Kodaira city and Library

Hi Everybody

I am planning to rent a room in Kodaira city in Tokyo. Could you please tell me if Kodaira is a good place to live. Are there libraries in this area? Thanks in advance. Bruno

Whether it is a good place to live depends on what you are looking for. If you want to be in the centre of Tokyo and close to nightlife, or if you prefer a rural area, Kodaira may not be for you.

Kodaira is an ordinary commuter suburb of Tokyo, about 30 minutes from Shinjuku. It certainly has libraries, but if they have any English books at all there will only be a very few. I live in an area near Kodaira and the libraries here have no English books at all.

HI, Sira, thanks for your answer.
I dont like nightlife. I'd rather study something, watch TV or lying on my bed reading. I like daylife. I also like rural areas, where the quality of life is much better, at least here in Switzerland. Do you think I can find a school to study Japanese in Kodairra or should I go to Shinjuku everyday? I suppose Shinjuku is the center of the city, right? If I buy a train pass Kodaira-Shinjuku for a month, is it too expensive? Thanks for your help. Bruno

Kodaira is very suburban and quite built-up, not rural. I doubt you will find a Japanese school in Kodaira, you will most likely have to go into central Tokyo, although not necessarily Shinjuku (Tokyo is a city with many "centres").

A monthly commuter pass to Shinjuku (the beginning of the train line which Kodaira is on) is 10,980 yen. I can't say whether that is too expensive or not- depends on what you consider expensive!

Hi Sira, now I am confused. Could you please tell me which area near Kodaira I should look for a private school? If Shinjuku is too far, I'd better stay in Kodaira. Near Kodaira there are Kokubunji, Tanashi, Higashiyamato, Koganei, Tachikawa
and Higashikurume, Mitaka, Miiza, all I found in google map tokyo. If any of these are not good, please help to choose.

Thanks again. Bruno

Shinjuku is not too far, I commute there or further almost every day. Again, you have to define what is "too far" and "too expensive" for you- my husband has a 90 minute commute, so Kodaira to Shinjuku is nothing.

Pretty much all the places you have named are suburbs in Tokyo or Saitama which are very similar to Kodaira and around the same distance to central Tokyo (25-45 minutes).

They are all very small areas which are all joined to the next "city", there is really no distinction between them and the majority of people who live there commute into central Tokyo to work. The most convenient (also the busiest and most expensive for rent) would be Mitaka, as that is only 20 minutes from Shinjuku and has 3 train lines going to its station.

If you can find a language school in any of those places, great, but I doubt it as most language schools are in central Tokyo. I live in one of the areas you mentioned, and I go into Yoyogi (near Shinjuku) to take Japanese classes myself.

Things are getting better. I found a private room 26,000 JPY, only 5 minute walk from Myoden Subway Station, it is on the Tokyo Metro area. According to tokyo metro website, a commuter pass valid 3 months for all Tokyo metro lines, the price is 47,940.
I dont know if I will buy a commuter pass, it depends on where my school will be. I like to walk, so if the school is 2 km, so I can walk or ride a byke(if it's not raining, of course). Sira, could you advise me about a good school. My budget for a private school is about 700 Euros for 3 month, for classes 3 times a week. Is it realistic? Thank you very much for useful information, Sira. Bruno

Sorry, the commuter pass for 3 months for all Tokyo metro lines, the price is 47,940 JPY. Bruno

I don't recommend buying any pass that is valid for all subway lines as it's expensive and you won't need it. Buy a pass valid for between Myoden and your school when you know where it is- that won't cost nearly as much. Then just pay the extra when you want to go to places outside the range of your pass- that is what most people who live in Tokyo do, and you are unlikely to spend anywhere near 47,000 yen on transport within Tokyo for 3 months if you do it that way.

