< See All Posts4-week Sabbatical: Coto Academy or Human Academy Japanese Language School?
by UrbanCold151 on Apr 4, 2026
Hi all,
I'm planning a sabbatical at the end of this year out of personal interest. I want to spend the first 4-weeks of it studying and improving my Japanese in Tokyo, before I do some travelling on the back end of it. The goal is to learn in a structured manner, and improve overall across reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and then sit the JLPT N3 in December (which I'm confident I'd get at least as pass on today if I took it) simply as a secondary goal.
I want it to be as pain-free as possible from a logistical perspective, while making the most of my time as much as possible as this opportunity is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I also want to make friends that I can hopefully stay in touch with after the course - both through the course, shared accommodation, and from socialising.
That said, I've essentially narrowed it down to two options: Coto Academy, and Human Academy Japanese Language schools.
Can anyone who has attended these, or have done research on both share their opinions and perspectives on them?
The questions I'm unsure about are:
**1) Pace:** HAJL does 3hrs/day and Coto does 2.5hrs/day. Is this noticeable? Can anyone verify/deny the fact HAJL seems to focus on extra high-speed kanji since there are a lot of Chinese students? This would be a bit of a deterrent for me.
**2) Class size:** Does HAJL have similar class-sizes to Coto (i.e. small 8-9), or is it much larger? In my mind, 2.5hrs in a smaller class is more effective than 3hrs in a larger class.
**3) Accommodation support:** Coto Academy is very hands-off with helping find accommodation. They claim they don't know, and staff just point to an article that points to agencies and basically says "figure it out" in a polite way. HAJL (at least on the website) seems more supportive and willing to directly help search out suitable accommodation, provided I give them input on location and budget, etc., which is amazing if it's true. It will definitely make planning simpler as I would prefer to not have to deal with the complexities of key money and all that if there's a school who'll happily assist me with that - just for peace of mind, and to avoid any surprises.
Anyone who has attended one, or both these schools - or have friends/colleagues who have and can share your feedback, experiences, insights, or advice - I'd love to hear from you!
Thank you very much in advance.
Comments
by capt_tky on Apr 4, 2026
I've been to Coto. It was OK - quite repetitive. Learn some Kanji, vocab and grammar. Review the next day, then a test at the end of week. Minimal speaking & teachers rushed through the content a bit. You still need to hit the books hard if you want actual progress. Learning environment is nice & staff are friendly.
They do a JLPT prep course for different levels which I found more useful.
by RelativeLiving957 on Apr 4, 2026
Are you planning to take the test in Tokyo? Because that might not be possible without a 在留カード.