I have a child that comes from a half Japanese half Anglo American background that has been attending what is broadly considered to be a good Japanese private school in Tokyo. My child is generally doing well but has struggled with one or two subjects and with the general rigid nature of the school and curriculum. My child speaks fluent Japanese and English but is only receiving average grades for both their Japanese and English reading and writing.
I am considering to move the child to an international school in Tokyo where I am hoping they will get a better study vs life balance.
I am hoping parents, from a similar background, might be able to identify schools in the greater Tokyo region (Kanagawa/Saitama/Chiba) where their children have found success and happiness. I prefer schools with a GCSE/A level or IB approach but the US system is also a possibility. Ideally the school would have a good mix of foreign, mixed race as well as some local and returning Japanese.
Thank you in advance for your recommendations or any other guidance you may have.
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15 comments
Could you say what level–primary, middle, HS?
Any international school (which does not follow 文科省 curriculum) and is of course private will be quite expensive. And, IMO, none of that guarantees much in terms of developmental freedom, creativity, free thinking, and so on. [Wikipedia has a list.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_schools_in_Japan) Edit: link corrected.
Have you considered just the regular Japanese public schools? Our two went thru those and turned out fine. One did applied chem in uni, the other in sciences, both at good kokuritsu schools. The younger one is now finishing their phd in the US in bioinformatics. Both girls.
Off the top of my head, the top tier is something like ASIJ, BST, TIS, Nishimachi, YIS? I think all but ASIJ have the curriculum you want. Nishimachi has more permanent Japanese or mixed kids. ASIJ and BST, despite being associated with specific countries, are both actually very international.
There are different reasons to choose between then, but at least I know families happy with all of these.
I have family who went to ASIJ. It’s a fantastic school and very international
Why not just move to a better Japanese school that aligns with what you’re looking for and send your kid to one of the after-school English programs for bilingual/returnee/half children? Then they’d still get the exposure to English (and kids who speak English) without the hassles you’re describing.
Or maybe one of the Japanese public schools for returnees/bilingual students?
https://educationinjapan.wordpress.com/the-scoop-on-schools/returnee-support-schools-with-an-international-orientation/
Our oldest is really enjoying a hybrid Japanese private school offering a double diploma course. There are a number of schools in Tokyo offering high school diplomas from both Japan and countries like Canada, the US and Australia. There are some in other parts of Japan as well.
There are these things called jukus. They’ll help with any subject deficiencies your child is experiencing. If you want them to attend university in Japan moving them to an international school is doing them a disservice.
I really like Yokohama international School. IB world school (PYP, MYP, DP). Great community, campus.
My family had a fantastic experience with KAIS. It’s a smaller school, but very personalized, flexible and treats students as individuals.
For your consideration,
[https://www.camelot.tokyo.jp/](https://www.camelot.tokyo.jp/)
I went to Aoba but jumped ship to the US for high school, because everything seemed…shaky at the time with the founder handing off the school to her son amid a recession.
From what I hear from friends (and their parents) that stayed and rode out the transition, it seems like things stabilized once the school was acquired by BBT, and they’ve been IB certified for quite a while at this point
The thing I’m most grateful about Aoba is the emphasis they put on Japanese education, and their Japanese *kokugo* curriculum adheres to MEXT’s curriculum guidelines.
I have friends from other international schools that have a hard time reading Kanji, whereas I’m doing fine in a Japanese work environment, despite not taking any Japanese classes from high school onwards.
With regards to the study vs life balance, if you truly think that the rigidity of a Japanese school environment isn’t a right fit for your child and is hampering him/her from realizing their potential, then I think a change of scenery by going to an international school is definitely something worth considering.
If you’re not going the ASIJ/BST route, I think KIST is a good option, as is Nishimachi (although as another commenter mentioned, they don’t have a high school program)
I moved my 1/2 Japanese 1/2 American daughter from a good Japanese public school (Denenchofu) into Yokohama International School for all the same reasons you list above. It was the best decision I’ve made in a decade. I highly recommend YIS. If YIS is just too far away, I would still strongly recommend you make the switch to an international school.
My children go to a local public Japanese school here in Tokyo.
It’s not a walk in the park. Neither is it some kind of 24/7 study hell-hole (and it definitely is not ‘all rote memorization’). It’s a good school, with good teachers that take a very active role in the student’s studies.
The key difference I’ve seen is that at public schools, parents need to be *far* more engaged with the schooling than in the US or UK (again based on my experience in education, both as a student and as a parent, in the US, UK and Japan). I personally think that’s fantastic (parent engagement is, IIRC, viewed as a key determinant of success in terms of educational outcomes).
The public schools in Japan, in general, are excellent – top-notch, but as a parent, be prepared to be very engaged with the school. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
I know quite a few people that have children in international schools, some people have seemed to like the one in Yokohama. I’ve also met a lot of parents that complained about non-stop drama between children, teachers, and parents, at pretty much all the international schools. The worst case of bullying I’ve directly heard of was at YIS. YMMV.
I’ve attended high school in the US and Japan, university in the US, Japan and the UK. University in Japan is a joke, but then it’s not really supposed to be where you learn to do research, you do that at the corporates.
The best way to describe it: In Japan, education up through high school is about lifting the floor and getting a solid grounding in fundamentals. Uni is a bit of a break, and you start learning how to do research – which you can only do if you have the fundementals down – at the corporates.
In the US, up through high school is figuring out how to get along with people. University is where you learn to write and do research.
In the UK, education through uni is about having a high ceiling for the next Newton, and if you’re not a Newton, well sucks to be you. Uni course work is more self-directed, your grade may be based on one exam at the end of the term, while in the US you’ll have homework, quizzes, mid-terms, and a final etc etc.
You can’t really say which is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ – it’s what would be a good fit for the student. My son and daughter both do well in Japan in their own way, my daughter would do better than my son in the UK, my son would do better than my daughter in the US.
I also strongly think that spending millions of yen per year for education at any level up through high school is a massive waste of money. I see very little evidence suggesting that the student going to ASIJ, BST, YIS etc. is getting any sort of meaningful advantage in terms of education over a local public school. My son didn’t speak any Japanese when he enrolled in the local public school, and we were very impressed at how the school works to ensure non-Japanese speaking students can fit in.
There’s Nishimachi International school
Most schools are completely full due to popularity, even non-English international schools. I would hit up as many as possible to get on the waiting list, you don’t really have the luxury of picking and choosing unless you have connections.
All I can say is that if you are set on an international school, be prepared to pay an arm and a leg. The closest one to where I live charges 2 million per year in just basic tuition even for elementary school.