin

Don’t be afraid to do things on your own. Since I had a limited time here, had I only done things when other people were available to go with me I would not have been able to do and see nearly the amount I did.
–Sarah Miles

Know your hiragana and katakana before even thinking about applying to the program.
–Laura Gonzalez

Take advantage of the help that the teachers gave because it really moves you along in the class.
–Trisna Gozali

Be flexible with your schedule, because sometimes the best things to do are suggested right after class.
–Brie Anne Dombrowski

Before you come to Japan, practice speaking Japanese every chance you get. Conversation is the least stressed skill in American classrooms.
–Rebecca Smith

Be prepared to try harder than you ever have in your Japanese classes at home. The expectations are high here, but they are also reasonable. Don’t be afraid to approach staff—they are remarkably helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly, and everyone at KCP makes sure you are heading toward your goals.
–Stephen Moncrief

KCP students have provided wise tips for making the best of it–using the time to memorize kanji, going into the women-only cars and studying more comfortably, “working” their hiragana/katakana flash cards, and so on.  Though talking on cell phones is discouraged, texting is ubiquitous. In such a long commute, the crowds are amazingly kind (though pushy when trying to make that train).

And here are some interesting thoughts on the commute itself: the ultimate hive-mind.

Matthew Messmer on VEWD

Messmer‘s striking photo essay on vewd.org (a fascinating online  documentary magazine) examines the commuting experience.

Tokyo Subway Dynamics

The writer of this piece on links.net, though unidentified, had creative, interesting things to say about benefits of the Tokyo subway plus fun photos.

Subway Sleepers

Fun snooze shots in this photo-essay from someone who calls himself “Born to be Wild.”

Real-World Views

A collection of great tips from VirtualTourist–how to navigate the subway, tips for switching stations, ease of use.  Sorry about all the ads.

Tribute

A fine tribute to the Tokyo Underground on the Harvard Crimson, by Kerry Goodenow.

Inventions

From the “Are You Chindogu” movement (more about that later), here are a couple of inventions to help in the commute:

A hat for holding her head as she sleeps.

The chin rest, for sleeping standing up.

Tokyo Metro

The official Tokyo Metro site comes in English if needed and is a great resource.

Metro Manners

And we leave the final word to the montlhy “Metro Manners” posters.  Countless folks have enjoyed making up their own captions to the posters and pitching them into the internet.

To those of you new to the culture and language of Japan before, you are in for a treat!

I had already been studying the language for some time Even though I was partially ready for my travels, it was still quite an eye-opener. There were always new places to visit, new things to do, and most important, new people to meet. My first few days in Japan were anxious, but once I got used to Tokyo’s heat and its complicated train system, things eventually worked out—take it from someone who got lost for 3 hours on the first day!

Class was a little strange at first. When I started, it seemed that everyone already knew each other, and the other students seemed to be very experienced in Japanese.

However, I used this to my advantage! Once I met some classmates, they were more than willing to help me with my studies, and they introduced me to more people. This is a good way to find activities to do during the weekend, because, believe me, staying in your dorm or at home is the worst thing you could do.

Since most of my classmates were Korean and I wanted to make friends with them, I spent almost all of my time speaking Japanese (our common language).

By the way, student 2 student, once you know Shinjuku, I recommend a place called Yoshinoya for lunch. You would not believe how much money I saved there by eating cheap. =)

I cannot emphasize enough the benefits of staying with a host family. I stayed with an absolutely wonderful family, and even now, a year later, I keep contact with them via letters and presents to the children. This opportunity may be one of the best reasons to go through KCP and also the best way to experience Japan. The more effort you put into this trip, the more fun you will have.

Currently I am a senior studying Japanese Literature. Graduating will mean a lot to me: I will be able to return to Japan. I plan to continue in-depth instruction in the Japanese language, and also begin my translation work on books and video games.

How did you hear about KCP and why did you choose us?

