Established in September 1989, the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS, 京都アメリカ大学コンソーシアム) is a consortium of 14 American universities that sponsors a rigorous, two-semester academic program for undergraduates who wish to do advanced work in Japanese language and cultural studies.
Participating institutions are: Boston University, Brown University, University of Chicago, Columbia University/Barnard College, Cornell University, Emory University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Stanford University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale University, in association with the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia.
Students at institutions outside of the consortium are also welcome and encouraged to apply.
KCJS is centrally located in Kyoto on the Imadegawa campus of Doshisha University (同志社大学), bounded on the south by the Imperial Palace grounds, and to the northeast by Shokokuji temple.
Welcome to the new Kyoto-based website for the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS)! When I arrived at KCJS in July 2011 as the incoming Resident Director, one of my goals was to create a site that would complement the one already established through Columbia University’s Office of Global Programs, which provides essential information about KCJS and also functions as the access point for submitting an application to our program. This new site is designed to give you a more detailed picture of our academic and extracurricular programs, our faculty and staff, and also our alumni, many of whom have moved on to assume positions of leadership in Japan and abroad since they spent a semester or year at KCJS.
This is an exciting time to be at Doshisha University, where KCJS is now based, since recent initiatives have brought a significant influx of programs and students to campus from countries across the world. These new programs are part of Doshisha’s membership in the “Global 30,” which the Monbukagakusho (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) has undertaken in order to further internationalize campuses in Japan. KCJS students are an essential part of that initiative.
We encourage you to explore our site and familiarize yourself with the history of KCJS and Doshisha, our advantageous location in Kyoto, and to become acquainted with our faculty and staff. We also introduce you to the special features of our language and disciplinary courses, our unique Community Involvement Project (CIP), the range of housing options we offer (homestay, apartment, or guest house), and the types of extracurricular activities in which you can participate, often alongside students from Doshisha and Kyoto University through the special ties KCJS has established with these institutions. Should you be interested in spending the summer in Kyoto, we also provide information about our summer programs in Modern and Classical Japanese, as well as the KCJS summer research grant program (students who enroll for the academic year or spring term are eligible to apply).
Most importantly, through the pictures included here of our facilities, faculty, staff, activities, and the local environs, we hope to provide you with a sense of what a “day in the life” of a KCJS student is like, and as a result, that you will come experience our program firsthand. As testimonials here from our alumni suggest, this could well become the best year (or semester) of your life!
Best wishes,
Lindsay Amthor Yotsukura
Resident Director
Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies
606 Kent Hall
Columbia University
1140 Amsterdam, Mail Code 3948
New York, NY 10027 USA
Tel: 212-854-2559
Fax: 212-854-5164
Email: ogp@columbia.edu
Doshisha University, 2F Fusokan
Karasuma Higashi-iru, Imadegawa-dori
Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8580 JAPAN
Tel: 075-251-4995
Tel: (+81-75-251-4995)
Fax: 075-229-6300
Fax: (+81-75-229-6300)
Email: fs2244@columbia.edu
