Students enjoy a quiet and relaxing learning environment in the rural settings at YU. Yamagata is a mountainous region with an abundance of natural beauty including lakes, rivers, hot springs (onsen), rice paddies, wild animals, and the Sea of Japan. During their study at YU, students can enjoy four distinct seasons and engage in a wide variety of outdoor activities on their own or through 250 student organizations all year long. Among such activities are mountain hiking and climbing, scuba-diving and fishing in the Sea of Japan, autumn foliage viewing, a beef and potato stew party on the riverside, boat riding, winery tours, winter and summer skiing, and snow trekking.

We provide our students with a range of services including counseling, career services, financial aid, registration, academic records, extra-curricular activities, housing, study abroad advising and admission at our four college campuses: Kojirakawa, Iida, Yonezawa and Tsuruoka. The Student Services Center at the Kojirakawa campus serves all incoming freshmen as well as those in their second year and up enrolled in the campus's three faculties (Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, and Education, Art and Science), four graduate schools (Social and Cultural Systems, Science and Engineering (Science), Regional Education and Culture, and Professional School of Education), and a school nurse license certificate program. Students enrolled in the other faculties (Medicine, Engineering and Agriculture) who have completed their freshman year at the Kojirakawa campus receive a full range of services at each campus.