I was wondering if anyone had some recommendations for the universities listed below, next year I'll be studying in Japan for a year (I hope!) But I'm having I hard time deciding specifically where. While ultimately it's up to my university (and my test mark) they do try to put where you want to go. The universities I've short listed are;

Osaka university
Kanazawa university
Kyoto university
Possibly going to Tokyo (universities I can chose from being; Tokyo, Keio, Rikkyo, Waseda, Meji, Hosei, Seijo, ICU, Sophia and Chuo university)

At the moment I am leaning towards Osaka because what I have read about the city I've like the sound of, and I'm not put off by the slightly different dialect. However I found it hard to find information on Kanazawa just in general apart from general touristy information . and wondered if any know what the city was really like?

And just any general thoughts on the other universities.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Osaka University is located in Osaka Prefecture, not Osaka City. It's probably an hour+ train ride to get to Namba etc.

In terms of what universities have good reputations: Tokyo, Keio, Waseda, Kyoto

If you want to work in Japan (as something other than an Engrish teacher) then those would be good to have on a resume.

The only one I really know about is ICU, since they came to present to the top Japanese class in our high school. I'll just list some things from the flyer they gave us.

-Downtown Tokyo half our train ride from campus
-150 acre campus w/ a Jomon archaeological site
-Liberal Arts school 32 majors
-14.5% of students international out of 2855 undergrads and 179 grads
-100 clubs/organizations

That's about it, they just really played up their Japanese program when they came to present to our class though. They said it rivaled the quality of many schools in and out of Japan, but then again it's a college trying to recruit students so who knows. They did say if you stay for a four year education they design courses to make sure you become bilingually proficient in Japanese. They didn't say much about study abroad students, but they said they try to integrate international students heavily.

Thanks a lot for the information. I didn't realize that the university in Osaka was outside of the city so that's defiantly something to think about. I certainly think certain universities would catch the eye of potential employees but then there's the balance of going somewhere because you want to go or just going there because it'll look good on an application. It's defiantly something to take into consideration.

Thanks also CerpinTaxt for the info. I hadn't had anything about ICU up to now. The commuting does seem as bad compared to some unis I've heard about in Tokyo and the fact they've got 100 of clubs is great. The year abroad being mostly about improving speaking and listening skills, joining a club would really help I think.

The rivalry between Keio and Waseda are often compared to the one between Oxford and Cambridge.

Todai is the best of course, but how is your Japanese?

Oh I didn't know. Unfortunately apart from what I've picked up from their website and a few people my knowledge about any Japanese universities is zero to none.

It's not too bad. I managed to scrape a 1st overall for my language models in my 1 year getting an average of 71. I have a good grasp of grammar and I'm officially half way through RTK (as of 2 days ago). Though know (apparently) all the kun and on reading for the kanji in the basic kanji books vol. 1 and 2.

However I'm not particularly very good at speaking or listening. I often talk on skype to some Japanese friends but I'm still not happy with my speaking or listening skills. I'm working to improve it before I go but it is the area I want to try to improve the most when I'm in Japan. So I'm actually leaning away from universities that may sound too intensive. The last thing I want to be doing is spending all my time studying in my room when I'm in Japan.

What's the Osaka University called? I will be going to Momoyama Gakuin next year in Osaka for either 6 months or a year (dependant on funding) so I'm keen to know if anyone else knows much about it or has maybe studied there. The English website calls it St Andrews.

There used to be 7 Japanese imperial universities in Japan, and Osaka University (大阪大学) was one of them. The 7 universities that were formerly imperial universities are University of Tokyo (東京大学), Kyoto University (京都大学), Osaka University (大阪大学), Nagoya University (名古屋大学), Tohoku University (東北大学), Hokkaido University (北海道大学), and Kyushu University (九州大学), and they're still the most prestigious national universities in Japan.

Keio University and Waseda University are the two most prestigious private universities in Japan.

Some other universities on the OP's list are famous in particular areas, e.g., Chuo University's law school and foreign language education of Sophia University are well-known.

But it might be better to pick your university by its location unless you're planning on studying as an undergrad student or going to grad school. Also, larger universities have multiple campuses so you might want to check the campus you're going to study at.

Gingerninja Wrote:What's the Osaka University called? I will be going to Momoyama Gakuin next year in Osaka for either 6 months or a year (dependant on funding) so I'm keen to know if anyone else knows much about it or has maybe studied there. The English website calls it St Andrews.

Ohh, you'll be going to Momoyama Gakuin (桃山学院大学)?! It's in the Southern part of Osaka Prefecture and close to Izumi-Chuo Station. I lived in the area (about 4 miles from the university) when I was a little kid.

It takes around 35 minutes by train from Izumi-Chuo Station to Nanba (難波), which is one of the largest business/amusement areas in Osaka, and several more minutes to the center of Osaka.

The local dialect is the Osaka dialect. There is a slight difference between the dialects spoken in the area and other part of Osaka, but they're pretty much the same and even native speakers can't tell the difference if they're not from Osaka.

Anyway, it's where I spent my childhood and picked up my accent. I wish you a good luck!