The Japanese education system

In Japan, children are legally guaranteed the right to an education. This also means that a child’s guardians are obligated to provide the opportunity for such education.

Japanese compulsory education, as laid out in the School Education law, begins with children at age 6 （as of April 2 of the given year）, and continues until these children graduate from junior high school. However, this law only applies to Japanese nationals and does not include foreign nationals.

There are no international schools in Iwate, so children of foreign nationals attend the same schools as Japanese children. If your child does not have an adequate grasp of the Japanese language, please consult your local board of education. With the guardian’s approval, a number of solutions to this issue may be worked out. Among these are additional language education, and entrance into a lower grade-level than the child’s age.