赤門会日本語学校 本校 - Arakawa City

I spent 6 months at Akamonkai, learning Japanese from the beginner level and the course was challenging, yet still very fun. Great staff that really help to make your stay in Japan comfortable!!

So, after months and months of communication with one of the people from the student affairs division... Many different applications, even a mix up for the time/date of an interview, causing a false rejection and lots of stress. They decided to reject my application based on the fact that I have a disease, and they didn't want to deal with that. So, if you have any medical conditions and are hoping to apply for this school, I highly recommend hiding the information and not making it a declaration, they don't seem to value the honesty presented to them when I easily could have lied about it, but, my mother taught me to be honest.

Went to this school for 8 months. Their courses are very rigorous. I cannot imagine learning Japanese at a faster rate. The school offers additional services like job searching and finding schools after you've learned Japanese. It's definitely a good option!

poor quality of school! is a school pretty much for asian people, they suppose you memorize everything without questioning about it. the class doesn't focus on the conversation! at the end of the studying period you might be able to pass a written test, but you'll find trouble in having a conversation. the classes are too crowded! from 15 up to 20 people and the teachers have to follow the program, that means if you can't understand one thing they will try to explain again (usually in the same way they did the first time) if you can't understand the second time they can't loose too much time on a single student, so you'll be told study that rule at home. the teachers are not real teachers! that means they have no knowledge about teaching, they just follow the pattern that the school give them, they don't explain grammar rules just write tenses on the board and say ''memorize the rule''. Basically they just read the book minna no nihongo without adding anything. Some teachers are even old, so they do not know how to keep awake a class, they talk and talk and talk making the students really sleepy. the pace of the school is insane! one unit every two days and 6 kanji daily in the fast class, one unit every three days and 3 kanji daily in the slow class and suppose you study about 3-4 hours a day at home, that make working part time and follow the school almost impossible. the teachers never correct bad behaviors from the students! some students have done those course many times (some of them have already the books on the first day from he previous course), so they feel like a teacher. when the teacher make a question to the class they are the first to answer without any respect for the new students, or when a student has been questioned about something and wants to think for a second, they suggest the answer or answer by them selves. some students laugh about new students who never studied japanese and the teachers do not care much about it. teachers often do not correct the pronunciation of the students! sometimes is impossible to understand what the students say when a question is make to them, thing, and often the answers of the students are necessary for understand a grammar rules.

I studied in the Nippori campus for a year. All of the teachers and staff were professional and courteous, even those that I talked to in the main school. They were able to provide the assistance I need from application to providing a certificate that I requested after my graduation. Their lessons are really fast-paced, which is good for serious learners who want to master the language within a short period of time.

Please read if you are a westerner, ignore if you come from an Asian country: You have had a huge crush on Japan for a long long time. You find it’s culture, food, people, anime, and language so interesting that you are thinking about throwing yourself in an adventure studying and living in Japan, and it is only obvious you are looking for a school that fits your expectations, let me explain how this school works. 1) If you have any previous experience studying Japanese they will let you take a classificatory exam. If you are an absolute beginner then there is no need to take it. I strongly advise you to master at least hiragana and katakana before enrolling in this school, or else you will have a really hard time keeping up the pace even in the most beginning classes. And eventually became one more frustrated gaijin. Welcome to the club. 2)Japan can be very ahead in many fields compared to the outside world, but education is not one of them. Education here is based on repetition and learning things by heart, and this school is not an exemption. Teachers are very useful to explain grammar and Kanji but don’t expect them to teach you why things are the way they are. They give you the whole information and they expect you to input it into your brain and don’t question it. If you are a person with an untamed western mind, a curious human being, and strongly believe in individuality then I recommend you to find another school. 3)No diversity, and when I say no diversity I mean it. If you check the school web page you will see cliche pictures of people of many ethnicities enjoying their student life. What I want you to keep in mind is that there might be some westerners at the beginning levels, but if you make your way up to the top you will find yourself in a class of 20 where two of you are the only non-Asians. And don’t get me wrong, it is not a bad thing, but for me was really discouraging having to share a classroom with people who already have a strong sense of their own community, and have 0 interest in getting to know you. 4)If you stick to your plan I guarantee you that you will improve a lot, the school is very strict when it comes to homework, attendance, and test results. They will push you to learn and use your own time outside school to study. If you come here for a short time and want to have fun while you attend a language school the I recommend KAI or ISI. If you come here to find a job or start your career in Japan then this is your school. 5)You will have good teachers, ok teachers, and bad teachers. It is upon how lucky you are. Overall, I had a very good experience in Akamonkai, I studied for 1 year and 3 months and was able to find a job in Japan. Some westerners hate this school, and some others absolutely love it, it is up to how good you can adapt to their educational system. Good luck!

The school is very good to learn Japanese from scratch. However, courses are pretty intensive and you are required to allocate a fair amount of time of work even after school. I have the feeling that the school is pretty well suited for students, but not so much for adults. The teachers are kind and very serious about helping students. You can ask technical questions (about linguistics or etymology) and the teachers surely have the skills to answer. However, you have to be able to understand the explanation in Japanese.

Pro Fair price for 3 months of intensive course; From mine personal experience, I had always nice and friendly teachers; Cons No explanation whatsoever regarding radicals and kanji rules (The only thing you do, will be study from 3 up to 6 kanji everyday by repeating them over and over) Excessive Minna no nihongo addiction, that book is used like a Bible , everything you study/everything you will learn comes from that book only; TOO many week tests = lack of flexibilities provided by a stressful teaching system more oriented on the form and not on the contents; Teaching oriented more on writing than on speaking, I guess because their final goal it is to push you to have JLPT; They waste a lot of time on picky stuff such as writing style on katakana and hiragana; Keep on mind , that when you study such a complicate language , you need more flexibility and more speaking exercises. Otherwise it could be very frustrating.