Hey everyone!

I really want to go on an exchange student program in Japan, but my school doesn't offer one. Sure, they offer exchange programs for English, to America, Britain, Canada, Australia AND New Zealand. But not ONE program for another foreign language other than English. By the way, the only other summer program they offer is a nuclear engineering course in South Korea, which is about the closest I can get to Japan. So I thought can anyone tell me about a good Japanese exchange program?

I snooped around the internet a bit, and found a few programs, but most of them had terrible reviews and the rest didn't have a home-stay option, which is important to me. Some people recommended going through Rotary, but since I live in Abu Dhabi we don't have a local Rotary club. I'll try seeing my school counselor, and I'll try to see if I can get one straight from the ministry, but it'll be nice to have a back up plan, wouldn't it?

Either third party or through the school is fine, but it isn't the school that offers these programs, its the ministry of Education, and these guys really like English, a little too much I would say.

I'm assuming you're a college student?

There's the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (http://www.kcjs.columbia.edu/), which I believe takes students from non-consortium schools, though I'm not sure if the fact that you're not American will make things more difficult.

There's the Associated Kyoto Program (http://www.associatedkyotoprogram.org/), which again is a consortium but "occasionally" takes students from other universities.

KCJS is a fantastic program. There is a home stay option, though you can also choose to live in an apartment.

If you're just looking for intensive language study--I don't think you'll get college credit--there's the inter-university center for Japanese (http://www.stanford.edu/dept/IUC/) run by Stanford. It is, however, only for advanced students of Japanese.

Depending on which University you attend (United Arab Emirates University), you may be able to apply to Waseda (http://www.waseda.jp/cie/select/step01.html).

Hope this helps.

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I had to add my two cents and say that doing a homestay while I was in high school was the best experience for me. It really gave my Japanese skills the solidified boost it needed

(how can it not? 24/7 speaking, listening, conversing is not only encouraged, but required).

Go apply for a homestay. Look into rotary, AYUSA, YFU, or other student exchange programs.

.

I'm not a college student, but I'll be one in two years

About my Japanese language skills, it's pretty basic, and I think I'll really find home stay useful. And besides, I don't go to clubs. Finance is not a problem either, but a scholarship would be nice I'm looking for a short term stay, around 1 month in the summer is fine by me.