(Full-time) Japanese + Culture Activities

The location was extremely convenient for good lunch spots, transport to my homestay family as well as many major locations further away such as Kobe and Osaka via the express lines. The facilities were alright, tea and coffee for classroom breaks and a console with old games like Street Fighter and Tetris for recreation after class. I especially liked the more conversation centric nature of the classes and the cultural activities are definitely the highlight of the program, giving students the rare opportunity to do activities such as mochi making, tea ceremony and strawberry picking. Some activities also provided the opportunity to mingle with locals and experience local traditions from Christmas parties and New Year festivities to sakura viewing and summer festivals, which they may otherwise not have the social circle for. Last but not least, the teachers, who made everything possible and who made my experience all the more memorable. My gratitude for Local Life Japan for providing me this once in a lifetime chance to experience what it is like living in Japan with a Japanese family, and Japanese friends, all while being given the opportunity to learn Japanese and experience the culture in all sorts of fun activities, signing up for my homestay program with Local Life Japan was the best decision I have ever made for enriching my life.

Ever since I was young and fascinated by Japanese culture, I have been a seasoned traveler to Japan and have also learnt the language at my own volition for 3 years. But I had never gotten the chance to experience living there like a local and form lasting friendships in Japan with the local people.

Fortunately, after getting to know about the Japanese cultural program that Local Life Japan offers from my local university, and hearing about the fruitful experiences with the people affiliated with Local Life from one of my close friends, I am very glad to have chosen Local Life Japan as my go-to Japanese Culture and Language school.

Throughout my 3-week experience with Local Life Japan, the teaching and practice materials used for the language classes were understandable and useful from a foreigner's perspective. The activities and road trips planned by the Local Life staffs and my host family, were enriched with lots of fun and enjoyment, cultural knowledge, and the most important of them all is friendship bonding.

I would like to thank the Local Life Japan team, and my host family for their wonderful hospitality, openness, and brilliant event management. Thank you for making this the most unforgettable and amazing one out of all my other visits to Japan.

To you who is reading this review, I strongly recommend to give one of their programs a try. The Local Life family will always welcome you with open arms anytime.

Till all of us meet again in Akashi city! :)

This language school was exactly what I was looking for. Small classes with the main focus on actually speaking Japanese. The whole team at Local Life Japan were so friendly and helpful they really made it a fantastic experience. Being in my 50s I was a little worried about going back to school for a few weeks but everyone made me feel so welcome. The classes were fun, interesting and I gained so much confidence with speaking Japanese. Every teacher I had did a fantastic job. The afternoon cultural activities were also really rewarding. I can not recommend this language school enough. I am hoping to go back again someday

I was only there for a week but it was an amazing experience!

I had a homestay with a super friendly local family located only ~30 minutes away from the school.

The classes were tailored to my interests/needs, and all the teachers/staff were extremely friendly and receptive to my many miscellaneous questions.

While it wasn't my first trip to Japan, it was the first trip where I had to actively switch my brain from Japanese mode to English mode when coming back home, so it was a successful immersive language experience.

Most importantly I'm struck by the genuine kindness and thoughtfulness of the people I met, whether it be my host family, teachers, staff, or fellow students. I definitely want to visit again one day!

We send our son to local life, where he stayed for 3 weeks, and the experience exceeded all our expectations from day one we booked his stay.
His host family was incredibly caring and kind. everything was thoughtfully arranged, and they made him feel truly home ans welcome from the very first day. He now feels he has gained a second family in japan and cannot imagine losing contact with them.

Local life experience was outstanding. He learned so much- not only hos first japanese language skills, but also about the japanese culture, values and every day life. Every day was well organized with engaging activities that allowed the students to immense themselves in the local culture.
All his teachers where absolutely wonderful and outstanding as well and tremendously kind, and highly dedicated. our son often spke about how much he enjoyed spending time with them and how passionate they were about their work with the students.
their commitment, enthusiasm, care and commitment created a supportive end inspiring environment that made a lasting impression on him.

The children in his group were so happy throughout the program, it created a wonderful atmosphere. Our son loved every moment, from first day to the last.

This experience has had a lasting impact on him, and he is returning this year.

This was such a fantastic experience, I made many friends and really improved my proficiency in Japanese and confidence when speaking Japanese. The local life community is such a wholesome and friendly environment to be in.

The cultural immersions were also super fun and engaging,i loved living with my host family, we had so many fun experiences together.

