I'm planning on going back to Japan this summer for a month of learning Japanese. I'm still in the process of deciding exactly where and when and hoped you guys could give me some input:

1) So far I've only spent extended periods of time in Tokyo. That means I have some friends there that I would like to see, but on the other hand it would also be nice to have experience something new. Therefore I'm thinking of finding af language school in Osaka. But would you think that there is enough to do in Osaka to keep it interesting for a whole month? Or could I get a good sense of the city during an extended weekend visit? I like big cities in general, but my fear is that Osaka is going to be quite a lot like Tokyo and if that is the case I might as well go to Tokyo where my friends are.

2) [edit: at first I planned to go to Osaka YMCA but they are fully booked. Instead I found that YWCA and maybe ARC Academy are also possibilities. If anyone have input on these I'd be very happy to hear about it]

Thanks for any input!

Nobody's been to Osaka?

2) I've heard good things second hand from several former ARC Academy students. You can definitely do the bare minimum and learn almost nothing, but if you put in the effort they ask of you the teachers are very much there to help you learn.

Honestly this is probably true of most, if not all, Japanese language programs in Japan. It's not some insanely high paying job and the hours aren't great so you kind of need to love it. If you completely phone it in as a student then the teach will reciprocate, but if you show a genuine interest in learning most teachers will go out of their way to help. (Disclaimer: I was always a phone-it-in student myself.)

1) In general I am pretty biased against being in Osaka long periods of time, but even I could keep myself busy there for a month. There is plenty of stuff there to keep you entertained during the week as school and studying will eat up plenty of your time and, like most bigger cities in Japan, there are plenty of cafes to check out and foods to eat. Your free time will be centered around weekends and even if you did nothing but tourist stuff you could spend a weekend or two on Osaka itself and then head over to Kobe and Kyoto.

On the other hand you are obviously going to enjoy yourself in Tokyo especially if you already have friends there. If all you want is to see something different then I would focus on spending a weekend hitting Kobe and Kyoto and maybe swing by Osaka for the castle or something. It's so easy to get to Osaka and get that feeling that its kind of like Tokyo except everything is super spread out and super inconvient.

Some people really like the cultural differences between Tokyo and Kansai, but I'm not one of those people. To me Tokyo knows its pretentious but Osaka is even more pretentious and then attempts to play it all off as a big joke. I guess I prefer the straight forward indifference as opposed to the totally superficial congeniality. If you want real Japanese hospitality go north of Tokyo or south of Kansai.

Have pateince, most people on this forum are scattered across the globe.


But as far as the YMCA or ARC goes, I know nothing about them.

As far as stuff to do in Osaka for a month? Assuming you go out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then Yes. Osaka is a huge city. You could bar hop one weekend, tourist things another weekend, wait in line at USJ the third, and go food touring on the last, and still not have seen a lot of what there is to see.