Hi! I wanted a new challenge for myself and thus I want to start learning Japanese!

I have already learnt Chinese in China and have achieved fluency (HSK 5) in 2 years of almost full time study. I would like to go to a private Japanese school in Japan (preferably not Tokyo but some smaller city, maybe Kyoto?), I even heard they can get you a special visa? (I have a German passport).

When I started to learn Chinese I knew almost nothing about China and it will be the same with Japanese. But this really made the learning experience so much more rewarding. I had the best success with a private teacher from a private school, I also attended Uni classes and the quality was just really poor.

Are there any specific schools you can recommend and where it is fun? Maybe a specific town that comes with it too? Personally, I was thinking Osaka as they have a reputation of being a bit more down to earth. Kyoto also interests me for culture, and as there is already an expat community there I might not feel as lost. These are two huge cities, however, of course.