Entrepreneur launches support service for international school kids in Japan

While international schools in Japan are expensive options, they have become more democratized in recent years. The declining birthrate in the country means more money can be spent on one child.

With financial support from grandparents, more middle-class families are able to afford such schools. The cost can vary widely, from 1.5 million yen to up to 10 million yen, including dormitory fees, such as in the case of Harrow.

This is a service for very very few people — not applicable to more than 99.9% of Japanese.

This is a service for very very few people — not applicable to more than 99.9% of Japanese.

I bet students from that school have better English language skill then 99.9% of Japanese school.

It seems a little funny that a school operating in Japan would not have at least one staff member that could communicate in Japanese with the parents of students. As for the course work, for the fees that Harrow and other schools charge, in some cases over 10 million yen per year, they should provide the tutoring necessary to help the struggling student. This article seems to be more of an advertisement for international schools in Japan!

Top news?

What's omitted from this article is that the government hands out loads of cash to new international schools. Nowadays everyone can start an international school.... And like somebody else wrote ,an international school without a Japanese administrator is kind of weird. Japanese education is set up so that people can earn lots of money from it, like this new useless business or cram schools, international schools etc.

Send your kids to Japanese schools.

Asiaman7--there isn't enough space here to add all the "very"s you need to add to "few people". And probably most of the students are from the Chinese schools that shut down.

Send your kids to Japanese schools.

Good recommendation, Fighto. However, most parents sending their children to international schools in Japan are planning for them to attend college/university outside Japan.

Most Japanese schools don’t have an adequate system or guidance counselor with adequate knowledge to assist a talented student with the many requirements of entry into an elite overseas college/university, the target of most of these parents. Moreover, the quality of most Japanese schools is not known to many overseas college/university admissions officers. Now, this is not the case for all Japanese schools. Some, like Gakugei or Senzoku, are well-known to overseas admissions officers and can handle an application to an overseas university or a Japanese university equally well.

Many other schools in Japan, however, are severely lacking, and most wealthy parents don’t want poor support staff impeding their child’s future.

As said above, international schools always have bilingual Japanese staff.

It will make parents “lazier” and distance themselves from the reality of their children.

I know one 6-year-old boy attending an international school who travels daily about 100 km on the Shinkansen to attend. A scholarship pays for everything. Both Japanese parents speak English as he does, and his teachers speak Japanese. The desire of his parents is he will attend university in the US.

I'm dead against private schools and international schools, I believe their whole purpose is to create division. I much prefer the inclusivity of the local schools. I think the issues raised in this article are very interesting- it shows that the schools themselves are a scam and that they do not properly accomodate for the students, despite the government money and paid fees. Avoid them like the plague.

Conversely, expand services for foreign students and families in Japan since their population far exceeds those that are in this article.

Home Teaching is the only way to get your kids to speak your native language. Yes schools like this helps but HOME in the ultimate classroom, spend time with them and speak only your language, they will pick up the Japanese language on their own so no worry their.

Is it guaranteed these kids will be able to enter a university overseas? They will not be able to enter a Japanese university as they only allow local High school scores. Parents won’t be able to communicate with their children in English either as the article states they didn’t study English at their school.

Japanese parents of the growing number of children attending international school in Japan often feel overwhelmed due to a lack of support,

Really? I sent my kids to intl schools, and that is not my experience at all. Intl. schools are extremely expensive, and thus the population consists of wealthy parents, most often with families with one large income and one spouse who is free all day (yep, the elites practise that same old-fashioned family model that they demand the masses should abandon...). This project sounds like more coddling for an already coddled group.

Japantime

Is it guaranteed these kids will be able to enter a university overseas? They will not be able to enter a Japanese university as they only allow local High school scores. 

False. With an IB from an intl. school, kids can get directly into a Japanese university as a foreign student. About 1/3 or my sons classes did exactly that.

Send kids to JAPANESE schools.

