The , or IUC, is a Japanese language school located in the

Minato Mirai , often known as simply Minato Mirai and abbreviated as MM, is the central business district of Yokohama, Japan. Initially developed in the 1980s, Minato Mirai 21 was designed as a large master-planned development and new urban center planned to c ...

area of Yokohama,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Operated by a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

of universities, the IUC provides advanced-level instruction to both undergraduate and graduate students and is considered one of the most selective and rigorous Japanese language programs in the world.

History

The IUC was established in 1961 in Tokyo, Japan by

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Administration of the Center first moved to a consortium model in 1963; currently, 15 schools participate in the operations of the Center. The Center eventually moved to Yokohama, where it set up in the Pacifico Yokohama complex in the

port area.

Program

The IUC offers one 10-month program during the academic year and another shorter program during the summer months. The programs are focused on advanced Japanese suitable for professional or academic use, and prospective students must have completed at least two years of college-level training and pass a language exam to be eligible for enrollment. Although often supplemented by a scholarship, the tuition for the 10-month program is $33,000, with a partial remission for students who are current students or recent alumni of a consortium school. The IUC is considered one of the top Japanese schools in the world. Former U.S. ambassador to Japan and vice-president Walter Mondale called it "imperative for the sake of America's future relations with

apan Apan is a city and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 346.9 km². Overview As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 39,247. It was an important site in the Wa ...

/nowiki>", and former ambassador and

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

Thomas Foley noted that its graduates play a "central part" in the U.S.-Japan relationship.

Publications

As a language school, the IUC continues to perform research into the Japanese language and has published a number of books and materials on the subject through the

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

Press.

Consortium Members

* Brigham Young University * Columbia University * Harvard University * Princeton University *

* University of British Columbia * University of California, Berkeley * University of California, Los Angeles * University of Chicago * University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa * University of Michigan * University of Washington * Yale University ''In Association With:'' * University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign * Washington University in St. Louis

References

External links

The Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies

The Stanford University page on the IUC

The IUC at Cornell University

Review of IUC textbook
(

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

)
The IUC on the International Resource Information System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inter-University Center For Japanese Language Studies Academic language institutions Japanese studies