Yes, I am aware of that. I dont need to buy a commuter pass for 3 months. I just put it here to inform. Acually I plan to walk from my house to the school. Or I can rent a byke, I have a hard ass, so for me that won't be a problem ride right to my school. Besides, I love to walk and listen to the birds singing, but I am afraid
I will find only cars on my way...
Sira, do you have any idea about a private school Japanese(not too expensive), it seems you go to school yourself. I appreciate your advices, thanks. Bruno

The classes I take are through one of the companies I work at and not available to the general public I'm afraid. I haven't taken lessons anywhere else in Japan, so I can't help there.

I think there have been a lot of threads about language schools on this site, so you might want to look through them or start a new one.

There is not only 1 school in Kodaira where I can study Japanese but 3 and all are FREE, so I will attend 3 different schools in 3 different days of the week, my Japanese Flatmates has already arranged to me. They told me not to sign ANY paper or not to contact any school in Shinjuku. So I will not give a dime to any school in Tokyo, where school are EXTREMELY expensive and, curiously, what you pay is not what you get. Japanese Schools practise an Mafia-like Style where you not only pay for the language course but you have also to pay the Entrance Fees. Human Academy Japanese Language School, a 1-month-3-days-a-week-course costs 31.500 yen+Fees of 31.500. At the Naganuma School, teachers dont speak with you. You go, sit down, and repeat the phrases they speak. Oh Dear, so easy to earn some money!!!This I can do at home in my camera inside my laptop, or with my dictaphone or with my Philips MP3 and delete all the records if I am not satisfied with my Japanese pronouciation. Besides, my flatmates will support me with teaching and homework. I am so happy that I will not take the train everyday where people are smashed in a wagon like sardine in a cane. Jesus!!! Bruno

I'm glad you've found a place to study. If they are free, I assume they are run by the Kodaira city office. I have heard mixed reviews about the quality of the teaching in that kind of course as the teachers are usually unqualified volunteers. They tend not to go past the beginner level either. I hope you get some benefit from the courses though.

Just to point out a few misconceptions- remember that Kodaira is also a part of Tokyo. Another is that the entrance fee the schools want is a standard thing for almost any kind of study in Japan, whether it's language classes, dance classes or tea ceremony classes.

Calling it "mafia-like" is a bit extreme- remember you are coming to a different country and to keep an open mind, as a lot of things may be done differently here to what you are used to. Entrance fees for schools are one of them.

Another is crowded trains- you have chosen to come to Tokyo, where trains can be crowded at any time of the day, so you are most likely going to be on a crowded train from time to time. Again, "smashed like sardines" is an extreme description. I take rush hour trains into central Tokyo a few days a week, and although it's crowded, "smashed like sardine"s is quite an exaggeration, so don't worry that it will be that bad.

Sure, I should keep an open mind while in Japan and my Japanese Teacher told me some curious things but he vicissitues of day-to-day life is not my cup of tea, really. If I could pass the Beginner level(even if it with the help of unqualified japanese volonteer teachers) and be able to read Haruki Murakami and Yukio Mishima, speak with people(It seems Japanese People are very friendly) and newspapers, I will not ask for more. I dont want to speak English or French or German, I want to speak Japanese only. French TV loves to speak against life conditions in other cultures, so they show guards pushing commuters with their hands to get into the train in Toyko while others were on train with their faces smashed against the door glass. Other sexual retarded men try to take advantage of this situation touching women parts.
This is really weird and we should be able to criticise.

The videos shown on TV or the internet of people crowded onto trains are extreme examples, not the norm here. Also these days it is rare for the station staff to use their hands to physically push people onto trains- I have seen it once in my 12 years in Japan, and it was about 11 years ago. Japan is changing.

I am afraid that a few months of study will not enable you to read Murakami or Mishima, but hopefully it will set you onto a track where you will eventually reach that point.

Enjoy your stay here.

Here is an opinion of the kind of classes you are planning to attend that I found on another site, and it sounds like what I have heard from friends who have taken these classes:
"There are "free" lessons available in most places, though they aren't really "free". You need to pay an entrance fee of 1500 yen or so, and purchase a textbook, so even though there is a cost, it isn't very much. The bad thing is that these free schools tend to be crowded, with few teachers, so you don't get much individual instruction, but still, they are better than nothing."

