Study abroad in Japan’s ancient capital

Associated Kyoto Program Join us for Consortium Institutions Amherst College Oberlin College Bates College Pomona College Bucknell University Smith College Carleton College Whitman College Fall 2019 Colby College Wesleyan University Connecticut College Williams College Spring 2020 Mount Holyoke College

Applications available at www.associatedkyotoprogram.org in mid-October 2018 AKP at Doshisha University

Founded in 1875, Doshisha University is a comprehensive private educational system comprising multiple institutions from kindergarten through graduate and professional schools. The University’s relations with some of AKP’s sponsoring institutions go back to the very beginning of its history, when its founder, Neesima Jo, graduated from Amherst College in 1870. The historical ties with Amherst and, after World War II, with Carleton College formed the foundation on which the Associated Kyoto Program was established. In January 1971, faculty members from Amherst, Carleton, Connecticut, Mount Holyoke, and Williams Colleges, and Wesleyan University. met at the Lord Jeffery Inn in Amherst, Massachusetts, and organized the program. The other AKP institutions joined the consortium between 1973 and 2008.

Doshisha University supports AKP in many ways. In addition to classrooms, Doshisha has generously made available a number of spaces, including a student lounge, a joint library for English language resources, and offices for our administrative staff and faculty. AKP students also have access to the university library, cafeterias, and other public areas. Doshisha serves as our official legal sponsor, enabling AKP to obtain student visas; they also provide student ID cards and extend special student status, including e-mail and library access.

Kyoto Program Center The Kyoto Center occupies part of a handsome, nineteenth-century brick building on the main (Imadegawa) campus of Doshisha University in north central Kyoto. Graced with shade trees and vintage buildings, including five designated by the government as historical monuments, the Imadegawa campus is one of the most beautiful in Japan. Immediately to the south are the forested grounds of the Kyoto Imperial Palace and Park; adjoining the campus to the north is Shōkokuji, a major Zen Buddhist monastery complex. With a subway station at Doshisha’s west gate and major bus routes skirting the campus, the Kyoto Center is easily accessible from anywhere in the Kyoto area. AKP at Doshisha University AKP: A National Consortium

The Associated Kyoto Program, Inc. (AKP) is a non-profit organization incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It operates an independent program for undergraduate students from sponsoring American colleges and universities in cooperation with Doshisha University’s Organization for Promotion of International Cooperation. Since its inception in 1972, the AKP has provided study opportunities in Kyoto for over 1,600 students and, with assistance from foundations and corporations, has provided fellowships to scores of American and Japanese faculty members for research and teaching abroad. Four faculty members from our consortium institutions will offer classes and conduct research during the 2019–20 academic year.

The AKP Administrative Office, located on the campus of Pomona College in Claremont, California, serves as the administrative headquarters for the program. The Chair of the AKP Board of Directors serves as the President of the Corporation; he and the Program Administrator have offices on the Pomona campus and they coordinate and manage the program. The President of each member institution appoints a faculty representative who serves on the Board that determines all program policies. Indeed, the AKP is one of the only study abroad programs that is governed, managed, and directed by faculty members from liberal arts colleges.

The AKP Agent College is Oberlin College, which provides fiscal and administrative management for the program and grants academic credit to program participants. If you need an official transcript showing your work at AKP during the 2019–20 academic year, you must contact the Registrar at the AKP Agent College directly. Transcript requests cannot be handled through the AKP Administrative Office. Picture yourself in

With its historical and cultural richness, Why AKP? Kyoto is an ideal place to develop a strong sense of Japanese language and culture, and the AKP Center, located at Doshisha University, will serve as a convenient hub from Kyoto which to explore different paths into the heart of the city. AKP’s academic program will challenge you, while the homestay program will give you a chance to live daily life as the Japanese do. With careful attention to time management, you will also discover many opportunities to participate in the festivals, holidays, and seasonal observances of daily life in the city, as well as visit the museums, temples, and palaces that have been part of the Kyoto landscape for over 1200 years.

Program Dates

2019-20 Academic Year Program Dates (tentative) • Arrive in Kyoto: Tuesday, 3 September 2019 • End of program: Thursday, 23 April 2020

2019 Fall Program Dates (tentative)

• Arrive in Kyoto: Tuesday, 3 September 2019 • End of program: Sunday, 22 December 2019

2020 Spring Program Dates (tentative) • Arrive in Kyoto: Tuesday, 7 January 2020 Doshisha University Imadegawa Campus • End of program: Thursday, 23 April 2020

2016–17 AKPers pose with the Hanshin Tigers Spring 2017 AKPer Summer Peterson (Bates) 2016–17 AKPer Daphne Hernandez (Colby) mascots after a baseball game. and Jacques Chaumont (Williams) enjoy a tra- gives a presentation in Japanese about her ditional meal during a field trip to Hiroshima. hitori-tabi solo trip.

