I (29M) have recently gotten the opportunity to basically vacation in tokyo for 3 months, and I'm considering taking a short course at a language school in that time. I've read that a lot of full length courses require \~150 hours of study elsewhere, so I was curious to see if there were maybe short term options that take absolute beginners?
I am interested in squeezing a good amount of study time into my stay, so a more intensive course would be fine. I know hiragana and some grammar basics, and I do intend to improve more before I show up, but my study has been fairly loose over the years and probably hard to officially quantify, so we can just pretend it doesnt exist lmao.
Has anyone here done something similar? Which schools did you attend/how were they? And about how old were your fellow students (would prefer to not be overwhelmed by 18-20 somethings)
I am mainly interested in the Tokyo area (I like the easy access/don't mind how crowded it can be, and this is still at least partially for vacationing XD), tho I could be swayed into Yokohama.
Comments
by beginswithanx on Apr 5, 2026
If you don’t need a visa (ie you’re just a tourist doing a brief course for fun), you don’t need the 150 hour requirement.
Try Coto, they may have what you’re looking for.
by zzukohere on Apr 6, 2026
I attended a language school in Kyoto for 3 months back in 2018. I had classes 5 days a week from 1pm to 4-5pm. Like you, I knew hiragana, katana, and basic grammar. Because of that, I was placed in a level 2 class. The students age varied a lot : the youngest was 17, fresh out of high school, and the oldest was 36 (he was an actual doctor). Everyone was very friendly and in those 3 months, I made lifelong friends from all over the world. I thought the work load was perfect. It gave me enough free time to travel during the weekends and enjoy Kyoto during the mornings. If I had done an intensive class, I would have gotten better at Japanese for sure, but I wouldn't have had as much fun. Hope this can help!
by halfkey-jp on Apr 6, 2026
note that full time courses that cater to students on student visa usually start every quarterly, so check if that fits into your time in tokyo and whether theyre still accepting students.
pretty much every language school would have absolute beginner classes, but since you already knew hiragana and basic grammar, you might find the first few weeks too boring.