If you really want to be able to read Mishima and Murakami one day, I really recommend paying for a proper language school. They say "you get what you pay for", and I think this is the case for language classes as well. You still won't be able to read Japanese novels within a few months, but you will probably get there faster.

It seems that from others schools we "don't get much individual instruction" either, Sira. The method of sitting down and listening a guy spelling a word...better watch TV, in my opinion. Doing my research, I realized that Japanese Language Schools are money makers, they dont offer good quality service but they charge in a very competent manner and now comes the ridiculous: after paying too much, students leave the school without learning enough Japanese enough. I read 3 comments of Americans who have been living in Tokyo. One lives 6, the other 5 and another 8 years and all of them attend Japanese classes. Are the Americans worse than others nationalities when it comes to learn a language? Worse than French or Spanish people? I dont believe. My assessment is that 5 years is enough to learn Japanese specially when you live in the country. Am I wrong? Is it because the japanese language is too hard to penetrate?
I think I will not learn Japanese only from a school or a teacher, I mean, I have to do my own homework. In this sense, it is all the same if I pay for an expensive course or take lessons from "teachers (who) are usually unqualified volunteers", as you put it. By the way, to pay 1.500 JPY and book to attend Japanese classs seems to be fair.
Despite all that, I am still willing to pay for a competent and serious school where I can progress quickly but maybe that kind of school exists only in my dreams... Bruno

Doing my research, I realized that Japanese Language Schools are money makers, they dont offer good quality service but they charge in a very competent manner and now comes the ridiculous: after paying too much, students leave the school without learning enough Japanese enough. I read 3 comments of Americans who have been living in Tokyo.

There are many language schools to teach Japanese and you have never been to any of these, and you decided that Japanese language schools are all money makers and not worthwhile to go at all just because you've read the comments made by three Americans you do not personally know???

Well Bruno, I know lots of people who have actually attended language schools here, and they don't have the complaints you mention. Some of them do say that the quality of the free lessons is not that good though- what you choose to believe is up to you.

One thing to confirm is whether people who are not here on a long-term visa can attend the free classes you mention- the free classes I know of are provided by the city offices to people who are legally resident in the area, i.e. not on tourist permits. Perhaps the classes you are looking at are provided by other organisations which are happy to accept people on tourist visas, I don't know.

I also attend classes as I mentioned, and the teacher works with us very closely (there are only 3 students in the class), and I get a lot of benefit from it. You semm to be taking an extremely negative view based just on what you have read on the internet- as I said above, try to face things here with a more open mind, because your experience will be influenced largely by your attitude to something. Just because you read negative views about a few language schools doesn't mean they are all bad, or even that every student at that school has a bad experience. Some people are born complainers.

Of course language schools are trying to make money, like any other business- how could they exist otherwise? That does not mean though that they are ripping people off or that their instruction is poor.

Five years is more than enough to become fluent in any language, including Japanese. It is of course relatively easy for English speakers to get by here without speaking Japanese, since here as in almost any country people usually speak some English. I don't know if that applies particularly to Americans since I'm not one.

In any case, you seem to have formed your opinions on how various things in Japan are even before arriving, so there is not much point me arguing with you. I think it is always better to face new things with an open mind though. I first arrived in Japan in 1995, before use of internet was widespread, so I had very few preconceptions about Japan, and I am glad, because I think I have had a much better experience for it. I wish you luck during your stay.

So, by (guest), what is your point?
I am starving to know a good school in Tokyo Area where I could attend Japanese Classes and willing to pay about till 80.000 for 3 months. I try to keep an open mind but the problem is I find only bad reviews and if you have sothing good to say, so PLEAE show off and say it loud.

P.S. to Sira: As you seem to be the only serious and intelligent person here in this Forum, I will take my time to give you a proper answer. I am leaving now to the Fitness. Se you later...