As you all know, the Spring 2009 semester begins on Monday, January 19. All students should arrive by January 16, at least three days before the semester begins (no weekend arrivals please).  Feel free however, to come even earlier if you’d like to have some time to explore Kyoto. We will be happy to set you up in your room and give you ideas for interesting excursions around Kyoto. Please let us know as soon as you have made your flight arrangements so that we can have a shuttle waiting for you at the airport to take you to your accommodations.

We require all students to learn the Japanese scripts known as hiragana and katakana before arriving in Japan. Don’t panic, these aren’t the pictographs that number in the thousands called kanji but are two types of simpler syllabaries, somewhat similar to our alphabet. You can easily learn to recognize and write these with about 20 to 25 hours of self study. They are quite easy to learn when spread out over several weeks but students who have tried to learn them on the plane, or in their first days in Japan have found them somewhat overwhelming. Spaced out over the course of the next few weeks, you can easily learn them with only minimal daily practice. Knowledge of these simple letters will give you a huge advantage in terms of ordering in restaurants and basic reading of signs. The best way to learn is through the following websites where you will find printable flash cards and lessons on how to read and write these letters.

http://www.jsnw.org.uk/features.htm

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/japanese/japanese.htm

We will be sending you more information and study tips by email so please make sure that you check the email account that you supplied to Global College and this website on a regular basis. In the meantime, please write and let us know whether and for how long you have studied Japanese in the past, and provide us with your flight information.  If you haven’t gotten your visa documents in yet, please submit them as soon as possible.