• Referred by a friend; a good length of study for the price.
• Internet (google search for Japanese language courses); an intensive and quick way to learn the Japanese language.
• Through my college Study Abroad program.   It was the most rigorous and intensive of the three programs offered.
• Through the Univ. of Southern Maine’s International Affairs dept.; for the university credit.
• In the CCIS catalog. My university doesn’t offer Japanese, and I was extremely interested in learning it.
• studyabroad.com. After getting into an English as a Second language field, I decided that now was the time to pick it up again, as Japan is a prime job market for ESL.

• Anraku-sensei, Miyake-sensei, and Kawamura-sensei helped me improve my Japanese greatly.
• Kawamura-sensei, Saito-senseii, and Kamisaka-sensei, all fantastic intructors, made me want to impress them.
• Kamisaka-sensei, Iwai-sensei, and Saito-senseii are all excellent.
• Saitou Yoshihiro-sensei is KCP’s most valuable staff member–a highly-skilled presenter and positive persinality.
• Uematsu-sensei, Kono-sensei, and Saito-sensei went above and beyond to help me.
• Anraku-sensei makes her classes interesting.
• Morinaga-sensei is extremely helpful; her encouragement is more than enough to keep me motivated and studying.
• Konno-sensei (because she is KCP’s most beautiful sensei)
• Suzuki-sensei is the best! She explains everything clearly and gives off fun energy for learning. Takastu-sensei is always funny and very concerned with my progress. Imae-sensei acts everything out hilariously and creates a game show atmosphere.
• Konno-sensei is lively, pleasant, involves us, and often deviates from the textbook with real-life scenarios.
• I highly recommend all three of my teachers: Yamada-sensei, Konno-sensei, and Kawamura-sensei.
• Takatsu-sensei and Suzuki-sensei were both excellent.
• Kawamura-sensei and Anraku-sensei always come prepared and keep us motivated.
• Morunaga-sensei is absolutely wonderful.

Previous comments from students

Welcome to KCP International Japanese Language School.

From here on, if you have the discipline to study hard, you will learn Japanese at an unprecedented rate. KCP is so successful because:

Immersion training—Since Japanese is the only language used to teach Japanese, it roots out any notion that you need your English to survive. The more you can detach yourself from your dependency on English, the faster your Japanese ability improves.

Speed—Compared to any normal Japanese college class in the States, these classes easily move at around 3 times the speed. The speed at which you learn really makes the language come alive, because when you leave the classroom you can immediately use and understand such a variety of grammar that it’s nearly guaranteed that you’ll get a chance to use it, even on the journey home.

Teachers—I was personally so impressed by the teachers’ willingness to help students. They are always there for you. The teachers of KCP are tough, but they really want to see you succeed in learning Japanese.

This is an intensive Japanese Language program, so get ready. But if you put your best into it, you will be speaking Japanese faster than you thought possible.

My advice:

Coming to a foreign country for the first time is stressful, especially this far away from the States. If you can’t communicate well in Japanese yet, and you find yourself alone in Tokyo for a length of time, you will have a very natural reaction to find an English-speaking person to communicate with.

However, I have been studying Japanese in Japan for nearly 2 years and have seen that the biggest obstacle in developing conversational fluency in Japanese is to spend all one’s free time hanging out after class with English speaking students. In class you will learn everything you need to know, but if you don’t make an effort to use Japanese outside of class, your conversational ability will not improve.

Study, Study, STUDY!

At KCP, learning and remembering grammar constructions and vocab certainly requires study, but for me the toughest part of the curriculum was of course, kanji. My advice is to buy index cards. Write kanji on one side and hiragana on the other. Do not use English. Remember, it is your enemy here. If you keep those cards and review them on your walk or train ride home, you will find that learning kanji becomes less of the monster it seems.

I hope that you can see Japan with an open mind. I hope you can find all the little subtleties that American media never shows of Japan. I hope you make the most out of your educational and cultural experience. But most importantly, I hope you have a great time, and that you make some great lifelong friends.

Since we’ve started the eZasshi (Japanese for eMagazine), interest has grown steadily.  It’s a great way to get a look at what goes on at KCP, see some of the excursions and special activities, enjoy students’ views through their advice, photographs, or videos, learn a little, and keep close to the dream of studying in Tokyo.

The eZasshi comes out once monthly, and it is for informational purposes only.  We don’t use the mailing list for promotion; it’s just good information for you to have.

