Staying in Kyoto for a month to take the Kyoto International Center of Languages Summer Intensive Course was an experience what could be recommended if you consider a month's stay in Japan's ancient capital in its entirety.
The course itself consisted of four weeks of class weekdays from 9am to 1pm. Outside of class it would be considered average to put in about four hours of study every day. The school usually uses the Minna no Nihongo series, but for the summer course they used the less comprehensive Japanese for Busy People series for the beginning levels. Of course, anyone taking this course would benefit from learning new grammar and listening to standard Japanese being spoken four hours a day. However, if you've got the discipline, you could benefit almost as much by doing a chapter a day from your favorite text, maybe buying the accompanying tapes, then hanging out with Japanese friends, watching a lot of NHK, or accosting native speakers on the street at much less the cost.
The Thing that makes this summer plan recommendable is getting a month's worth of special leave from your board of education and spending that time in Kansai. Some students opted for dorms or hostels for a month. These are convenient and cheap. I decided ton a homestay. Some homestays were an hour away from the school, thereby inconvenient and costing up to an extra 20,000 yen for transportation for the month. But I felt the homestay was invaluable to continue practicing what was learned in the classroom as well as building a relationship with a local family. And surprise of all surprises, my homestay dad helped me develop a taste for Japanese macrobrews. Perhaps my thirst was exasperated by an hour's bike ride to and from school across the sizzling basin of Kyoto. Maybe it was just the perfect complement to the monumental helping of okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and other Kansai home cooking. Whatever the reason, the mealtime downing of three tallboys with my homestay father was a moment of satori not even imagined by Hui-k'o when he stood in the snow and handed his self-severed arm to Bodhidharma as a token of his earnestness to seek the Way.
Kyoto itself is the branch of a willow tree dipping into a reflection of the moon on the Kamo River poised under the red burst of fireworks. A night viewing of a temple is breathtaking. Kiyomizudera was flecked with candles glowing amidst momiji trees wrapped in chanted Buddhist sutras. Participating in zazen overlooking a freshly raked karesansui garden while being lightly whipped with a kyoosaku by the resident monk is also recommended. The daimonji is solemn, Kyoto's mountains ringed in fire, burning Kanji offered to guide the spirits of visiting ancestors back to their dwelling place. The sanjo area is infected with a rash of western shops, including Starbucks, and also possesses many local shops and boutiques where you can drop your yen. At night its many bars and izakayas are swarmed by college students and hip locals, kids passing out flyers, and others hustling to rake in customers to the establishment they are employed by.
A month is not long enough to spend in Kyoto. You could spend a year and still not see all of it's thousands of temples, shrines, and historical spots. Yet it is just a stop on the Kansai circuit. There is Himeiji-jo (The coolest castle in all of Japan bar none! -Ed.) and Nara to sightsee, and the Oosaka nightlife to dip your fingers into as well. The langauge course was so so--about as good as a short month-long course could be. But complemented by the chance to spend a month of your life in Kyoto and live with a local family makes the time a worthwhile investment.
