The (JCMU) is a study center operated by a consortium of the 15 public universities in the State of Michigan and the government of Shiga Prefecture in Japan. It is located on the shores of Lake Biwa, in the city of Hikone. Founded in 1989, JCMU offers May, summer, semester, and academic-year programs for the study of Japanese language and culture for American college and university students, a substantial number of them from Michigan, and provides English language instruction to serve the needs of the local Japanese population. The US administrative offices of JCMU are located at Michigan State University. History As a part of the continuing sister state relationship between Michigan and Shiga Prefecture, in 1988, an agreement was signed by the governors of Michigan and Shiga Prefecture to form the Japan Center for Michigan Universities. In September 1989, JCMU officially opened in a temporary building, the Cultural and Industrial Exchange Hall of Shiga, in Maibara, Shiga. The following September, construction on the JCMU campus in Hikone, Shiga was completed, and courses resumed there. In October 1998, an agreement was made with nearby Shiga University to provide courses on their campus. Five years later, in 2003, a similar agreement was made with the University of Shiga Prefecture, also in the same city. Facility The campus is located on the shore of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, in Hikone, Shiga. It includes an academic building and a dormitory. Attached to the academic building is a Coco's restaurant. In the academic building, there are classrooms, a library, conference rooms, a traditional Japanese tatami room, a large hall for functions, and administrative offices. The classrooms feature windows overlooking the lake, the surrounding mountains, nearby Hikone Castle, and a Japanese style garden. The dormitory features apartments for both students and faculty, a fitness room, a laundry room, a computer lab, an entertainment room, and a large lobby. Each apartment contains two private bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. There is one wheelchair-accessible dorm room available. Academics In the beginning the program was exclusively an academic year program for Japanese language and cultural studies; however, as it became apparent that this resulted in smaller class sizes, the administration expanded the program to allow students to choose to stay for only a semester. Today JCMU typically has six academic programs throughout the year: the single semester program, the academic year program, the environmental