Anyone been to the Yamasa Institute?

[wintersweet]

Hi--I'm interested in studying Japanese at the Yamasa Institute:
http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/english/index.html

Anyone have any thoughts on it, or the town it's in, Okazaki? I'd really appreciate any info.

Thanks!

[Haivart]

I've run across the name in other searches, but here are reviews of it by students: http://www.dchart.demon.co.uk/Japan/yamasareview.html
http://istudy.iagora.com/Yamasa_Institute/reviews.html
as well as information about Okazaki: http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/english/location/index.html

[Elizabeth]

Originally Posted by wintersweet

Hi--I'm interested in studying Japanese at the Yamasa Institute:
http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/english/index.html

Anyone have any thoughts on it, or the town it's in, Okazaki? I'd really appreciate any info.

Thanks!

It certainly appears to be a unique concept. Is there information on admission fees on there as well ?

Here is a comparison at the Arc Academy in Tokyo which I'm interested in attending.

http://www.arc-academy.net/ryugaku/course/Echyoki.asp

[wintersweet]

Originally Posted by Haivart

I've run across the name in other searches, but here are reviews of it by students: http://www.dchart.demon.co.uk/Japan/yamasareview.html
http://istudy.iagora.com/Yamasa_Institute/reviews.html
as well as information about Okazaki: http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/english/location/index.html

Thanks! I've read the Yamasa info about Okazaki, but the reviews were very useful. It's still sounding really good to me.

Originally Posted by Elizabeth

It certainly appears to be a unique concept. Is there information on admission fees on there as well ?

Here is a comparison at the Arc Academy in Tokyo which I'm interested in attending.

http://www.arc-academy.net/ryugaku/course/Echyoki.asp

Yamasa's tuition and admission fees depend on which program you're interested in,and all of that info is on the site. They seemed on the low end to me, but not suspiciously so. The big advantage to Yamasa is that they're not in Tokyo, so the cost of rent, living, etc. is much lower (not to mention less shopping temptation ;)). That's a big plus as far as I'm concerned, since I want to concentrate on studying anyway, but is a huge drawback to many people who want to be in the heart of the action.

[Drkns]

So, have you attended / are you attending Yamasa wintersweet? Would you recommend it? If so, could you please mention what you'd recommend in particular and what's best avoided?

Has anybody else attended Yamasa? If so, could you please let me know your opinion of the school and whether you would recommend it?

And finally, would anybody recommend a different language school over Yamasa? *Note: Money is not an issue*

Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Drkns

N.B. I have searched the forums for threads regarding Yamasa and only this and one other relevant one surfaced, and neither has any clear comments from people who are attending/have attended Yamasa - hence my questions. よろしくね！

[Mike Cash]

I have for many years been a Usenet pal of Declan Murphy, one of the directors of Yamasa. Also of another fellow who used to work there but who is now employed in Tokyo. If I were going to plunk down money in hopes of learning Japanese, it would be at Yamasa.

[epigene]

I have heard many positive things about Yamasa, too.

In my days (that's about 20 to 30 years ago), many foreign nationals (I know) who made great progress in Japanese language learning went through the Japanese language program at ICU (http://subsite.icu.ac.jp/jlp/index.eng

There may be other schools in the Tokyo area now, with advances made in the field of Japanese language teaching, but I don't know much here...

[Drkns]

Mike Cash, epigene, thank you for your prompt replies and helpful information. I really appreciate it .

It's time to think long and hard before making my final decision.

本当にありがとうございました。

Drkns

[Mikawa Ossan]

I have never been to Yamasa, but I do live quite near to it. I can tell you that Yamasa has a good reputation here in Aichi.

[Drkns]

Thanks Mikawa Ossan.
*The scales tilt further in Yamasa's favour*

UPDATE: I found this while searching for reviews about Yamasa on the internet. The author was a student of Yamasa at the time this review was written, and you can also read his diary for further details.

Link: http://www.davidchart.com/Japan/yamasareview.html