5 weeks in Japan - How best to spend it?

[NickT]

I have 5 weeks booked off work this summer, and I am planning to spend them in Japan. I spent 4 weeks in Japan a few years ago, travelling around on a japan rail pass/shinkansen and doing lots of sightseeing in honshuu and kyuushuu, which was great. This time I would like to do something a bit different. Does anyone have any good ideas, or personal experiences they can relate, on how to best spend 5 weeks in Japan?

[Outkast]

I've always though walking/hiking portions of a country was the best way to enjoy it, but then again people have been known to tell me that I have problems...

Something I want to do is ride a bunch of ferries around. You can even get them to S. Korea or mainland China. Or maybe you could pick one of the several pilgrimage routes, and walk that. (The Shikoku 88 Temple is my personal pic.)

[NickT]

Thanks for the suggestion, that sounds interesting.

I was thinking about something like a homestay perhaps... or an intensive 1 month Japanese language course. These strike me as good ways to get a lot of exposure to the language in a short amount of time.

Does anyone have any experiences in these kinds of things? Any suggestions?

[WCR91]

NickT-san,

I would go for a combination! I think the homestay would be particularly interesting, because you would get to see what Japanese daily life is like. I think an intensive Japanese course would be great to do while you're there, also! Whatever you do, be sure to enjoy yourself.

[Elana_Miller]

This Japanese language school in Fukuoka sounds perfect for you:

www.genkijacs.com

I recently spent a couple of weeks there. It's a small school so there are not many students in each class and I lived with a local family.

Hope this helps.

[NickT]

Thanks Elana, that sounds really interesting. I will definately check it out. Did you get a lot out of your experience there? Would you go back?

Nick