BA Japanese: Edinburgh or SOAS or Durham or Sheffield?

I studied Japanese at Edinburgh. Here's my input on universities offering Japanese in the UK (from what I've experienced or heard and witnessed from friends who've studied Japanese at each institution).

Oxford - rather poor conversational Japanese due to extremely heavy emphasis on history and classical Japanese. Knowledge of grammar and ability to read will be great but speaking will be pretty bad. Also, all students go to the same university during their YA. I understand they might do this to maintain standards for their students while abroad, but it completely holes them up in a bubble. Ergo, go here if you want to learn more about the academic field of Japanese studies but not if you want to improve your conversational Japanese.

SOAS - phenomenal for language and you will skyrocket. However, extremely, extremely competitive, stifling and, to an extent, toxic student community. Everyone knows everyone's grades and is vying for top place. Every man for himself, so might be difficult to make close friends. Also, huge focus on reading, learning kanji and passing tests. Speaking will improve (and most likely be better than an Oxford student's) but still a little lacking due to the heavy emphasis on test-taking. Again, have heard some terrible things about SOAS as far as departmental politics go. Location is depends on the individual and whether or not you want to or can afford to live in London.

Durham - extremely new Japanese department made only a few years ago. Don't know anyone who went here but would most certainly not recommend going somewhere where they've literally just begun the course. Even courses which have been going on for decades still haven't perfected the formula, especially for a course as difficult and sinuous as Japanese.

Manchester - The uni itself gets extremely poor ratings for student satisfaction (as most big universities including Edinburgh do) but its Asian Studies department seems to be rather low as well in contrast to Edinburgh's which is near perfect. They also have links to some of the most random Japanese partner universities: from the elite of the elite to some of the complete worst and unknown Japanese universities. Don't know too much about the actual course but a few of the guys I met during my YA didn't really speak it too well. I imagine their reading was better. In any case, Manchester has access to its interpreting and translating department, so I imagine there would be some very useful modules in that!

Edinburgh - excellent language courses with heavy emphasis on speaking. Reading and writing, although covered in great depth, might not be as intensive as the SOAS and Oxford departments both of which hammer in reading/writing. Ergo, JLPT test results (which don't examine speaking ability) in the first few years might not be as good as SOAS and Oxford students' but will definitely catch up by the end of the year abroad. Speaking, however, will be way better. Partner universities are also being cut down to about 6. They're all elite universities but much fewer options than the previous 12+. Edinburgh is also somewhat heavy on academic Japanese studies (but not as much as Oxford) all the while focusing on the language aspects. The academic side can be rather dense at times. In any case, the Asian Studies department (including Japanese and Chinese) always get exceptional reviews and ratings even when the university as a whole struggles due to how large it is without much organisation of administration. The Japanese department is extremely tight-knit and you'll be friends with everyone up to 4th year, the staff as well as all the previous senpais (like me) who've already graduated. Low general university ratings are mostly due to administration.

Leeds - have heard nothing but great things about here. That said, I only knew a handful of people, so there could've been bias. Still pretty good though. Potentially major con is that they send their students to Japan in 2nd year. I'm not convinced that sending students to Japan at a post-beginner's level would see them reach advanced stages of the language after a year. Ergo, sending students in 2nd year lowers the skill ceiling that students can reach. Generally, everyone improves their language abilities the most during their YA, so sending them at a higher level means that they can become all the better; but, sending them at a lower level, although helps them improves rapidly, lowers the ceiling. They'll probably come back post-intermediate whereas students going in 3rd year go as either intermediate or post-intermediate and come back advanced.

Sheffield - have heard quite decent stuff about here but their language courses don't seem to be nearly as intensive as the other universities I've discussed.

In any case, language degrees do, to a certain extent, depend on the student and how far they get independently. But, you need a good teacher to guide you and you can't expect to be magically fluent in spoken Japanese if all you're being taught is to read classical stuff. Think carefully about what you want from your Japanese degree. Whether you want to be an academic or well-rounded etc. Also, look into the academic Japanese studies modules because at ancient universities like Oxford and Edinburgh, you'll be taking half of your stuff in these things. Edinburgh's focus is more contemporary while Oxford's is classical. SOAS does more history etc.

All universities have their pros and cons. In all honesty, in terms of becoming a complete God at Japanese, I'd recommend SOAS. The only drawback is the atmosphere and the fact that their spoken Japanese might not be as good as their phenomenal reading and writing. That's not to say their speaking is bad, by no means! It's probably one of the best, actually. Most likely up there but just behind Edinburgh. It probably beats all other universities for reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary though.