Where to Learn Ukrainian in Japan: Courses at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Osaka University, and the University of Tokyo

Places to learn Ukrainian in Japan are far fewer than for English or Chinese, and courses open and close term by term. This article lines up the courses and classes that universities show as open for enrollment on their official pages, based on what was stated as of September 23, 2026, covering who can take them, how much they cost, and what format they take.

Open to the General Public: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Open Academy

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies’ open course program, “TUFS Open Academy,” offers Ukrainian-language courses each term. The enrollment page for fall 2026 (starting in October) lists the following three courses.

All three courses are held online, and tuition is ¥25,000. According to the course pages, to prevent fraud, taking part with the video on and one’s face visible is a condition of enrollment in the online courses.

The character of each course differs. “Introduction to Ukrainian with a Native Speaker” is, as its name suggests, a beginner course taught together with a native speaker: a fast-paced class covering the alphabet and pronunciation, first-meeting greetings, and expressions of time and space, offered as a single-term course. “Elementary II” focuses on reading and grammar comprehension and also welcomes people returning to the language after a break; its instructor, Hara Masaki, is introduced as a Ukrainian-language instructor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Training Institute. “Intermediate and Above II” uses materials the instructor has created, and its spring 2026 reading unit is described as having covered, among other things, a biography of Petro Sahaidachny and the “Cherry Blossom Train” of Ukrainian Railways.

It’s also worth looking at how the lineup has changed term by term. According to the course list, spring 2026 offered three courses — “Introduction to Ukrainian with a Native Speaker,” “Elementary Ukrainian I,” and “Intermediate and Above Ukrainian I” — and from August 18 to 20, 2026, a short online course, “Slow-Paced Introduction to Ukrainian,” was held over three sessions for ¥9,000. General enrollment for the spring term ran from mid-February to early March. The general enrollment period for the fall term was originally set as August 4 to August 31, but according to each course’s page it was extended to September 23, when it closed. For the schedule of the next term, check the Ukrainian-language page of the course list.

A Free Taste: Osaka University’s Public Course

Osaka University’s “Public Course 2026 — An Invitation to Plurilingual Learning” is a free course that introduces greetings and self-introductions in a variety of languages. In 2026, sessions are held in person at the Toyonaka campus on September 6, October 10, and December 5, and online on October 31, with capacity of 30 people per session (first come, first served) and an application period running through November 20.

Twenty-four languages are listed as available, including Ukrainian. However, the basic “Plurilingual Class” covers three or four languages in a single session, and which languages will be covered is not known until the day and cannot be chosen by the participant. The afternoon “Step-Up Class” narrows things down to one of the languages covered in the morning’s Plurilingual Class and looks a little more closely at its writing system and pronunciation. Since a session is not guaranteed to include Ukrainian, it is more accurate to think of this as an entry point to many languages, Ukrainian among them, rather than a “course for learning Ukrainian.”

A For-Credit University Class: The University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo’s course catalog (2026 academic year) lists “Introduction to Ukrainian” (ウクライナ語入門). It is offered through the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, and the Faculty of Letters’ “Special Lecture on Slavic Linguistics and Literature VII” is also listed with the same instructor, the same time slot, and the same course description.

The course’s stated goal is “to acquire Ukrainian pronunciation and reading/writing ability, and to be able to hold a simple conversation while learning basic grammar and vocabulary.” Because this is a for-credit university class, whether one can take it depends on one’s status of enrollment at the University of Tokyo. The same catalog also lists “Learning Ukraine’s Diverse Cultures” (A1 and A2 terms, Monday period 4), which covers not the language itself but various aspects of the languages and cultures — Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Jewish, and others — that overlap in the Ukrainian region.

Other Places Mentioned by the Embassy

The website of the Embassy of Ukraine in Japan, on a page explaining the relationship between Ukraine and Japan, touches on Ukrainian-language education.

У 2022 році запроваджене викладання української мови на базі Посольства України в Японії, а також у Токійському та Київському університетах, університеті Кобе Гакуін.

Embassy of Ukraine in Japan, “Ukraine–Japan Relations” (Ukrainian)

In English, this means: “In 2022, the teaching of the Ukrainian language was introduced at the Embassy of Ukraine in Japan, as well as at the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Kobe Gakuin University.” The same page also states that the Ukrainian-language Sunday schools in Tokyo, “Dzherel’tse” (ジェレリツェ, Джерельце) and “Khrobachok” (フロバチョク, Хробачок), and “Bereginia” (ベレヒニャ, Берегиня) in Nagoya, play a role in spreading the Ukrainian language and traditions.

However, this page does not show an update date, and its description stops at events up to around mid-2023. Whether Ukrainian-language classes were being held at Kyoto University or Kobe Gakuin University in the 2026 academic year, whether classes at the Embassy or the Sunday schools are still running, and whether outside participants can join, could not be confirmed on the respective official pages. Anyone interested should contact the universities or the Embassy directly.

Textbooks

Two of the three fall-term courses at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Open Academy designate Nakazawa Hidehiko’s New Express Plus: Ukrainian (ニューエクスプレスプラス ウクライナ語, Hakusuisha) as the textbook. According to the course pages, a new edition with downloadable audio (ISBN 9784560068526) was published in 2026, and the 2019 edition (ISBN 9784560088340) can also be used. The “Elementary II” course page explains that the 2026 edition includes revisions reflecting past students’ feedback as well as updates to align with current orthography.

Readers who want to learn about the Ukrainian alphabet or how it differs from Russian first may also find the article on the differences between Ukrainian and Russian and the article on 20 words for greetings and thanks useful.