Newsletter

Welcome to the Nagano Campus!

From Monday, June 26 to Saturday, July 22, ten students from James Madison University in the U.S. participated in the Nagano Campus Summer Program for four weeks.

In addition to Japanese language classes, the Nagano Campus, which has deep ties with the local community, offered a variety of events such as “exchange classes with Japanese high school students,” “rice terrace sightseeing and mowing,” “visiting Japanese gardens in yukata,” “Japanese games,” “Jigokudani Monkey Garden and Hokusai Museum,” “sightseeing in Azumino and Matsumoto,” “Takoyaki party,” and much more.

The students stayed at ISI’s student dormitory during the program, and they had a very productive time outside of school, making friends with students from various other countries and Japanese students living in the student dormitory.

At the end of the program, we were pleased to receive “100% satisfaction” feedback from the participating students.
In particular, meeting local people and interacting with students and staff attending ISI was very memorable.

Here are some of the comments we received from students who participated.

• I really enjoyed spending time with and talking to the Japanese students.
• I was able to experience Japanese culture and all the activities were great. It was really good to be able to work with Japanese students and make friends with them.
• The weekend and after-class activities were things I would never have thought of doing on my own, especially the rice terrace mowing experience, which was really interesting and fun!
• I feel like I learned a lot and had a great time. Everyone was really nice and the classes were great.

We also heard requests from participants who wanted to taste Japanese food, experience cooking, hiking, and learn about food culture, so we will consider ways to offer better programs for everyone in the future.

All of us at the Nagano Campus are grateful for the opportunity to have met you all, who have left us with wonderful summer memories.
Please come visit us again at our Nagano Campus!