ISI Takadanobaba Annex building — Local services in Tokyo

TLDR: Some good, some bad. You might want to look elsewhere depending on your circumstances.

Note: The school has asked for reviews (not asking for 5 stars as some here have stated they do).

The Buildings ISI Takadanobaba consists of 3 buildings. Most students will only interact with the Main Building and the Annex. The Main Building is starting to show its age with its shortage of toilets and a single elevator. The Annex Building is a lot nicer. More open space, somewhat bigger classrooms and more toilets. Which building you end up at is determined by the school.

The Staff and Teachers The staff are nice. The teachers can be a mixed bag. I have had some fantastic teachers, some not as great teachers, and some really funny teachers (whose energy-level I am unable to match at 8 in the morning). Overall a good impression.

Schedule Classes run Monday through Friday with morning classes (8:50 to 12:00) and afternoon classes (13:00 to 16:10). Intermediate III and above (the second year) are in the morning. This is done to allow students to have time for part-time work during the day if they are so inclined. Each weekday will usually have a different teacher. Teachers and classmates change every school term.

The Material The school uses the beginner "Minna no Nihongo" I and II textbooks during the first 6 months of class. Afterwards, the school uses the "Kanzen Master"-series for grammar and "Kanji Master"-series for kanji. For reading, the school uses the "中級から学ぶ" from the Intermediate level.

Teaching Style You will meet a lot of different teachers. Some will have teaching styles that you enjoy, while some will naturally be less so. At the start of the second year, every day becomes the same, with little focus on speaking practice. This has to do with the teachers having to follow a set schedule.

The First Year vs. The Second Year ISI is a great school if you are going for only the first year. At the start of the second year (and onward), every day will be 6-8 new kanji that the teacher will present, and 1 or 2 grammar-points. Afterwards, there is reading practice using the "中級から学ぶ" textbook. This book contains texts ranging from discussing proverbs with animals in them, to societal structures. It takes around 2-3 weeks worth of classes to get through one passage. If you happen to understand the text on the first read-through, you are shit out of luck. You are going to sit there for the next few weeks, staring out the window, wondering why you are wasting precious studytime. By the way, the JLPT requires you to read a similar sized paragraph in about 5-6 minutes. During the second year, it becomes painfully obvious that the quality of the lessons take a dive, and that going to a different school might be a better option.

Changing Schools From those that I have heard attempt changing schools, it is not possible to do so. Fom what I have heard, ISI uses their size to lock people in. You will have to return to your own country and do all the paperwork from scratch. You probably won't have this problem with a different school. So if you are unsure about ISI, maybe try a different school instead.

Visa Renewal They take your passport and residence card during visa renewals, providing you a paper copy. They do not process visas in waves. Applied on the first day? You will have your stuff returned at the same time as those who wait until the very end. You cannot leave japan during this time. You can't do マイナンバー renewal, or bank stuff either.

The Other Students ISI does not really have any entry requirements. That means you will have a lot of people who do not participate in class, or know basic hygiene. The staff try, but the amount of students who do not know basic manners, or how to use a toilet is staggering (urine on the floor etc.).

*The school provides counseling for university and job hunting, however I can't say much about that. Excursions are a thing, but they are usually not that spectacular. Do something on the...

I didn't actually go here, but my experience with their staff while trying to enroll was infuriating, with getting BS after BS. This, combined with the great experience at the school I ended up going, makes me glad I didn't go here.

I was looking to transfer Japanese language school in July of 2024, because the one I was going to only had 2 levels, and there was no higher level class for me to take. I initially contacted their Ikebukuro office (their main?), got transferred to Takadanobaba office. Everything was going fine until I mentioned I lived in Japan as a child for 7 years, just to give them a sense of my Japanese level. Then the guy I was communicating with suddenly said, we can't admit you because the Japanese government limits Japanese language study to 2 years (which I knew). Mind you, I was in Japan as a child, decades ago (just living here not taking Japanese language classes), and note this excuse doesn't even make sense because (1) I was ALREADY IN Japan studying, so obviously the government doesn't have an issue (2) the math doesn't eve work - if it's legally limited to 2 years, why did they let me in when I've spent 7 years as a child? When I mentioned this to the guy, his excuse suddenly changed to, this is a school policy (really? how many applicants do you get who grew up in Japan for you to have this policy?). So I went back to the original guy in Ikebukuro, explaining this non-sense excuse, and asked to talk to another branch. After checking with Takadanobaba he says, as it turns out there is no space for me in Takadanobaba in April. I'm guessing he's covering for his collegue in Takadanobaba, but notice it didn't address my request to talk to another branch, and he didn't even get the month I want to start right!

Though in retrospect, not going here turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I ended up in another school where the classes and teachers were great, but more to the point, student support was amazing. They helped me find a trade school (helping me apply to, even writing letters and calling them when I had questions). Contrast that to ISI where they just spew BS after BS, couldn't care enough to even get the facts straight, just to brush you off. I could just imagine what kind of support I would have gotten had...

Do not waste your money; this is one of the worst and most useless language schools I have ever attended. They would not let me pay and study for another 6 months because I reached the highest level of their general course. So far, so good, besides the fact that, aside from me, almost everyone in my current class has been given the chance to keep studying further. The thing is, if you paid for a whole year before the beginning of the course, they would let you study. However, since I paid only for 6 months (but I would have gladly paid for the remaining 6 months in accordance with my student visa deadline), the principal told me to look for another school. So apparently, even though I have never missed a school day and always got high marks on my tests, it doesn't matter because in this school they divide students into first-class and second-class students.

They DO NOT care about you; you are just a number there, and their elective courses are almost as useless as their teaching methods. I took the job hunting class twice, and I am still not capable of holding a Japanese interview nor knowing how to write a proper résumé in Japanese. Not to mention that half, if not more, of the 5-star reviews here are fake.

Using my money here was a complete loss, and I hope the school I will be attending next will have a much more competent principal and a more useful...