Japanese schools in Tokyo
 

I'm a 33 year old Englishman looking to study Japanese for 2 years in Tokyo from next April. I will also be living with my Japanese girlfriend in Shinjuku.

I've been casually studying Japanese 1 day a week (for 2 hours, after work) at a language school in London for nearly 2 years now but have never taken a JLPT test (and no college/university degree).

I've heard that schools in Japan who cater for the majority of Chinese/Korean students are not ideal, as many of the students have a broad knowledge of the language/kanji and therefore can progress at a faster rate.

My questions are, can anyone recommend any good Japanese schools in Tokyo which cater more for the English speaking/European students?

Also, is a college/university degree or a pass in a JLPT test necessary before applying for a Japanese school?

Your assistance would be helpful.

Schools have many levels and many different courses. You could go for one to one lessons. I have studied in one of the schools in central Tokyo back in 2002 for nearly 2 year period (KAI Japanese language school), so I am telling you this from personal exp. They pissed me off at certtain point, however, I met there some really good teachers.

Studying with Chinese and Koreans will give you a good reason to study your butt off. Chinese will have issues with grammar, and Koreans with learning kanji. You will have problems wit both, so it may be challanging, but where is the fun without a challange.

Last thing. If you do not hve the time to devote the whole day to studying, you won't progress as fast as you should. I remember studying 10h plus a day sometimes. Koreans could not catch up with the kanji ;-).

Thanks for your reply.

One to one lessons would be an additional burden on my finances so I'm just looking for a 2 year course. In what way did the school piss you off?

What kind of Visum did you had to stay so long?

@Japan12WHU - well that was hell of a long time ago, but I think I went for 1 month vacations to Thailand and was late few days with telling them that I am gonna stay for the last term (that was after spending truckload of cash for the school already) and they filled my spot with someone, without even mailing me. So that really pissed me off. I would not go back to that school. Though as I said, the level was good, and teachers strict, which is a plus.

I am not sure I understand. Are you asking on what visa I stayed so long?
That time I had a school visa, but changed to long term resident in a middle of it.

Try checking out Waseda University.
My bf took a month japanese language course there a few years back.