<p>Hey, I was wondering how the Japanese department is thought of at UW. Is it well respected? A joke? Are there lots of opportunities to practice the language at the school? What about in Seattle (i.e. a Chinatown/Little Japan type of environment)?</p>
<p>Anybody out there?</p>
<p>Sorry, but I can't give you a lot of information for personal experience. My son is taking Japanese this year and enjoying it. I would take a look at the catalogue of courses taught in the Japanese deaprtment and see if it has enough depth to meet your needs. Since you can get up to a PhD. in Japanese Language and Literature, I would think this would be the case. Check out the department website.</p>
<p>As for finding Japanese speakers, I think that would be very easy. There are lots of Asian students on campus, and there is an Asian district (they call it the International District) just south of downtown. It started off being a Chinatown, then Japanese came, then Philipino, and most recently SE Asians. So you can find sushi, dim sum, and pho. My son said that when the cherry blossoms were im bloom (fading now, alas) there were lots of Asian kids having cherry blossom picnics in the quad on campus.</p>
<p>Thanks for replying! Since I can't seem to find the information anywhere and no one has returned my e-mails, do you have any idea how many Japanese majors there are per year?</p>
<p>Sorry, I don't know. I suggest you try emailing the department again, or phoning.</p>