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Freelance and Travel Writing Workshop, 28 nights from $3800AUDÂ
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo is the world’s most populous city, and is an alluring mix of tradition and modernity. Grannies soak their bones beneath tiled murals in communal bathhouses while salarypeople sip sake in smoky dens, and incense wafts from majestic temples just metres from throbbing nightlife strips.
Sink your teeth into the best bits of Tokyo with Astray, from the hedonistic buzz of Shibuya to the quaint winding laneways of Nippori. Over the course of four weeks, you and a team of other creatives will be living in an adorable family-run guesthouse and attending daily journalism workshops taught by passionate freelancers. You’ll refine your writing skills, learn how to pitch and get published, penning two stories and putting together an eBook guide to the city.Â
You’ll also be wrapping your tongue around the Japanese language — learning the basics so that you can order food and drinks, get around and make pals with people on the street. In your free time, you’ll be singing your heart out at karaoke, slurping ramen in tiny eateries and maybe even zooming out to the fabled snowy mountains one weekend.


Learn what you don't get taught at uni


What you get
- Daily writing, editing and freelancing workshops. Classes go for between two and three hours each weekday. Click here for a subject breakdown.
- 30 hours of Japanese language lessons
- A half-day Japanese cooking class
- One month’s accommodation in a traditional family-run guesthouse in either Arakawa or Kuramae.
- 24-hour support, care and mentoring
- Potential university credit via the Work Integrated Learning program: if you’re a journalism, media or communications student, enrolment in the program gives you the potential to receive a full subject’s worth of university credit. So far, we’ve had students from RMIT, Wollongong University, Charles Sturt University, Griffith University, La Trobe University, UNSW, QUT, the University of Queensland, Curtin University and more receive credit, as well as those attending schools in New Zealand, the UK and the USA.


Dates and Cost
Next program: January 15 – February 12, 2023
- Â $3800AUD for a shared room
Once you get in to the program, a $500 deposit will be required to confirm your place, and the rest will be due eight weeks before the program starts. If we have to cancel, the program is fully refundable. If you have to cancel, the program is fully refundable less the deposit until six weeks before. Payment plans are available and can span for up to six months after the program finishes.


Travel respectfully and sustainably
We’re determined to encourage a culturally relative approach to travel, which is why we make language classes a compulsory element of the course, support locally-owned businesses and partake in cultural activities. We’re also fiercely committed to social justice and supporting diversity in the work we publish, giving space to voices that have been traditionally excluded from mainstream media and building an accessible community around storytelling.


FAQ
- This looks kind of scammy — I’d like to read some reviews of the program from previous students!
- Suss our Testimonials Page.
- I want to know some more information about the program!
- Give our Program FAQ a read.
- What are your terms and conditions?
- Click here.

