Hello everyone, I’m an American college student (economics major) who decided to study in Japan during spring 2026 a few months ago. I have never left the USA but decided to commit myself seriously to learning the language and going, since I probably won’t ever have this opportunity again. The issue is there are 4 different programs I have to choose between. My options are Tokyo (January-May at Temple university, probably living in the shinjuku area), Yokohama (March-July on the southern edge of the city), Nagoya (January-June, very intense academic program), or Osaka (January-June on the far northeast edge of the city). I’m going to be taking a pretty intense Japanese class before I go to learn as much of the language as possible, but I probably won’t be able to hold a conversation when I first get there. My priorities are finding friends there (I’ve heard it’s pretty hard so I’m concerned) and improving my language skills by being immersed in Japanese. What do you guys think about each city? I can give more details if necessary. Thanks!
by TwitterUser47