I bet students from that school have better English language skill then 99.9% of Japanese school.

Go to school kid..

A bit weird for very expensive schools in Japan to not put out communications in Japanese.

While international schools in Japan are expensive options, they have become more democratized in recent years. The declining birthrate in the country means more money can be spent on one child.

A very bizarre use of the word "democratized". What has happened is that the large fall in people making 7 to 10 million yen, traditional middle class, has been accompanied by a jump in the (tiny) number of people making 15 million yen plus. More people can now afford 10 million yen cars, 30000 yen steaks, 100,000 yen plus a night hotels, 1.5 oku plus tower mansions, and x million a year schools. I would not call increasing inequality "democratization".

kohakuebisu

A bit weird for very expensive schools in Japan to not put out communications in Japanese.

Nothing weird about it. Classes are in English, with Japanese taught as a subject. They are not addressing an audience that speaks Japanese only.

The Harrow school is one of the most expensive, with fees of more than ¥10 million per year.

ZaphodToday  01:18 pm JST

kohakuebisu

A bit weird for very expensive schools in Japan to not put out communications in Japanese.

Nothing weird about it. Classes are in English, with Japanese taught as a subject. They are not addressing an audience that speaks Japanese only.

And they are operating in Japan so communications at the very least should be bilingual. So all parents of Japanese kids in int'l schools can speak English? Really?

I still hold the opinion that certain institutions are not worth the fees and I strongly recommend anyone with children to reconsider any thoughts of spending money on private education with the idea of them eventually being sent overseas. Those schools in question do nothing more than you can achieve in your local schools and by being well-informed. Secondly, I agree with other posters that this is nothing more than a publicity exercise at a critical part of the school/financial year.

The sort of people who send their kids to these sort of schools can certainly afford to hire a personal interpreter or translator. Failing that, why not just send your kids to a Japanese school. They'll probably be crying later that their kids can't get into a Japanese university.

MilesTeg

And they are operating in Japan so communications at the very least should be bilingual.

They are bilingual where necessary. All intl. schools have Japanese staff.

So all parents of Japanese kids in int'l schools can speak English? Really?

In my experience, yes. At least to some degree. And Japanese kids with zero language support from home are not accepted. None of the intl. schools I know want to operate simply as language schools. Maybe some of the startups do, I do not know.

Pukey2

The sort of people who send their kids to these sort of schools can certainly afford to hire a personal interpreter or translator.

Not me. We were scraping the barrel to pay the huge school fees out of pocket, unlike diplomats and expats. But afaic, even kids from rich parents are not accepted if the kid knows no English and there is no language support.

Failing that, why not just send your kids to a Japanese school. They'll probably be crying later that their kids can't get into a Japanese university.

Again, that is not true. Graduates from intl. schools can avoid the gruesome entrance exam and get straight in. I know so many kids who did that, I am curious where this false idea comes from.

Negative Nancy

I still hold the opinion that certain institutions are not worth the fees

That is true; you have to look at the institution. I.e. American "ivy league" super famous universities are turning themselves gradually into a laughing stock with their woke programs and DEI.

and I strongly recommend anyone with children to reconsider any thoughts of spending money on private education with the idea of them eventually being sent overseas. 

Again, it is case by case. For example, intl. school graduates can get right into normal programs, while Japanese graduates are required to take introductory and language courses.

Those schools in question do nothing more than you can achieve in your local schools and by being well-informed.

Not necessarily. For one thing there is the self-identity issue, including not wanting to speak better English than your fumbling classmates, and then there is issue of low IQ kids holding the entire class back because nobody gets kicked out (while that happens easily in intl. schools). In general, having a selected student population from intact families w/o any problem kids makes for much better teaching environment.

Secondly, I agree with other posters that this is nothing more than a publicity exercise at a critical part of the school/financial year.

This article? Probably so.

One reason its weird if international schools do not offer a liason service in Japanese is that people send their kids to them because they feel their kids do not fit in the Japanese system.

