While studying Japanese, one needs a nice place to rest, recharge and do homework. GenkiJACS provides accommodation as well. It is optional, but it made everything much easier for me. I picked a private apartment, because for six months study it was only 53,000 JPY per month and I needed my own space for work.
There are of course other options available and you can read about them on GenkiJACS website. From other schoolmates experience, I can say that homestay can be both good and bad. The website claims 40 mins from school on average, but you can end up an hour bus ride far as well. But of course you have the option to speak Japanese every day with the family. Note that host family is sometimes just one person.
Dorm is good for people who like to hangout with other foreigners and I would definitely pick it for shorter stay. I only know one person who stayed in shared apartment. The upside was that it was in the same building as the school. The downside - it was noisy, small and of course you have no say in who will live with you.
My apartment is quite small, but it has everything I need. It came with everything including TV, wi-fi, table, chair, bed, fridge, fully equipped kitchenette and also washing machine, hair dryer, iron and vacuum cleaner. It is a wooden floor type apartment with a bed and a tiny Japanese style bathroom. You can see the main room on the picture.
It is however not 5-10 mins walk from the school as the website claims, but rather a 40 mins brisk walk. There's also no direct bus nor subway and I ended up buying a bike. It takes me about 15 minutes to reach the school with it. At first it looked like a nuisance, but in the end I am glad I was forced to buy the bike. Fukuoka is very bicycle friendly.
The location itself is very nice though. Quiet at night but has plenty of bars, restaurants and services nearby. It's only about 2 mins from subway and bus station. There's a konbini (7/11) at the bus stop and a post office and a big gym are also nearby. A bit further, but still just 10 mins walk is a 24h supermarket with better prices than the konbini.
Because I like running, I am quite happy with the 2km distance to the great runners friendly park Ohori koen.
I met the agent who takes are of the apartment when I came to Fukuoka and in about 10 minutes I was already living in my new home. He also takes care of all the bills and I must say I am very happy in this place now.
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