1. I studied for 1 year's worth of Japanese at the U before going to Japan. I took these courses the summer before I left for Japan, so 1 year's work of classes were compressed into 2.5 months. It was a very intense summer of preparation, but it allowed me to fare much better than the other students that also went. With this amount of studying, I still felt comfortable exploring on my own and even traveling to other cities around Japan by myself. In an ideal situation, I would have studied Japanese for at least 2 years in college and I would recommend that as best. My reasons for recommending at least 2 years are many, but primarily that it offers more opportunities to meet Japanese friends and develop relationships. Of course, it all depends on what you want to get out of your experience. If meaningful relationships aren't important to you, you'll be completely fine with 1 year's worth.

2. I spent 1 semester (3 months) in Japan. If you can deal with being away from home for longer, I'd recommend going for a full school year.

3. I chose this program because 1)It was too late to go through the U's program with Sophia University in Tokyo, 2)It was quite inexpensive (About $5000 when I went) 3)It was facilitated by UW-Platteville (http://www.uwplatt.edu/studyabroad/japan/index.html) meaning that I would have very little trouble getting credits to transfer back here.

4. -Housing was included, so that wasn't a concern. Transportation to school was about $5-15/month. There is a free bus that will get you to to school most of the time. Other students have a different experience and spent about $3/day getting to and from school, so it all depends. You can get just about anywhere in Nagasaki via the street car system which costs $1/ride. Therefore, I would guess that I spent about $40/month on transportation around town since I traveled quite a bit.

-If you live in a homestay, breakfast and dinner will be included so you really only have to worry about lunch. The school cafeteria has a relatively limited selection, but has really inexpensive, really tasty lunches. You can get a lunch for $3.5-$6 there meaning you'll be paying about $70-120/month. -That just covers weekdays. Lunches on weekend cost a little bit more since you'll be going to a restaurant. It'll be about $5-10/meal so an extra $40-80. In total, food (not including going out at night or to restaurant for dinner with friends) will cost you about $110-200.

-Other expenses include sightseeing, which is fairly inexpensive. You can go to just about any sightseeing attraction for about $5.

-Going out is expensive. A nomihoudai (all you drink bar w/dinner) will run about $20/2 hours. A movie is a minimum of $15/ticket (w/student discount). Plan to have at least $200/month for going out. One really great way to have fun is to go to a nearby island called Iwojima. Iwojima has a great hot-springs resort for cheap during the off season. You can get a 6 person villa (that includes the hot-spring) for $100/night. Split it up and you've got a fun cheap weekend.

5. I lived in a homestay and as far as I'm concerned, it is the ONLY way to go. Of course there are other options, but I think that a homestay allows for the richest experience. If you are male, I would not recommend going to the dormitory. It is really more of a boarding house and really isn't that comfortable of an experience. I lived there for a weekend, and trust me, the homestay is far better.

6. In Japan, I took Japanese Economics, Japanese Business Practices, Aikido (martial arts), Japanese, and Japanese History. The classes were ok, but I regret not taking Japanese Culture. Like I said before, the classes transferred easily because they transferred through UW-Platteville.

7. Overall, the classes were extraordinarily easy. You can easily get an A in all of them if you show up and complete the work. (Attendance is graded.)

That said, I think that this is a good place to talk about the school. Nagasaki gaidai really did not feel like a university when I went there. It felt like a junior college. In fact, it has only been a 4 year university for 3 years. Around town, the school really doesn't have the greatest reputation. Not that it has a bad reputation, it simply isn't regarded as highly as Nagasaki Daigaku.

8. Firstly, don't wait for people to approach you, force yourself to meet people. Also, get out of you comfort zone and try and stay away from the other Americans. If you do this, it is really easy to make Japanese friends. I also made many Chinese and Korean friends who were also studying at the university this way. It was interesting because Japanese was our common language.

Join some clubs on campus, it is a guaranteed way to meet Japanese students.

9. Japanese was spoken much more often than English (but the classes were in English). You can get by for the most part without much Japanese, but some people so not understand any English.

10. I would recommend going to Japan to anybody. You should definitely go if you have the chance. I would also recommend going to Nagasaki, it is a beautiful city with lots to see. I wouldn't, however, recommend going on this program because the school really wasn't that great. That is really my only reason. The staff was very accommodating, but the material covered wasn’t very fulfilling. Also, I don’t feel like I learned ANY Japanese from my classes. That part was frustrating because the class moved excruciatingly slow if you had any experience with the Japanese language. Bottom line is Japan was great, but I’m sure that better programs exist.