---

Japanese Language Courses for JET program participants

Last updated: Jun 2010

We are located on Ishigaki Island, the administrativee center of the Yaeyama Islands, in the south of Okinawa Prefecture. The main settlement on Ishigaki Island (our school is located there) lies at at the southern end of the island, at approximately 24 degrees north and 124 degrees east. That means we are just 50km away from being a tropical  town, and our climate reflects that fact: thanks to the trade winds that reach our island in the summer we enjoy generally less oppressive summer weather than the lowlands and cities of central and southern Japan, while in the coldest days of winter, when cold air from China causes even places in Kyushu to suffer freezing temperatures, our daytime temperatures still lie around 18 degrees Celsius (64 deg. F).

Famous Iriomote Island can be reached in 45 minutes by scheduled boat service, and boats also connect to other nearby islands. Hateruma, Japan's southernmost inhabited island, and Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost island, just 120km off Taiwan, can also be reached by plane.

Update

The "Southwind Japanese Language School" ("Paikaji Nihongo Gakkou") is currently not offering group classes, but a limited number of private lessons (1-3 participants) can be arranged for visitors who can manage at least basic communication in Japanese.

Please feel free to contact us for further information.

The "non-academic" side of Ishigaki:

As the result of one ferry company terminating its passenger service in 2006 and the other ferry company closing down in 2008, Ishigaki's connection to the outer world is currently limited to swimming or taking the plane. Direct flights are available from airports in Japan, from Okinawa Island (Naha Airport) and from Taiwan, otherwise flights require , or via Taiwan.

What is there to do outside of classes? Talking about sports and recreation, there is swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, hiking, cycling, and paragliding. Other popular activities include bird-watching and star-watching (our annual Star Party, when city lights will be turned off in the evening, is scheduled for August 1 this year). Around Ishigaki Island there are numerous islands to explore, including Iriomote Island, the famous jungle island, and Yonaguni Island, the island of wild horses and underwater ruins. Our area's culture includes weaving, martial arts, folk dance, and folk music (vocal and instrumental), and the locals are happy to teach "sanshin" (in Japanese: "shamisen") and folkdance to interested visitors. Every week there are public performances and concerts, and in the summer there is a festival somewhere on the island at least once a week.

Okinawa's contribution to the world alcohol culture is called "Awamori", a rice liquor with 30% alcohol (in some places more). Some of the famous local foods include "Yaeyama Soba" (based on Chinese style wheat noodles instead of buckwheat noodles as in Japanese Soba) and Goya Champuru (a dish based on a cucumber-like veggie that the Japanese call "bitter melon" - the "champuru" style food preparation likely originated in Indonesia). Unlike Japanese food, Yaeyama cuisine also makes use of goat meat and pork. There are also more varieties of fish here than anybody could possibly remember, and although some of them are used for Sashimi and Sushi, most of the local fish is best eaten fried, since what is caught here is, of course, warm-water fish and therefore does not contain much fat and when boiled or steamed tends to taste like, well, ocean water with a hint of mud.

In the summer the sea water temperature is in the upper 20s (around 80 deg. F) in the shallow waters between the reefs and the shore, and there are numerous companies that take people out on boats for snorkeling and diving. There are also some sailboat excursion services, and the best of them is run by a guy who is originally from Texas. In the winter the water temperature may be as low as 20 C (68 F) - still warm enough for swimming and scuba diving!

Here are some links to websites about our area (in English):

• Ishigaki City's English Homepage
• ... and the old English Homepage
• Yaima Magazine (A detailed source of information about festivals and events)
• Okinawa Tourist Information (Mahae)
• Okinawa Tourist Information (Discover Japan)
• Some MP3 recordings of Okinawa folk music, including Yaeyama songs
  (an interesting but somewhat dated report on the Yaeyama Islands)

The "Paikaji Japanese Language School" was originally established for the purpose of teaching students from neighbouring Taiwan with an interest in the Japanese language. The Japanese program for JETs was added in the summer of 2003.