I’m planning to spend a month or two in Fukuoka this late this spring and have been looking at Meiji academy, Wahaha, and GenkiJACS. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with any of these schools, and could tell me about their experience. Thanks!
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Hey, I’m interested in these too. If you do attend one, please post about your experience
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I definitely will
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I was in the Tokyo branch a little over 8 years ago. Really depends on what you are looking for if it will be a fit or not. I think I went there for around 2 months? My Japanese definitely made good progress. More so than it felt like while in the school, funnily enough. I learned most of N4 on my own before going, and was put in the N3 class right away. It was quite a hard regimen. They gave me a short written test and then asked some questions verbally to assess in which class to put me. EVERYTHING is in Japanese. I think some teachers didn’t even speak basic English. There were some people at the front desk that could speak some English but prepare to feel lost at times ^^.
After these 2 months + 2 more months of self study, I passed the N3 easily. But I was also pretty exhausted after 
Some teachers are better than others, but overall I enjoyed my stay there. The teachers were always open to answer random questions about the materials. It was I think half day school (4h), half day off, but with homework to do as well. A thing to keep in mind is that you actually have to write Japanese in schools. That can be quite a shock if you normally don’t need to while self studying.
The cultural activities I didn’t like as much, I’d recommend exploring more on your own if you are not staying super short term. Organizing activities with other students almost always felt more rewarding.
I was put in a Sharehouse by them which was super great. I think a homestay would be great too. My house was half Japanese/ half foreigners which was a great balance. Be prepared to make some compromises for your stay. Living with other people can sometimes bring its own challenges.
The school also had a great balance of students. All westerners (Mexican, Spanish, American, English, German, Austrian, France I can remember). I heard in other schools there might be a higher ratio of Asian students, which might have some Kanji advantage over you. How true that is I can’t confirm. I think it is more prevalent in longer stay schools with learner visa.
The only thing I have to say is that the average age was really low. I was nearly the oldest student of the whole school with 27. I think most were 18-21. I’m not sure how it is in the Fukuoka branch because I think they have more long term students there.
Furthermore, I also can’t speak on how relevant my experiences are anymore. It’s already over 8 years in the past, and covid happened in between as well.
Fukuoka is a great city though. I’m sure you’ll love it. Not the best regarding food (IMHO, others swear by hakata tonkotsu, motsunabe and the yatais along the river) but the weather and the people are great.
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I didn’t go to any of the schools listed but this reply tracks with my experience in a language school in Tokyo two years ago. I had a good amount of classmates who were Chinese who had the kanji advantage for sure. It was fun one upping them in class when I could. Trust they definitely one upped me too. I’m American
Only other advice I’d give is to have a decent cushion for spending money because things may come up. I had cockroaches and a housemate who smoked inside my sharehouse so I paid for a coworking office membership and spent a lot of time there (I got played for sure and couldn’t get a refund for my sharehouse, shouldn’t be happening to you). I would imagine that Fukuoka isn’t as expensive as Tokyo though
If the schools have decent reviews, I don’t think your experience will be too different from what’s been mentioned so far.
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Fukuoka GenkiJACS alum here Class of ‘24
I was a one-year course student and found the experience immensely valueable. I’m still in Fukuoka, in fact, at business school with plans to work in the area after graduation.
The Fukuoka campus has a majority of classes in the “from zero” to “beginner” level (think up to JLPT N5). Depending on the incoming students, there may or may not be enough to form a higher-level (N4+) class. In my case, I came in with N4 certification, and placed in an upper-beginner class. After two months, my class was promoted up to intermediate. By the end of the year, I took and passed the N2. Along the way, short-term students joined and graduated based on their lengths of study.
One thing I don’t know is how far in advance the short-termers had to book their classes. For the year-long students, there was a hefty wait list (up to 18 months last I was around to eavesdrop).
Class learning is based on Minna no Nihongo, print-outs, partner and group activities. You’ll have homework, but nothing that can’t be completed in under an hour. And the lounge on the ground floor is a popular space to hang out, do homework, eat, and chill. I always did the homework immediately after class in the lounge with my classmates. Then had plenty of free time to explore and have fun.
Still true at the Fukuoka campus. Majority of students have English as a shared language which is nice for making friends in the beginning, but can feel a bit like a wasted opportunity when after class no one is using the Japanese they learned 
While there were youngsters, I think in my case, we had a higher than average age for the incoming class. At the time, less than a year after Japan reopened borders, many folks who probably had plans to come sooner (like me) were now several years older. And across all my classes, we ranged from late-twenties to early-70s.
Come to Fukuoka, it’s great. Come to Genki, they’ll get you talking and USING Japanese.
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