If you’d like to sign up, or to see the archive, go to www.kcpinternational.com.

Toward the end of the term we had a school speech contest. I wrote this song for the contest, which was very well received!

When I returned home I refined the music and video about my Japanese language experience with KCP.  It’s a more polished version, complete with Taiko drumming and my pet bird.

Currently I’m back in Japan finishing my degree at Temple University in Tokyo with a major in Business and a minor in Japanese.

For more on KCP, see www.kcpinternational.com.

I began studying Japanese in 2006, at Bunker Hill Community College. My desire to experience Japan firsthand led me to the KCP summer short term program in Tokyo. This experience changed my life! I decided to dedicate myself to mastering the Japanese language and to Japanese-influenced graphic design.

KCP International has a convenient office in America. Michael Anderson, the U.S. director, promptly responded to my emails and took care of all my planning, so that when I arrived in Tokyo all my arrangements with housing, transportation, and school were set.

Now, I’m going back for the full-year program. When I arrive at Narita International Airport, KCP student coordinators will be there, ready to escort me to my dorm and help me begin my studies. I am confident that KCP will place me in a healthful living environment where I can make Japanese language and culture immersion top priorities.

Learning

The courses at KCP cover 6 levels of language ability. The instruction schedule is 4 classroom hours, 5 days a week (over 220 hours per semester). Classes run in morning and afternoon. Students also take part in small group sessions and outside-class study. The level of learning in one semester at KCP is equal to one year of Japanese learning in the U.S. Successful students study 3–5 hours every day.
Classes hold between 15 and 20 students—small, guaranteeing excellent student-teacher relationships. The student-to-teacher ratio is 11 to 1. With 3 instructors in every classroom, students definitely get the attention they need.

I’ll be taught 150 to 250 kanji each semester, depending on my level of Japanese. The level is determined by a placement test at the beginning of the term. KCP has a reputation for having most of its advanced students pass the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). A further year of studies at KCP will give me the knowledge to pass the JLPT.
The campus is the main office, classrooms, a study room, meeting and lunch rooms, a computer room with Internet access, and a sick room. As a KCP student I have a language advisor and a student coordinator. KCP’s English-speaking staff provides language support for American students and also gives special tutorials.
At KCP, emphasis is on complete language education in all 4 communication skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. KCP also uses the direct method of teaching Japanese without a vehicular language: the student body is from across the globe and there is no common language other than Japanese. Most students are from other Asian countries (Korea, the Philippines, China, Thailand, and Taiwan), so we learn with a diverse student body.
Students have to think in Japanese by listening in Japanese. I prefer this, because translating Japanese into English and back again is counterproductive to communication.

Teachers

Every teacher at KCP is carefully evaluated for effectiveness and methodology by active observation and a series of interviews. KCP professors are like no others in the world because of the institution’s unique, innovative Japanese-language teacher preparation program.

My time at KCP has already shown me the phenomenal teaching skills of KCP staff. I studied under Kaito-sensei, the head professor for the American students and the greatest teacher of Japanese that I have ever encountered. She explained the language to me in a vibrant, easy-to-understand format, while challenging my learning abilities and raising the expectation bar. She was available before my afternoon classes to help with homework and practice dialogue. Her presence alone is enough reason for any avid learner to pack up and go to KCP.
I soon became familiar with a vital member of KCP, Tanaka-san. He taught Japanese history and took us on inspiring tours of traditional Japanese art: lacquer arts and crafts, handmade wooden models, and paintings. While abroad I trained in martial arts, and Mr. Tanaka helped me make arrangements. Martial arts training gave me more opportunities to practice Japanese in an informal setting.
I am deeply grateful to the staff at KCP. I was running low on funds and was not permitted to cash my U.S. money order. The post office wouldn’t cash it because I was a temporary foreign student and there was the possibility of fraud. The very next day, Mr. Tanaka put his and KCP’s reputation on the line by convincing the post office to make an exception for me. As a result, I was able to obtain my funds.

