My Experience Studying at a Japanese Language School in Kyoto

 Hey there! My name is Tarquin and I’m from London, UK. I just graduated from class 上級1B of KICL after 1 year of studying Japanese. I found a job in Japan and I’ll start working soon. I’ll be writing about my experience at KICL and life in Kyoto so by reading this post hopefully you can learn a little about what it’s like to study Japanese abroad in Kyoto.

At first I had a bit of a rocky start. In late 2019 when I first wanted to move to Japan, Covid-19 had just started to emerge. Although at that time it wasn’t much of a big deal yet. I had been trying to study Japanese by myself after work and with a tutor on the weekends. But the pace I was at, I thought it would take forever to become fluent, let alone reach JLPT N1 level of proficiency. So I decided to pack my things, buy a plane ticket and quit my job in preparation to move to Japan. My plan was to study at KICL to improve my Japanese to at least N2 level and then find a job. But Covid-19 became a global pandemic and just a few weeks before my flight, Japan shut its borders down. What luck! I waited and waited. The virus spread across the world and London entered lockdown. Perhaps for the time being I would have to put my dream on hold. But after a few months, Japan relaxed its border restrictions and granted visas for special cases like students. I took this opportunity and as fast as I could, booked a flight to Japan. Not too long after I arrived, the pandemic grew worse and Japan shut its borders again to everyone. I entered Japan at just the right moment! Maybe I wasn’t so unlucky after all…

There weren’t many people on the plane.

 I arrived at my dorm, self isolated for 2 weeks, and finally was able to go to class. I actually started studying at KICL through online lessons in London for about a month. It’s a big time difference between the UK and Japan so I had to study all night. I already knew my teacher and classmates, albeit through my small laptop screen. So seeing them in person kind of felt like entering a movie and interacting with the characters. A bit strange but it was great. Everyone was friendly, and not long afterwards I made friends with my classmates, hung out after class and explored Kyoto together. There’s a lot of students from different countries at KICL so I could learn about different cultures from all over the world. I also made Japanese friends through culture exchange meetups and helping to teach English, and had a really great time.

I was invited to Ochakai (Japanese tea ceremony) by one of my friends. It’s a very traditional experience and I highly recommend it!

It’s a bit overwhelming seeing so much unfamiliar food.

Kyoto’s a beautiful place to visit and I’m glad I chose to study there. I think the most beautiful time to visit is March during the sakura blooming season. Seeing everything turn to light pink is something I never really experienced before. I guess it’s kind of like seeing snow for the first time. I visited many popular places like Arashiyama’s bamboo forest, Shimogamo shrine and Mt Daimonji. I was surprised at how empty some of the places were. Especially Fushimi Inari, which is usually packed with so many tourists. That’s probably the only good thing about the pandemic! However, it did mean that a lot of shops had to close early and mass group outings were not encouraged. I also travelled to surrounding areas like Kobe, Hiroshima and Osaka. Universal Studios of Japan was one of my favourite places and I’m glad I was able to experience the Super Nintendo World soon after it opened up.

It’s a lot more beautiful to see in person.

 

Fushimi Inari was surprisingly quite empty.

 

Thanks for reading my post and hope you found it useful! I think living and studying in Kyoto has truly been a life changing experience. Not only has my Japanese improved a lot, I really felt that I’ve grown as a person. My advice is that even during a pandemic or any other hard times, take any opportunity you can get to follow your dream.