Hi Becca! Could you share about the courses which you took while you were at Kansai Gaidai? Any courses which you would highly recommend to take? And how is the timetable at Kansai Gaidai usually like? Thanks! :)
Of course!
My classes included Reading & Writing level 2, Speaking level 2, Japanese Popular Media and Culture and Intro to Japanese History.
In fact, here is my schedule! As you can see, the earliest class is 9AM. Japanese classes are held in the mornings and lecture classes are held in the afternoons.
I HIGHLY recommend taking Pop Media, especially if you’re into manga, anime or dramas. Korean dramas are super popular right now and you find out why in that class. It was certainly my favorite. The history class was a let down for me. While I really like history, the teacher rambled often…it was also a late class, 4:40-6:10pm…it made for a long day. I recommend not taking a late class if possible. The cool thing about this class was that many outings were offered like bike rides to certain temples and hikes to festivals. I’m not really an outside kinda girl, especially in the humid Japanese summer, but it may be something to consider.
Other classes that I heard good things about was ANY class with Professor Hollstein. He taught the pop media class and he is a joy. I loved his lectures and wish I had taken another of his classes. He offered a class of Japanese fairy tale monsters and another interesting class that was called something “yakuza and geisha”? I can’t recall exactly, but I recommend anything with him. Another class was one that a friend took, it was basically an anime film class where you watched a movie and took it apart by discussions and in depth papers. If writing isn’t your thing, I wouldn’t recommend the class. My friend ALWAYS had papers due.
There are ceramic and yuki-e classes. Both looked really interesting and fun, but I don’t have any first hand knowledge about them.
They had several religion classes on Buddhism, Shinto and one or two more.
There will be a chance for a Hiroshima trip through KGU. You’ll get to ride the shinkansen (bullet train). It’s a day trip (unless you book a hotel) and the shinkansen fair is roughly $70, I’m sure it varies, but keep that in mind. There are limited spots, so keep your eyes and ears open for the sign up sheet, (it doesn’t hurt to ask your lecture teachers about it either!).
KGU certainly does not lack interesting classes, there is something for everyone! The minimum a student must take is 2 lecture classes. You can take 3 (as a friend of mine did), but the faculty actually recommend taking only 2 lecture courses so you have time to experience Japan more.
That’s another really cool thing about KGU. At least with the professors I had, they were all understanding when there were certain events and festivals going on. Most were willing to work with you, say if you wanted to be in Kyoto or somewhere for some event, but you had hw due. My history teacher was super understanding and often encouraged students to skip class LOL (as long as work was turned in ;) )
That’s all I’ve got for now! Feel free to ask more questions! :3












