To U.S. students, Japan grants a 90-day exemption from needing a visa. This is considered a tourist visa.

For students staying longer, we very strongly recommend that you apply for a long-term visa well in advance of your first term of study. (Six months before start is ideal.) If a student decides while in Japan to extend their stay, there are two strategies for the visa.

1. The student can return home, apply for the visa, apply again to KCP, and come back to Japan on that long-term visa. Of course, the earliest the student could obtain the visa (even with our help) would be six months. The student would stay for at least two terms under the visa. We don’t help students obtain visas for stays less than 90 days.
2. If the student wants to stay in Japan and continue the very next term, s/he could buy a round trip ticket home (or to a nearby country such as South Korea), stay out of Japan for a few days, and return to Japan for another 90 days.

Students in the past have done this without any immigration problems. KCP-Japan can help a student do this if they need to. However, if a student knows s/he wants to stay in Japan for two terms or more, it’s definitely best to apply for the long-term visa ahead of time. Repeated trips in and out Japan can look funny to an immigration officer. While we have not had a student turned away from Japan because of doing this, one student was warned after the third time.

The best time to attend is when you have time to devote to intensive, productive study of the Japanese language: when your schedule is clear and you can really concentrate on language study.

That said, Spring and Summer have the most festivals; Fall and Winter have fewer (though there are certainly some—the Japanese love their festivals!), so you can concentrate more on your studies. The most moderate weather in Tokyo is during Spring and Fall terms. Find out about festivals on kcpstudentlife.com.

KCP typically does not hold class during most national holidays. For a complete list of national holidays, please visit our Japan Resource site, kcpstudentlife.com.

Colleges here in the U.S. typically recommend that students study abroad either in their Junior or their Senior year in school. There are many reasons behind this, and they are all good reasons. Students should be mature and open-minded before studying abroad. They also should have some knowledge of the language and culture, whether from directed supervised study or on their own.

KCP believes that this maturity does not necessarily correlate with how many years of college one has had. We have had many successful high school graduates attend our summer programs, for example, and they have done very well. The decision to study abroad should be an individual one, in consultation with family, friends, and school.

If you need to arrange preliminary coursework or take other courses you’d miss while you’re gone, a year or even two before you go isn’t too early. But for all terms, and especially if you plan an extended stay needing a student visa, start at least six months beforehand. For stays of longer than a semester, plan a year ahead.

We suggest planning in roughly this order: (1) academic goals and coursework; (2) passport and visa needs; (3) plane ticket and insurances; (4) arranging phones and money; (5) assembling what you want to bring.

In the KCP program, an extended term means a two-semester stay in the program. You stay for roughly six months, and you complete two KCP semesters of education. The academic year program means a three-term stay. You stay for roughly an academic year (nine months), and you complete three KCP semesters of education.

However, a student is not limited by the terms listed on our application material. Students can begin any term, and study for as long as they feel they want. In these cases, you will most likely need a visa and will need to apply at least six months in advance.

To find start and end dates of terms, see Schedule. If you’d like to travel, we suggest you do it after your time at KCP. Your Japanese will be much, much better and you’ll know how to get around. If you do plan to travel, be sure to consider visa requirements. For more information on travel in Japan, see Resources and Maps on kcpstudentlife.com.