High School Study Abroad in Fukuoka, Japan

The classes are good for beginners. The teachers were very friendly and helpful, and the family at my homestay was very welcoming and kind. The students at the school were primarily adults, at least during my program, so it was a little bit harder to make friends and find stuff to do after classes. It was coordinated well and communications were usually responded to quickly. Overall I enjoyed my program and the opportunity to experience life in Japan.

I'm grateful to have gone to Japan through Greenheart Travel. Here is my honest opinion on my experience. Overall, it was great. My flights to and from went smoothly, aside from my broken laptop :( , and my host family's home was, honestly, bigger and more comofortable than mine in the US. My schoolteachers were very understanding of me and the other students, and pushed us to practice Japanese in a variety of ways. They occasionally scolded us for speaking in English while in between classes! My experience was faithfly immersive, and I got to learn a lot about the Japanese way of life along with their historical culture. This was done through organized field trips, or outinfs with my host family. I enjoyed my time there, and received reasonable communications from the language school of events and schedule changes. However, Greenheart Travel's communication itself disappointed me. While I was preparing for my trip to Japan, the program manager seemingly changed between 2 or 3 different people at different times. There were times when I didn't know who my main point of contact was because of the confusion, and it was very scary for me because I had never been abroad, and had no idea what kind of information I needed to provide along the way, or who I would ask my questions too. I was grateful that Greenheart had the ability to provide scholarships for students like me, especially because I was paying for the program myself, but aside from that have limited good experiences with the agency. My program handbook mentioned that I was supposed to have at least one video call with my host family before I left to get to know them before departing, but this never happened. Instead, I wasn't even given any information about them until less than a week before my departure. I'm glad to have had this experience, but have now ascertained that I'm unlikely to travel with Greenheart again until they build a more reliable team. It was the people I met while abroad that truly made my experience so wonderful, and I hope that Greenheart can give future students a better experience!

Greenheart Travel responded to this reviewAugust 16, 2022

I’m glad to hear that your overall experience in Japan was great and apologies for the fact that you did not feel supported by Greenheart. We did have a staff change and having your main point of contact change a couple of times is understandably not ideal. This was the first summer for teen language camp programs after the pandemic and finding host families that were good matches with students took much longer than usual. We appreciate your honest feedback as it is always a priority for Greenheart Travel to evaluate and review all student concerns in order to further improve our programs. Thanks again, and we are happy to hear you had an enjoyable program!

Besides being affordable compared to other programs, Greenheart Travel strives to not only make a difference to travelers, but also to their community and world around them. They provide many opportunities to help you in making a change in your community. They provided a lot of information before leaving to a program and program managers are always there to help! I had an amazing experience and would do it again if given the chance. Don't be scared to try new things! Talking to others in their language, trying new foods, making new friends, etc.. Before the program, I was reserved, (a little) picky with food, and worried about my language abilities. However, after the program I have growned to love foods I did not before, made a lot of new friends and talked with lots of people that changed my life, and improved my language skills a lot! I hope you enjoy your trip because I certainly did.

This program was an amazing and experience. It will stay with me for my whole life. I never thought that I would have this chance and I’m so happy that I did. The staff at greenheart travel were very helpful and friendly and answered all of my crazy questions. I felt very safe while I was there and walked all around during my free time. My favorite part about the entire trip was my host family. I could not have been placed in a better family. They matched my personality and took amazing care of me. They were understanding of the difference in our culture. I plan to visit them again someday. The placements were very good as everybody I talked to loved their families as well. The classes were fun and taught me a lot. There was a lot of homework but my host family helped me which was fun. I really loved this program and would gladly go back

You should join this program because it is cheaper then most programs regarding all the things you get. The best part was how helpful everyone was. Don't be scared to ask for help. I just wish I knew a little more of what to do in the airport.

Greenheart Travel are very supportive and if you have any questions they can happily help you, they will support you all the way. I’m very happy and pleased with the knowledge I was given before my departure. My host family was everything I could ask for and more.

I would recommend Greenheart travel based on my wonderful experience with it. I liked the diversity of students and how we interacted sharing our love for Japan's language and culture. Don't be shy to try to talk to people and make new friends. My only advice for improving the program is there should be more activities after/before classes to really help to improve the Japanese of who are willing to learn.

My favorite part about the program was like how, though I was in school environment, I still had the ability to go out and explore Japan. There was free time, but it was structured too. I also enjoyed that my program allowed for me to explore the country through a language lens and through the lives of the people that live there. My host family was excellent! Absolutely no complaints about them or my experience living with them. Greenheart travel has such a wide variety of study abroad location with different goals in mind. I think that by using greenheart you will truly fits what you're looking for! I really felt like I knew everything before leaving and they did a good job preparing me!

Hayla (my daughter) has just back home from 3 weeks in Japan. She was very sad to leave because she had a WONDERFUL experience. No culture shock… No drama…just a great time! She loved her host parents especially her host mom who cooked with her, took her places, etc. They have formed quite a bond. They certainly set the bar quite high! She cried when she left Japan (she did NOT cry when she left USA!) and still misses it very much! She loved Fukuoka and all that the experience offered. She kept herself very busy. I think the program did a great job with offering varied activities and excursions for the kids. I think she has a solid understanding of the culture, school, and exchange experience. She will definitely be returning to Japan….I don’t know if it will be a summer program or an exchange program for the full year. A huge thank you to Greenheart Travel for making this a great experience for all the kids including my daughter. I cannot recommend your program enough.

I had an absolutely great time! The host family was very nice and I enjoyed getting to know them and learning about their culture. On the weekends, the family took me to see Fukuoka tower, Ohori park, and Tenjin. They were very generous. I made a lot of good friends from around the world, and learned a lot of Japanese at the language school. The city was beautiful, and taking the train was very easy and convenient (although I did get lost once or twice!). This trip is definitely something that I'll remember for the rest of my life. Thank you so much to Greenheart Travel for coordinating with my family and helping me plan the trip, it was so great.