Like everything else, int'l schools will be a mixed bag. Some will be great, others won't be. Colleges in Japan are a mixed bag, and ones overseas are the same. You cannot tell from the name alone. The experience of living outside Japan may be more valuable to a Japanese than whatever they are taught at an overseas college they go to. Thanks to working holidays, it is not necessary to go to college to experience living overseas.

ZaphodToday  06:21 pm JST

MilesTeg

And they are operating in Japan so communications at the very least should be bilingual.

They are bilingual where necessary. All intl. schools have Japanese staff.

So all parents of Japanese kids in int'l schools can speak English? Really?

In my experience, yes. At least to some degree. And Japanese kids with zero language support from home are not accepted. None of the intl. schools I know want to operate simply as language schools. Maybe some of the startups do, I do not know.

Yet you said there was nothing weird about not providing Japanese in communications. Now you're saying that they do where necessary. It is weird to not provide at least bilingual communications when operating in Japan with Japanese clients.

That 'may' be the case for admissions but without knowing the English level of one or both parents, it's difficult to determine how much English support they can actually provide to their child, isn't it. Do they give an English test to parents? LOL!

If the indented outcome of these schools is for children in Japan to become fluent in English a better approach would be for prefectures to create a number of public English immersion schools.

But, I believe that the intended outcome that parents who send their children to these schools is to buy their kids' access into some kind of snobby class to lord it over the rest of society.

The last thing Japan needs is to revert to some kind of pre Meiji Restoration feudal system of entrenched classes. It is just as likely that genius and innovation come from a kid born into a family of "vassals" as a snobby "lord." Hard work, ethics and the ability to create wealth is far more likely to come from the "vassal" class than the wealth-harvesting class these kids will become.

proxy

But, I believe that the intended outcome that parents who send their children to these schools is to buy their kids' access into some kind of snobby class to lord it over the rest of society.

Maybe for some. In my case, I did not want to be the only gaijin in a totally japanese family and have kids that I can speak to naturally and who do not feel weird about being both half and speaking English,

Japanese parents can have different motives. One that you probably did not consider is that in intl. schools it does not matter if the parents are locally famous, while in a Japanese school that would be a huge issue. Thus, among my kids classmates was a whole bunch with parents that are well-known artists, commentators etc. that you see on Japanese TV. Not my intention and I don´t care, but that is the situation. For them, it is kind of an escape into anonymity.

Somebody disagrees but access to education improves social mobility and social mobility, although still relatively high in Japan is sliding because access to education is getting harder. The middle class is shrinking as classes become more entrenched. Average kids in a lower income family who cannot afford juku at the age of 15, are being shut out of accessing the best high schools and therefore the best universities and the opportunity of education. Even for many middle class families it is becoming difficult to pay for juku, and university.

The parents of these kids attending Harrow can afford whatever it costs to put their little darlings through the hoops to stay in the lord class.

There is a troubling tendency in Japan for entrenchment. Children of politicians, enter politics and are elected by name, son's of dentists and doctors are pushed into becoming dentists and doctors and daughter's of doctors are pushed and prepared to marry doctors. The children of an owner of an SME is destined to take over the family business even though they may be much better suited for something else.

Japan must resist the temptation of class entrenchment.

MilesTeg

Yet you said there was nothing weird about not providing Japanese in communications. Now you're saying that they do where necessary. It is weird to not provide at least bilingual communications when operating in Japan with Japanese clients.

The contradiction is only in your mind. What exactly is communicated bilingually of course depends on the school and the situation.

That 'may' be the case for admissions but without knowing the English level of one or both parents, it's difficult to determine how much English support they can actually provide to their child, isn't it. Do they give an English test to parents? LOL!

In my experience, yes. Both parents and kids are being interviewed before being accepted. Remind you, this are private schools, not required to take anyone like a public school. Of course, I can only speak of the ones I know. As the article says, there are hundreds.