Japan Foundation Kansai

Sponsor: The Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai

Program: Japanese-Language for Specialists in Cultural and Academic Field, 2 months or 6 months.

Duration:
June 17, 2009- August 14, 2009 (2 months)
June 17, 2009 - December 16, 2009 (6 months)- I am in this program.
Participants: graduate students, librarians, and researchers.
--- 6-month program participants: 15 people total = 6 Koreans, 2 Chinese, 2 Americans (Carla and I, both from UC Santa Cruz!), 2 Spaniards, 1 Indian, 1 Mexican, and 1 Polish.
--- 2-month program participants: 30 people, include American, Azerbaijan, Bangali, Bulgarian, Canadian, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Kazakh, Koreans, Russian, Ukranian, and Vietnamese.

Shelter: Provided by the Institute, free. Each person has their own room with a full bathroom, a refrigerator, hot water pot, plate, mug, drinking glass, spoon, fork, food tray, safety box, book shelf, clothes cabinets, television with video player, cassette tape-CD-radio player, alarm clock, phone, desk, chair, lamp, alarm clock, and mirrors.

Food: Provided by the Institute's cafeteria, free.

Kitchen: has everything you need to cook your own food- pots, pans, utensils, bowls, plates, etc. Free of charge.

Laundry: free wash and dry.

Study lounge: computers, language books in various languages, participant's mail box, movie and other videos, and manga.

Library: free with over 40,000 books. We can also obtain books from university and library books from all over Japan through inter-library loan.

Gym: small but sufficient; tennis and ping pong rackets for borrowing free of charge.

Lounge: sofa, table, and massage chair.

Karaoke room: big flat screen karaoke machine with multiple languages, tables, chairs, and massage chair.

Bicycle usage: free.

Shop: sell books, especially Japanese language books, at 10% off. Also sell other daily supplies, stamps and few souvenir. Fax and dry clean services are also provided.

Other: visa application free, alien registration free (professional photo included).

Grants: Some money on the move-in day; 40% of food money are in cash deposited in the bank; travel money for research is also available.

Everything is in this 18-floor building.