My favourite activity was Karaoke with everyone, there was no tension or awkwardness it was just pure fun and the community made it feel like I can be myself around them without having to put on a mask.

Whether you are shy or confident in your Japanese, Local life will welcome you and do what's best to help you advance.

Local Life Japan was such a fun experience! From learning more Japanese to being able to experience the culture directly through events and even festival participation organized by the school, they really do go above and beyond to make sure you have a good time in Japan.

At the time, there were not many students, so I got very personalized teaching from the many teachers there throughout my two week stay. I was able to practice my speaking skills thoroughly, and despite my only brief stay, I had lots of fun and had many formative experiences! If only I had more time off work to spend in Japan and learning the language. Two weeks is not a lot of time in the grand scheme of learning the language, but going to Local Life Japan is more than just learning Japanese, it's about having fun and learning about Japanese culture as well.

Thank you so much everyone at Local Life Japan!

I had an amazing experience with Local Life Japan’s Japanese courses! From the moment I joined, everyone was incredibly kind and welcoming. The teachers were excellent — their teaching methods were clear, engaging, and truly effective. The culture courses were also very interesting, and I really appreciated how flexible they were with the selections. Since it was my first time in Japan as a solo traveler, they were always so kind and helpful, and I can’t thank them enough. I enjoyed my time there so much that I never wanted to go home! Highly recommended to anyone looking to learn Japanese and experience the culture in a warm, supportive environment.

Local Life Japan is an amazing Japanese school, and my time there was so fun and enjoyable. I felt really taken care of and included in all of the activities, classes, and the culture in Kobe and Akashi!
I was picked up at the airport by a member of staff, who was immediately really warm and welcoming. She brought me to my homestay family, and I felt very at home right away. The homestay was completely organized for me by the school — the process was very smooth, and I didn’t even realize Local Life Japan worked with homestay organizers separately! I had no trouble at all with that process.
The classes were also very fun. They were quite small, and tailored to the students, with textbooks, notebooks, and pens provided. The building was comfortable and easily accessible straight from Akashi Station, and you could buy snacks, drinks, and ice cream in the break room outside the classrooms, or at the convenience store right down the street. The staff also organized activities every day, and we got to see a lot of the local culture and meet people! We also went to restaurants as a group fairly frequently.
I’m also coeliac and I have mobility issues, as in I need to use a cane sometimes and often can’t walk long distances, and the staff were really accommodating for both! They spoke to restaurant staff to make sure I would be able to eat the food, and they organized activities that let me avoid walking too much. I was really pleased with their help!!
Overall, the experience was just perfect. I had an amazing time and my only regret was that I couldn’t stay longer. I’m planning to return in August, and I can’t wait to do it again!

First of all Akashi was a fantastic location for my week’s visit. It a small, friendly town in which you get to know the locals. The school itself was also excellent. All of the teachers and lesson were engaging and the teaching material was presented at just the right level and a very high quality. We had many trips outside to practise our conversational Japanese and I really appreciated this as a useful boost to my learning. Out of the excursions, I particularly enjoyed the Kareoke. I did not stay in the school housing as I was accompanied by a family member, but from what I heard from classmates it was really good. We stayed at Hitomaru Kadan, a local Ryokan, which I would also recommend highly. In summary, my experience of Local Life was vey positive and I hope to return in he future.

The classes were sometimes really frustrating because most teachers would just tell us how to do it, but never when to use it or what it means in English. Whenever I asked I got an even more confusing answer, so either I understood from the start, my classmate explained it or I didnt get it at all.
The teachers were all really nice, they tried to hold conversations even though I didnt understand them.
The location was good, close to a station and lots of convenience stores nearby.
The facility was also great, and I liked how every room had different air conditioning.
The activities were mostly fun, but it would have been nice to be able to choose or help decide what to do, instead of just being told 'here this is what we're doing, come'.
The housing was amazing, I loved everything about my host family, my room, my way to school, I couldnt have asked for anything better.
Overall I really enjoyed the time I spent there.

