"Kyoto is a very accessible city, and almost everything is within walking distance of the busses or trains. I spent lots of time in the art museums and galleries, and saw many, many temples, shrines, and gardens. With my host family and friends from the program I traveled to other parts of the country as well. A few days in Tokyo made me extremely happy that I had chosen Kyoto to study. Although there were a lot of interesting and amusing things to see in Tokyo, it was terribly crowded and much too busy for my taste." Abraham Schroeder, Amherst College, Associated Kyoto Program, Fall 1999

"Summer last year I was stationed near central Tokyo, doing a three-month internship at the Tecmo video game company. After about a month of adjusting (mainly learning to embrace the noise and to accept the idea of nature as a fenced-in tree), I completely fell in love with wandering what must be the ultimate futurist megalopolis. So much to see, so much to do, a subculture for everything, and always that feeling of living in the center of the world. September came and it was down to Kyoto for the remaining eight months. The sudden silence was striking. It didn't help that at first I stayed with a friend studying Noh theatre, and so was surrounded by the thickest of traditional conservative Kyoto society. This and the new accents felt far more than a shinkansen ride away from the culture of neo-Tokyo. It took a long time to overcome my Edo bias, but I eventually learned to appreciate Kyoto too. I loved the natural escape of the green northern hills, the easy (if perilous) bike ride across the city, and the quiet grounds of obscure temples, all best experienced late at night. The reticent people were a greater challenge, but I learned to adjust. And flamboyantly laid-back Osaka was only an hour away when things became unbearably up tight." Paul Roquet, Pomona College, Associated Kyoto Program, Fall 2001

"I really liked Kyoto and found it ideal in several ways. Not only was it a modern city with all the conveniences of modernity, but it also was steeped in history and beautiful sites. I particularly fell in love with the Kiyomizuyaki pottery with its beautiful glaze and quirky asymmetrical shapes. Kyoto is also just large enough that it has lots to offer, but not so immense that I felt drowned in a sea of people like I did in Tokyo--you can also find seats at Starbucks in Kyoto! Also, if there's anything you couldn't find in Kyoto, Osaka is just an hour away, totally convenient. I ended up going often to western Kyoto, the whole Arashiyama area, particularly around Nenbutsuji Temple. It's a gorgeous area and very popular with Japanese tourists (especially those with an interest in the Genji-monogatari as that area is full of temples and shrines described in that piece of literature), but the area is a little off the map of most foreign tourists and visitors. That's one of the nice things I realized about living in Kyoto as opposed to just visiting for a couple of days--Kyoto is full of 'nooks and crannies' and it takes a fair amount of time to see only a fraction of them." Davon Collins, Cornell University, Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies, Fall 2000

"When I wasn't in class, I was traveling with my new friends at JCMU. My favorite trip was to Hiroshima. We took an overnight bus and got to the station at 5:45 in the morning. Nothing was open so we headed to the Peace Park and ate our packed breakfast. I'm really glad we got there so early-before the city woke up. I strongly recommend that anyone visiting the Peace Park should go early in the morning. The park was so quiet and somewhat hazy, making the place feel special and sacred. We came back later in the day and were amazed at the difference. Instead of the peaceful and respectful memorial-it had been transformed into a normal park with noisy cars, joggers, dog-walkers, and tourists. The Peace Memorial Museum was amazing. Before I had never truly comprehended the amount of destruction. Yes, I had read about it and seen the pictures, but the museum made the disaster real. The museum did a good job of preparing the audience for everything. It started out with a history of Hiroshima from feudal times to modern. Then it described the scientific details of an atomic bomb. Then it described the human tragedy. I was most affected by the drawing/painting exhibit from survivors. Most of the folks weren't artists, just normal people. The amateur quality made the pictures all the more real and touching. A few pictures were views of a river with hundreds of bodies clogged at the dam. It was heart stopping. This is something everyone should see. It has left such an impression with me." Margaret Veach, Millsaps College, Japan Center for Michigan Universities, Spring 2002

"There are also many travel opportunities from Oita. I visited cities all over Kyushu extremely easily by riding the train and on bicycle. Living expenses in Oita are very low, which makes it a perfect city to call 'home base' while traveling in Japan, or even to Korea. There are two weekly flights to Seoul that depart from the Oita International airport. Fares are very reasonable. Oita is inherently a very beautiful place to live in Japan and there are many famous cities to explore within 2 hours of the city." Nicholas Folse, University of Texas at Austin, Oita University, Spring 2001

"Hikone is a small quiet town. If we needed to go anywhere, bicycles were our main source of transportation. It was an ideal place to study because people actually spoke Japanese. My understanding is that in some of the larger cities, you can try to speak Japanese all that you want, but many times the only reply you will get in return is in English. Hikone was also a good location because cities like Kyoto and Osaka were only one and two hours away, and if you really needed to get away, there was a Shinkansen stop nearby. So we had the small town atmosphere, but if we needed to get away, it was very easy to do so." Rajon T. Gilmore, University of Pittsburgh, Japan Center for Michigan Universities, Spring 2001