Study Abroad in Hirakata, Japan

Program Information

Pacific students studying in Hirakata attend Kansai Gaidai University, which is located in the city of Hirakata in Osaka prefecture. Kansai Gaidai is a sister school program, and all services are coordinated by the Kansai's Center for International Education. Located midway between Osaka, Japan's second largest metropolis, and Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan (both cities accessible by train within an hour), Kansai Gaidai's campus is in the commercial and cultural heart of Japan, thus making it an excellent starting point from which to begin your exploration of a land that by anyone's standards is truly fascinating.

Osaka has been a major center of commerce since the 18th century, and is still a vast and expanding hub of business and industry today. The metropolis exhibits many colorful aspects as can be seen in the competition for bigger and showier street signs on display in Minami (the southern part of the downtown district). As a center of pop culture, Osaka never ceases to generate a variety of new and unique trends and expends the dimensions of the Japanese urban experience.

Kyoto was founded in the late 8th century, as evidenced by the ancient layout of its numbered avenues. While its prestigious museums house the most valuable collections of Japanese art in the country, Kyoto is a museum in its own right, and many of its temples and shrines have been designated as national treasures.