JAPANESE LANGUAGE COURSE

For the April admission, the application period is from October 1st to the end of December. For the October admission, the application period is from April 1st to the end of July. However, as soon as the course becomes full, the application period closes.

If your visa period of stay is longer than the enrollment period at BIL and you are eligible for the admission, you can apply for BIL. Please inquire us about the application materials to be submitted. The regulation is the same for those who has a permanent resident, spouse or child of Japanese national, spouse or child of permanent resident or long-term resident.

In principle, a Japanese guarantor is necessary in order to apply for BIL. However, applicants from the countries where our overseas offices are located can use the school guarantee system and then a Japanese guarantor will not be necessary. For more information please contact us. For students from the countries where our overseas offices are not located and have plans to go on to Bunka Gakuen University, Bunka Fashion Graduate University, or Bunka Fashion College after graduating from Japanese Language Course at BIL, please contact us for more details.

It’s difficult to start studying at BIL with no Japanese language knowledge. You need those skills at least: You can read and write Japanese alphabets (Hiragana and Katakana); you know basic nouns, verbs and adjectives etc.; you can exchange easy conversations talking about your belongings, life customs and everyday occurrences etc.
On screening of Certificate of Eligibility for student visa at the Japanese Immigration Bureau, it is highly recommended for prospective students to have obtained level N5 (or higher) as a way of demonstrating their determination to learn the language.

Yes, all classes are conducted in Japanese. The teachers will use easy-to-understand Japanese according to the level of the class.

No, that will not be any problem. However, during the Kanji session, students from countries that use Kanji and students from countries that do not use Kanji will study in different classes.

Yes and no. It depends on which class you are in. From September or October until the JLPT exam day in December, we hold class for JLPT every day for 1 period out of 5 periods we have per day. 1 period is 50 minutes. Besides the classes at school, we advise how to self-study for the JLPT exam by introducing workbooks. Classes other than the JLPT class, and grammar and vocabularies you study using textbooks at school strengthen your Japanese language skills and help you do well on the JLPT exam as well.

Financial benefits include partial waiver of the examination fee, admission fee, and tuition. However, details vary from school to school, so please contact the school directly.

Room assignments are made about a month before the entrance into BIL. Check-in into the student house for the April admission is April 1st and for the October admission, October 1st.

You can live in the student house only while you are enrolled at BIL. Please understand that student houses only are for the new students who just arrived from abroad.

We don't offer any original scholarships.　However, we can introduce you to the following scholarships, which have requirements such as grades and attendance rates.

◆Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Students by Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO)
BIL will select students with good attendance and academic results from the scholarship applicants and refer them to JASSO. Current students can apply.
Allowance: ￥48, 000 per month
Period Granted: 1 year (From April to March of the following year)
Qualifications: Students with “Student ” status of residence; students with good academic results; students have passed N2 level or above in the Japanese language test such as JLPT;
privately-financed students only, etc.
For details, please refer to JASSO webpage.

◆Kyoritsu Foundation Scholarship (Kyoritsu International Foundation)
BIL will select students with good attendance and academic results from the scholarship applicants and refer them to the foundation.
After the selection by BIL, Kyoritsu foundation will do screening and select a scholarship recipient.
Only Japanese language October course students who have just started studying at BIL can apply for the scholarship. If selected as a recipient, the scholarship will be awarded for one year, starting in April, six months after enrollment.
Allowance: ¥ 60,000 per month
Period Granted: One year (April to next March)
Conditions: Privately-financed international students with nationalities listed in Asian countries*1 who can submit essay to the foundation etc.
*1“ Asian countries” here refers to the following countries: Republic of Korea, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, India, SriLanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, East Timor, Brunei, or the Maldives.

Availability of scholarships is made known around the following time each year:
・Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Students by Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) …..April
・Kyoritsu Foundation Scholarship (Kyoritsu International Foundation)…..In early November in the year before start receiving the scholarship

If you are currently holding a student visa and wish to do a part-time job, you must apply for a "Permit to Engage in Activity Other than that Permitted by the Status of Residence Previously Granted" at the Immigration Bureau to get a permission to do a part-time job. Also, you must follow the rules given below.

1. The part-time job must not exceed 28 hours a week. (During long-term breaks, within 8 hours/day)
2. Jobs prohibited by BIL are not allowed.
3. During the first 3 months from the day of entrance, students of Japanese Language Course are not allowed to do a part-time job. We would like you to get use to life in Japan first.

Yes. One of the requirements for the graduation is the attendance record of above 90%. It may seem strict but every year over 80 percents of the students are able to graduate. Attendance affects the visa renewal process and your application for a higher level of education after graduating from BIL. Please make every effort to keep your attendance above 90%.