Wonderful learning facilities and environment
JCMU is located in the historical and cultural city of Hikone, on the shore of Lake Biwa. Its facilities consist of two buildings constructed by Shiga Prefecture. The academic building contains classrooms, a library, a Computer Assisted Learning Laboratory (CALL), Apple Hall, the Shahakunage Room (a traditional Japanese-style room), conference rooms, offices. The residential building contains 27 apartments designed to accommodate a total of 52 students. The apartment has 2 single bedrooms and a bathroom, a kitchen and a dining room. There are also two apartments, which are specially designed to be fully accessible to disabled students. The building also contains a computer room, a fitness room, four faculty apartments and five guest rooms.
The symbol of Shiga Prefecture is undoubtedly the biggest lake in Japan, Lake Biwa. Water from this lake flows to Japan's second largest economic region where Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe are located. Lake Biwa and Shiga Prefecture have an important role to support millions of people's lives and the Japanese economy.
The lakeside city of Hikone is in the northeast region of Shiga Prefecture, and has more than 100,000. The city has wonderful place to go, is surrounded by rich nature, and retains many aspects of traditional Japanese culture. Hikone Castle, one of the oldest and most noted in Japan, stands in the center of Hikone. Hikoen is also less than 50 minutes by train from Kyoto, the historical and cultural capital of Japan, and 80 minutes from Osaka.
One of JCMU's highlights is a unique dormitory to support students' ability to improve linguistic skills. While the English program is in session, Japanese program students can live with Japanese roommates and become totally immersed in the language. In this way, many students can develop their language fluency through practical means and deepen their cultural understanding about each other.