The location of the school was fantastic, as it was very close to the station and a lot of restaurants and cafes. Akashi park was also close. I loved walking through it when I had the time. The school common area has both air conditioning (which is important when the days are 35 degrees) and wi-fi, as well as snacks, manga and switch games so there were plenty of ways to spend the breaks between lessons. The teachers were very kind and fun to talk to, and had great recommendations for lunch places in the area, as well as weekend activities. They would also help when we had a problem.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of people for most of my stay, which meant that it was difficult to tailor the lessons to the people present and some people were in classes that were ill-suited for them. Though Local Life Japan did their best to fix that. The textbook had some errors in it and some exercises were confusing enough that even the teacher did not know how to do it. Personally, I would have liked more speaking practice rather than sticking strictly to following the book, but I guess it's an individual thing. We had a different teacher nearly every day which allowed for some variety in teaching styles and let another teacher offer explanations if the students still didn't understand.

A lot of the activities were very fun, like the art aquarium we went to (it was gorgeous, and had a lot of sealife I had never seen before) or fruit picking and calligraphy. However, some activities were poorly planned, or did not work with large groups of people, especially when 11 year olds were mixed with people over the age of 20. For example origami, where no one really knew how to create anything other than a crane.

I got matched with a fantastic host family, that did their best to include me in their family and took me on trips during the weekend, while cooking delicious dishes and talking to me during the weekdays.

Overall, it was a very fun experience that I do not regret.

We had a wonderful three weeks' trip, and we are sure will see you guys next time.

Die Schule ist toll. Sehr gut gelegen mit schönen, hellen Klassenräumen. Das Mobiliar ist gepflegt und neuwertig. Das beste sind die Lehrer. Sehr aufmerksam und geduldig. Meine Hauptlehrerin war fantastisch. Sie hatte immer ein offenes Ohr für mich, egal welche Zweifel und Sorgen mich plagten. Als mid Fünfziger geht das Lernen einfach nicht mehr so einfach. Meine Lehrerin wusste aber immer, wie sie mich motivieren kann. Ich werde nächstes Jahr für mehrere Wochen dort wieder hin gehen. Für mich ist Local Life weit mehr als „nur“ eine Schule. Ich habe meine Lehrer alle in mein Herz geschlossen. Diese Schule ist das Beste das mir passieren konnte.

The school is located close to the train station and the instruction provided is very clear so finding the school is not hard. The surrounding of the school is also good where you have various options of nice foods, shopping area and even a market area to explore with.

The classes are designed for you to speak more Japanese thus building your overall speaking ability which I found it very useful. The one week class improve my overall Japanese speaking ability and of course increase my interest to further my Japanese learning journey. The teachers are all very nice and patience to guide me throughout the class to learn new grammar, words and also practicing speaking with me which improve my confidence in speaking in Japanese.

The activities available are also interesting. As the school is not too far from Himeji / Kobe / Maiko / Awaji Shima etc, there’s plenty of interesting activities/sightseeing you can do with the school or on your own. And you will have the teachers (the locals) to recommend you activities/things to try on when you are around that area.

Highly recommend to those who are looking for a place to learn speaking Japanese and immerse yourself in the real Japanese culture/life.

Locations:
Location of the school is very central and good to find
Location of my homestay family was also in a good distance to school, without long walks

Classes and teachers:
The lessons were well prepared and a good mix between learning new things and practicing talking. Every single teacher was amazing and responded to my needs - I cannot wish for more :)

Thank you so much, for teaching for me, though I was the only student. I really appreciate that!

Afternoon Activities:
All Afternoon activities were adjusted to my interests, so I was very lucky! We went to Himeji and Kobe city, to art and architecture related museums and even for dinner together. The activities were a good combination with the classes in the morning, to get to know Japanese culture and language.

If I would stay for more than one week, I would ask to maybe shorten every second activities a little to get home earlier, to get more time to rest. Because of all the new impressions and the three languages (Japanese, English and german) I was extremely tired every evening. I think a little time to rest between school and evening time with the family (just half an hour - to one hour) would have been perfect.

Homestay family:
What a lovely family I had! They were so helpful and showed me so much about daily Japanese life! We always had breakfast and dinner together and one evening they took me out for dinner to one of their favorite restaurants to eat Okonomiyaki. That was a great experience, though I wished my Japanese language were better, so I could talked more with the other guests. The mum also made me every day lunchbox with was soooo delicious!

The school is located close to the train station, which makes it convenient to travel to.
The classrooms are clean and cool. The teachers are kind and accommodating and try to push you to use more japanese when possible to help build more confidence. The activities avaliable were nice and interesting. Housing wise, it was a nice experience living in a japanese household and eating japanese home cooked foods.