Working together

At the end of the summer short-term came the speech contest: one candidate from each classroom would write and recite a speech in Japanese. I was selected to write the speech. One of the best aspects of this event was that the entire class had to come together in a 2-minute performance to warm up the crowd before their classmate’s speech. Out of 20 students in the class, only 4 of us were American.  The project was a true test of our Japanese skills, making for some real term-end acceleration of abilities.

KCP offered me one-on-one tutoring while I was working on the speech. I wrote about making friends—from American students to Japanese roommates and Korean and Chinese classmates. During this period I began to feel myself thinking naturally in the Japanese language and communicating without pause. I managed to memorize my speech and performed it without the use of note cards or a paper copy. I won the award for best performance. That point in my life is a perfect example of how I fused creative thinking and Japanese. I was able to convey a Japanese message to a foreign audience!

Culture

KCP’s location in Tokyo is a big plus—with over 12 million people, it’s the center for academic achievement in Japan. The beauty of my surroundings adds depth to the Saturday culture course. We explore many artistic elements of Japanese society, a great chance for me to both indulge my creativity and acquire the simplified ways of Japanese everyday life.

KCP promotes Japanese cultural awareness with lectures and organized trips to some of the most notable happenings in Tokyo. Hearing lectures on classical and modern entertainment, culture, customs, lifestyles, business, economics, politics, history, psychology, and religion, informs my graphic design context.
KCP’s cultural course brings me to relevant sites such as temples, museums, the Imperial palace, broadcasting companies, theaters, and castles. We take part in workshops on traditional Japanese art forms—the tea ceremony, flower arranging, martial arts, origami, calligraphy, and music.

KCP International’s well-developed Japanese language and cultural programs will help me accomplish my mission to use graphic design for national and global issues.

“Don’t hesitate to sign up for KCP. You’ll have many good experiences, and it’s well worth your money. Go out with your classmates and teachers to have fun. We all got to know each other very well, and become good friends.”—Martin, 2007, Reed College

“If you want a program that will not only challenge you, but also give you the most for your money, KCP is a definite winner. The atmosphere is great and the staff is wonderful. You’re guaranteed to have a good experience at KCP. This is a great learning experience and great for putting your Japanese speaking ability to the test. KCP’s program is great. I highly recommend it.”
—Daniel, 2009, University of Idaho

“It was cheap and the program offered the chance to live in Tokyo.”—Bryan, 2007, Ramapo College of N.J.

“Strong points for me were the price and the chance to meet other students from around the world.”
—Howard, 2008, Western Washington University

“The timing worked well for my summer schedule and cost was relatively cheap. The location was good. Immersion was important to me. KCP allowed me to improve my Japanese tremendously.”
—Kevin, 2008, U. of California, Riverside

“I chose the program for cost-effectiveness, but I was very impressed with the quality of the education and returned for a second term.”
—Sara, 2008, Lincoln University

“It was the best value for the money, it’s in Tokyo, and it is affiliated with CCIS.”
—Erika, 2008, Bowdoin College

“Don’t hesitate to sign up for KCP. You’ll have many good experiences, and it’s well worth your money.”
—Michael, 2008, Western Washington University

I loved my time in Tokyo with KCP.  Here are a few slices of my life then–

Preparation before the speech contest. For moral support, we did a drawing of our classmate who was making the speech.

Me, my classmates, and Takahashi sensei. Level one B class was the coolest class in KCP.

Hanging out with my Korean classmates. It was the first time I ate Korean food.

My visit to one of Japan’s three Chinatowns.  The shrine was beautiful.

This is how you catch a live fish–the kimono is especially important.

The result of some creative fun at the Print Club.

Me and my roommates at the summer festival, in our yukata (casual summer kimonos, in cotton).

Me on a Date wit Doraemon.  He was so sweet.  (Doraemon is the character in a manga/cartoon series.)

But Pikachu just had more game

Break time in front of KCP.

The Takahata wine factory, part of the Yamagachi trip.  That was some fine wine!

A tour at Harajuku Meiji Jingu, Tokyo’s largest shrine and one of Japan’s three “Jingu” (Imperial shrine). The Meiji Shrine is concealed in the middle of the Yoyogi Park. That’s me and one of my roommates infront of the shrine.