Heyooo,
My (American) company has been expanding to different regions over the past 5 years, and is in the late stages of establishing a presence in Japan. The team has been selected, and I have been offered a relocation package to Tokyo. It will be WFH, with the occasional onsite meeting in Shibuya, so anywhere in the 23 wards should be fine.
My biggest concern is my kids are late elementary, almost middle school age, and only know basic Japanese. The relocation package helps with the move and getting settled, but does not include funds for international schools. I tried to negotiate adding this in, but alas. My salary will be high by Japanese standards, at around 15M yen. International schools are like 2M-3M a pop, and I have 3 kids, not to mention taxes will take about half my salary away.
So I’m wondering – are there any bilingual private schools I can consider, that are perhaps more affordable than the proper International schools?
*P.S: Since I know somebody will bring it up…Yes we’ve been to Japan several times, and my kids are excited about the idea. I’m not going to pretend it’ll be easy, but it’s an exciting opportunity for all of us.*
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**Relocating to Tokyo with kids – School options?**
Heyooo,
My (American) company has been expanding to different regions over the past 5 years, and is in the late stages of establishing a presence in Japan. The team has been selected, and I have been offered a relocation package to Tokyo. It will be WFH, with the occasional onsite meeting in Shibuya, so anywhere in the 23 wards should be fine.
My biggest concern is my kids are late elementary, almost middle school age, and only know basic Japanese. The relocation package helps with the move and getting settled, but does not include funds for international schools. I tried to negotiate adding this in, but alas. My salary will be high by Japanese standards, at around 15M yen. International schools are like 2M-3M a pop, and I have 3 kids, not to mention taxes will take about half my salary away.
So I’m wondering – are there any bilingual private schools I can consider, that are perhaps more affordable than the proper International schools?
*P.S: Since I know somebody will bring it up…Yes we’ve been to Japan several times, and my kids are excited about the idea. I’m not going to pretend it’ll be easy, but it’s an exciting opportunity for all of us.*
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So, my kid is still young (4 years old), so we haven’t navigated this personally yet. But from my understanding, you’re really going to want a proper international school for the middle schoolers. Since high school isn’t compulsory in Japan, from middle school on the focus is on entrance exams for high school (and then college). For those of us planning for our children to not enter the Japanese university/shukatsu/career system, this is obviously problematic.
For elementary school the education is less exam-focused, so you might consider a regular public elementary school, but of course there is the language issue. I’ve been hearing that some wards that have a large number of foreign students may have more language support, but that’s not something I have experience with. You may want to check out the FB group Parents with Kids in Japanese schools, I think there are occasionally posts about that.
There are international schools with less of a reputation than the well known ones, but they are still pretty pricey (I think one in my area is 1.2 mil annually, plus extra fees), and I would definitely ask them in depth questions about curriculum, teacher credentials, staff turnover, etc. Honestly though all the other foreign parents I work with who plan to send their kids to college abroad stick with the “proper” international schools for Jr high and high school, so make of that what you will.
With what you list out, meetings in Shibuya, elementary school entering middle school, etc I would suggest in/around the Yoga area. I think you’ll have a lot of housing options as well as access to some of the larger parks in Tokyo.
There are two private schools in the area. One for boys ([St Mary’s](https://www.smis.ac.jp/)) and one for girls, [[Seisen](https://www.seisen.com/)].
I think the trick for getting the most value out of both of these schools is to be within walking or drop-off distance. Not taking the school’s bus, etc will substantially drop the overall cost.
Yoga to Shibuya is a short 20-25 minute subway ride although during morning rush can be crowded. Denentoshi line also offers pretty convenient access to downtown Tokyo.
Hey there! Congratulations on securing that job in Japan; it will be a great experience.
I have a 7-year-old myself and did extensive school hunting last summer. The only public schools with English programs are mostly in Minato City, but they have limited spots available. If you contact the schools, they are super nice, but they won’t provide more information until you actually prove that you live in Minato. Actually, all this information is managed by the city ward, not the schools, now that I remember.
There are a few other schools, but here’s the thing—you might think that because they are private, they all have spots available, but they don’t! You would have to contact them and see if they have any openings in whatever grades you are looking for.
There’s one Montessori school called MEES International School that pretty much always has spots available.
Good luck!
Do you need to live in the 23 wards? if you look outside central Tokyo you may find some cheaper schooling options. I point this out since you only go to the office occasionally.
Musashi International School, Columbia International School, Tokyo West International School and Makuhari International School all are in the 1.5M to 1.9M per year/kid. If you are bringing three kids into an international school, always ask for a sibling discount.
You income will be about 10M take home, so living out west Tokyo/Saitama/Chiba will be cheaper for living and more affordable for schooling.
My kids attend one of the ones I mentioned. DM me if you want more information.
Three kids at a time sounds tough. I have one kid at Shinagawa International School, which is only like a 5 minute walk from where we live – there are a bunch of tower mansions near the Shinagawa Seaside station that are nice. That’s another thing that might be tough for you – 3LDK and up mansions are rare (we’re in a small 4LKD) so you might need to find a house, which I think is a bit harder to find.
Shinagawa International School has International Baccalaureate programs for elementary school and middle school, with certification underway for high school. We pay about 1.8M for one kid without the bus. There is some sort of discount for each additional kid, but it’s like 10% or something.
There are some international school out closer to Chiba (Global Indian International School Tokyo) that are cheaper than St. Mary’s and the like, I found that when we included busses and the time to get there I preferred the Canadian school in Meguro or Shinagawa International School since it is so close to us. Hope that helps!
My kids went to an international school in Tokyo which was paid by my employer. I took a few years off to pursue some other interests, during which we applied for and received much reduced tuition. Lower prices are often available to people without the benefit of an employer subsidy. IIRC, the price was reduced to just under half the list price (something like 1.2 million yen at the time). Since you are not getting a subsidy, you should approach the schools directly and ask if they can cut you a better deal. It does happen.