Homestays are carefully selected and offer students the opportunity to learn more about the local culture in a comfortable setting while studying Japanese in Fukuoka. These homes are often between 40 - 90 minutes away from the school by public transport. Families usually offer affordable meal plans that allow you to sample the local cuisine. If you have special requests or diet restrictions (because of religion or health reasons), please let us know in advance. Your housing starts on the Sunday before your first day of class and ends on the Saturday after your last day of class, unless otherwise noted. Learn more about homestay housing
Student residences are more suitable for an independent student, who is looking for clean, basic accommodation at an economic price. All students must be 14 - 19. Your housing starts on the Sunday before your first day of class and ends on the Saturday after your last day of class, unless otherwise noted. Learn more about student residence accommodation
It is possible to live in a rented apartment during your study in Fukuoka, but this tends to be more expensive. GenkiJACS provides some assistance with apartment rentals or you can rent an apartment on your own. Learn more about apartment housing
GenkiJACS is located in the heart of Fukuoka City, the biggest city in South Japan. The city has a population of 1.4 million people, and its international airport makes it an important hub linking Japan with the rest of Asia and beyond. It's warmer than most of the rest of Japan, and is the only city in mainland Japan with beautiful beaches within city limits, just 10 minutes from school!
The school is in the very center of the city, within walking distance of hundreds of shops, restaurants, karaoke and everything you might need. We're also located right above one of the biggest manga/anime specialty shops in Japan!
Have questions? Get answers from Genki Japanese and Culture School staff, Language International student advisors, and past students.
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if the students are complete beginners at the start, generally it would not be possible to reach pre-intermediate level in just 8 weeks of study (and only 4 weeks in Japan). The general guideline is that completing beginner-level study (i.e. passing the high beginner Japanese exam) requires 500-750 hours of study, whereas their requested study program only includes 160 class hours. Even including roughly two hours of homework per day, this would still only be 240 hours, less than half of the minimum guideline. So it would be important to manage their expectation. For this length of study, it should be possible to finish the low beginner course, equivalent to completing the Genki 1 textbook: http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/about_en/about03_en. If they were to study for 30 hours per week, this would be 240 class hours. With 3 hours of homework per day (9 hours language learning per day, quite a tough schedule!), this would be 360 hours of study total, which would put them over halfway through the high beginner course. This covers most of the basics of simple Japanese for everyday life. Given that these students would be studying as a closed group, we would adapt
the materials to their needs, so I think it should be possible to complete the full beginner course (both low and high). This would be equivalent to passing the JLPT N4 level, defined as:
*Elementary Level*: The ability to understand basic Japanese.
*Reading*: One is able to read and understand passages on familiar daily topics written in basic vocabulary and kanji.
*Listening*: One is able to listen and comprehend conversations encountered in daily life and generally follow their contents, provided that they are spoken slowly.
In 20 weeks, at 30 hours per week, this would amount to 600 class hours, plus at least another 300 homework hours, making close to 1000 study hours total. This would take them well into intermediate ability level, which means sufficient Japanese for daily life.
Yes, we usually do not allow minors to stay in any other
accommodation types except homestay, so private apartment will not be
possible. Additionally, they may only study at our Fukuoka school.
Dormitory in Tokyo means shared rooms (versus guesthouse/residence
offering private rooms). In Fukuoka we offer private rooms only (listed
as guesthouse/residence), mostly because accommodation costs are cheaper
in Fukuoka and most students prefer private rooms anyway. The main dormitory/residence that we use doesn't offer meals - they have
a fully equipped kitchen for student use instead. There is an option to hire a cook to go to
their dorm and make breakfast and dinner for them each day at a set
time. We would of course arrange a cook who can make food according to
their dietary/religious requirements. We've never done something like this
before, so it's tough to make an estimate of the cost right now, but it
should be possible to make it for roughly 1,500 yen per person per day
(both breakfast and dinner). For 20 students for a month (28 days), this
would be 840,000 yen total. Lunch would be from a shop, cafe or
restaurant around school.
No problem for a Polish student to study 12 weeks - he will automatically receive a 3-month visa waiver
when he arrives in Japan. He can extend this for an additional 3 months by leaving Japan once (e.g. to nearbby South Korea), to stay for 6
months total.