“I know I am now a lot more confident and capable when exploring a new place. Before coming to Japan on AKP, talking to people I didn’t know made me very nervous, but now I just tell myself if I was able to talk to strangers in Japanese, there’s no reason to be nervous talking to them in English!” – 2016 AKPer Why AKP?

Kyoto is acclaimed by Japanese and foreigners alike as one of the world’s great cities, the embodiment in place and spirit of Japan’s rich cultural heritage. It is also a thriving modern metropolis of almost a million and a half people, attentive to its future and proud of its past. Impressive reminders of Kyoto’s historical role as Japan’s capital from 794 to 1868 survive in great number, making it an ideal location for the serious study of both traditional and modern Japanese society and civilization.

Seminars Language study Homestay

AKP mirrors the academic standards and the Become a linguistic adventurer: we recommend that Experience Japan as an insider: the homestay program emphasis on a sound liberal arts program that remain you find opportunities to speak and learn about is fully integrated into the AKP language and elective the hallmark of our thirteen consortium institutions. Japan and Kyoto with the people you meet every day. program. Host families provide students with a unique AKP sponsors a Visiting Faculty Fellows Program You will have the added advantage of daily contact window through which to view Japan and afford that recruits some of the finest professors from the with the AKP language and elective course teachers, students countless chances to communicate, explore, consortium to offer special elective classes that will the office staff, and your homestay family, who will and experience Japan by living with a Japanese family. foster a deeper understanding of Japan’s long and provide you with opportunities to ask questions and They will connect you with your community and provide complex cultural history. chat about your experiences. opportunities for cultural learning and discovery.

• Explore issues in comparative culture with • Four experienced language instructors provide • Enjoy a home-cooked breakfast and dinner each Doshisha University students in the AKP– AKP students with an intensive, 8 credit, fast- day with your host family; every year students rave Doshisha Joint Seminar. paced immersion into written and spoken about the dishes and stories shared across the table. Japanese. AKP also provides a daily lunch subsidy (seven • Take special seminar courses on Japanese days/week) and covers commuting costs from your Cinema, Environmental Studies, Economy, and • An opening review session that includes an homestay to the Doshisha campus. more! introduction to Kyoto dialect will be followed by oral and written tests that will place students in • Know that you can always consult with the Resident • Study with professors from Pitzer College, one of several language sections. Director, AKP’s full-time Homestay Coordinator, Bucknell University, and Trinity Washington and the language faculty about any concerns or just University. • Language instructors also coordinate many to learn new ways to tell your homestay family that lessons that connect students with ideas and you will be late for dinner. • Students take two elective courses a semester, themes introduced in the elective seminar classes. each worth 4 credits. • All students speak Japanese with their homestay • Visit the AKP website for updated information families and are challenged to speak Japanese at on 2019–2020 course offerings. the AKP Center.

2017–18 AKPer Celia Langford (Whitman) and Spring 2018 AKPers practice Buddhist medita- Spring 2018 AKPer JJ Simons (Bucknell) meets Spring 2018 AKPer Juno Son (Amherst) dress tion during an elective course field trip. his host family during Orientation up in period clothing.

“I thought the Joint Seminar was a wonderful way to study what we were actually experienc- ing as study abroad students in Kyoto. The presence of Doshisha students in the class also made a huge difference. It was so great to hear their ideas and opinions on what we were studying.” – 2017 AKPer Apply to AKP

Application deadlines

Two-Semester, Fall-Only, and Spring-Only Early Decision: Friday, 18 January 2019 Spring-Only Regular Decision: Friday, 20 September 2019 (rolling admission)

Consortium students should create an online application account on the AKP website ( http://www.associatedkyotoprogram.org ) and complete their application in consultation with their AKP Campus Representative. Non-consortium applicants should consult with the Program Administrator and their advisor, and should submit completed applications directly to the AKP Office at Pomona College. We strongly encourage you to gather the necessary application materials before leaving campus for Winter Break.

Are you ready?

AKP is open to college juniors and first-semester seniors in good standing at consortium and non-consortium institutions.

• Two-semester and fall-only applicants must have completed at least one year of Japanese language study at their home institutions by June 2019. Spring-only applicants must be enrolled in Japanese the fall prior to the spring semester they attend the program and must have completed at least three semesters of Japanese language study at their home institutions by December 2019. • Applicants must also have completed at least one other Japan-related course before enrolling in the program. • Applicants should have a grade point average of “B” or better, and have earned an average grade of “B” or better in Japanese language courses. • In order to apply, students must have a passport valid through September 2021.

