Intrax Deadlines

Japan - Month Immersion

Full Brochure

The Month Immersion program in Japan is like a shortened academic year program. Students attend a local Japanese high school while living with a host family and experiencing the Japanese way of life firsthand. The host family experience is a key component of this program and enables participants to gain a unique perspective into Japanese culture while providing invaluable language contact with native Japanese speakers.

Experience

School is an important part of social life for students in Japan. Japanese students are very active in sports, music and other school-related clubs. These activities usually take place for one to two hours after school and on Saturday afternoons. Japanese students are committed and disciplined in their chosen extracurricular activity and tend to belong to only one club at a time. Available sports and cultural activities vary from school to school. Baseball, the most popular sport, tends to be highly competitive at all levels. Many people throughout Japan follow the annual high school baseball championships. Other common sports include soccer, volleyball, tennis and kendo, a martial art. Popular cultural activities include flower arranging and calligraphy.

In Japan, a mix of Western and Japanese influences can be found in both spectator sports and the arts. While baseball is practically a national pastime, many people also enjoy watching sumo wrestling, judo, kendo, and karate. Western performance arts such as symphonies and ballets are common, but many Japanese are also interested in traditional arts such as bunraku (puppet theater) and the highly stylized dramas of Noh and Kabuki. Karaoke and going to the movies are also very popular activities.

Learn

At most Japanese high schools, classes generally begin at 8:30 am and finish at 3:30 pm on weekdays, followed by an hour or two of club activities. Some schools also have classes from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm on Saturdays.

Japanese students typically take core coursework in the areas of Math, Science, Japanese literature, and English language. Students stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers move from room to room. The average class consists of about 40 students. There is a designated teacher in charge of all exchange students at each school. He or she places each student in a homeroom class and decides which subjects each student will take. Course options at Japanese high schools vary considerably, but there are often three electives offered: fine art, music, and calligraphy. Japanese high schools have three grade levels; placement of Intrax students is determined based on academic performance and Japanese language ability.

The Japanese school system is more rigorous than its American counterpart. Students will find that school policies are strict. Students are required to wear a uniform and there are rules that dictate what is acceptable in terms of: hairstyle, shoes, socks, length of skirt, and use of make-up or accessories.

While only one year of Japanese is required for the Fall Semester and Spring Semester and six months for the Month Immersion programs, the more Japanese you know the faster you will be able to adjust to host family and school life. To ease your adjustment, it's important to try speaking Japanese as much as possible with your host family, friends, and teachers.

Why learn Japanese? Japanese is spoken by over 125 million people in Japan alone!

Program Details

Intrax students who choose to study in Japan are placed with carefully selected host families throughout the country. Placement areas in the past have included Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyushu and Okinawa areas. The family is the foundation of Japanese society and is bound together by a strong sense of reputation, obligation, and responsibility. Adjustment to host family life and Japanese culture will be assisted by a program representative.

Month Immersion students arrive in Japan for an orientation, which includes an overnight stay in Tokyo.

Factors to Consider

Programs to Japan have a very limited capacity and often fill up well in advance of the deadline. Interested students are encouraged to submit their application early and not wait until the deadline.

Exchange students are rare at most Japanese high schools, they are therefore expected to behave well and act as an ambassador in their host school and community.

Be prepared to experience some cultural differences in family life. Japanese cuisine is quite different from that of a western kitchen. Some families may serve traditional meals such as miso-soup, fish and seaweed. Sense of privacy differs as well, and your room may not be completely closed off to others - for example, your host mother might enter your room to clean it while you are in school.

Japan is a relatively expensive country to live in. Students should be prepared to have access to between $300 and $500 per month in spending money for school and personal expenses.

A visa is not required for the 1 month summer programs.

Requirements

• Minimum 1 semester (6 months) of formal Japanese language study
• 15-18 years old (Students may not turn 19 during the program period)
• 2.5 GPA or higher(4.0 scale); Minimum grade of C in all subjects over past year
• Flexible and mature personality; desire to be challenged, ability to remain open-minded and tolerant of cultural differences
• This program is not advised for those students who have a strict diet. While the Japanese eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fish, vegetarian diets are rare.

Program Information

Program Includes:

• Round-trip airfare from a major international airport near your home (in the continental U.S.) including domestic and international flights
• Airport transfers on arrival and departure
• Homestay accommodation including breakfast and dinner with your host family
• Placement in a local high school
• Accident and illness insurance
• 24-hour emergency assistance
• Pre-departure and in-country orientations
• Supervision, guidance, and support during the application process and throughout the program
• Intrax T-Shirt ( girls | boys )
• Intrax Student Handbook

Program does not include:

• Passport and visa application fees as applicable
• Personal expenses (e.g., toiletries, clothing, internet, calling card, activities)
• School expenses (e.g., uniform/lunches, if required, supplies, bus pass)
• Any other item not specified

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