Application and comprehensive fees, enrollment deposit

• The application fee for students at consortium colleges is $25; for non-consortium applicants, the fee is $50. Late applications are subject to a $50 fee. • Students from consortium member colleges pay the comprehensive fees of their own schools. Non-consortium students are charged a comprehensive fee based on prevailing fees at consortium institutions. • Enrollment is contingent upon the applicant’s maintenance of good academic standing.

AKP Language Faculty

Shiho Imao Megumi Ōyama Kazumi Yoshimura Tomiko Kuwahira （今尾 志保） （大山 めぐみ） （吉村 和美） （桑平 富子） Language Program Coordinator Your Comprehensive Fee covers

• $850 airfare reimbursement for each semester of residence on the program • ¥15,000 monthly Cultural Activities Grant to help you enhance your Kyoto experience • Orientation accommodations, introductions to the Kyoto Program Center and faculty, mini-tours of Kyoto, and a guided tour to your homestay led by Doshisha students. • A Welcome Party to introduce you to your host family. • Doshisha tuition and all Doshisha student fees. • Japanese language course textbooks • A homestay experience closely connected with the academic program. You will join your family daily for breakfast and dinner. • A monthly lunch subsidy (including weekends) and commuting costs from your homestay to the Doshisha campus. • Japanese National Health Insurance, liability insurance, International Student ID Card (ISIC), and a Doshisha Student Co-op Membership (for lunch and other services). • Program-sponsored field trips in the fall and spring, numerous field trips connected with elective seminars, and program- sponsored day trips with host families. “The Cultural Activities Grant Cultural Activities Grant made the biggest difference in AKP provides a monthly Cultural Activities Grant to help students develop a my experience in Kyoto. With- stronger basis for their understanding of Japanese culture. The grant encourages students who actively look broadly to define and develop interesting areas of out it, I would not be able to take inquiry that may stretch their experiences to include research and travel that lessons or visit places I really could lead to a strong undergraduate thesis on Japan. wanted to go.”

– 2017–18 AKPer Internship and Research Grants In recognition of their significant, focused investment in learning about Japan, AKP makes available to full-year students grants that may be used in one of two ways: to support research or as an internship subsidy. Full-year students may apply for one or the other of these grants. Application and comprehensive fees, enrollment deposit AKP Research Grants can be used in support of plans for a senior thesis, seminar paper, or an individual project of special interest to the student. Students will prepare a research proposal in consultation with the AKP Faculty, the Resident Director, and the Chair. All research projects must be completed by early April before the spring semester final exam period. The maximum amount available to any one student is ¥50,000, paid on a reimbursement basis.

The maximum amount available for AKP Internship Subsidies to any one student is ¥50,000, paid on a reimbursement basis. Applications should be submitted to the AKP Resident Director in Kyoto.

U.S. Office Kyoto Center Staff (from left to right)

Office Director Mari Kawata（ 河田 麻里）

Homestay Coordinator Yoko Nukii (貫井 陽子)

Accounting Coordinator Program Chair Program Administrator Megumi Yamaguchi（ 山口 恵実） Professor Peter Flueckiger Carisa Crittendon Office Assistant Naomi Shindo (進藤 直美） Some Helpful Reminders

• Mid-October 2018: AKP application opens online

• December 2018: Gather all on-campus ma- terials (recommendations, transcript, approv- al forms) before you leave for Winter Break

• 18 January 2019: Application deadline for two- semester, fall-only, and spring-only early decision

• Early February 2019: Interviews via Skype

• Late February 2019: Announcement of 2019–20 accepted students for the two-semester and fall- 2017–18 AKPers visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial during the Himeji- semester programs Hiroshima-Miyajima field trip.

Application Deadlines

2019–20 Two-Semester, Fall-Only, and Spring-Only Early Decision 18 January 2019

2018 Spring-Only Regular Decision 20 September 2019

How to Get in Touch Associated Kyoto Program Pomona College, Mason Hall Dept. of Asian Languages and Literatures 2017–18 AKPers and their Japanese instructor, Yoshimura-sensei, pause for a photo under the cherry 550 N. Harvard Ave. blossoms on a beautiful spring day in Kyoto. Claremont, CA 91711 Don’t wait to start your AKP adventure! Contact the AKP U.S. [email protected] Office or your Campus Representative for more information on the Program and how to apply.

www.associatedkyotoprogram.org Calligraphy and logo by Fujii Yoshiyasu.