I want to attend high-school in Japan, can I?

Hello. I am a 15 year old from bangladesh who wants to move to japan. I've been looking for ways to attend (When I'm 16)High School from the 1st Year to Get used to the environment there and get better at the language and culture before i attend university and plan to move permanently there (i have talked to my parents about this for the last 2 years and i have their permission) which is my original plan. I've been researching alot and I'm just trying to find straight forward answers, let's just go over a few things

1. No i do not have family or any relatives living in japan, i was looking into it if i could get a homestay/or find a host family through other means I'm still looking for. Can i possibly?
2. No there isn't any Student Exchange programs from Here to Japan at all. I've tried contacting the embassy due to coronavirus concerns they aren't available. And i have talked to my schools counselling.
3. I am completely serious about my plans that i have made and i did have time to think about the plans that i have in mind for the past 2 years or so and my original plan is to Prepare for my O and A Levels and leave after that but i figure that time i can rather use to learn there through the education system there. So i can fit in easier for university, and beyond. (As in living there)
4. My family is not rich but i think we can afford to have me sent there and attend highschool and i was thinking if i could legally get a small part-time job to support paying for the homestay at least.

I was wondering in which way i could possibly attend Highschool from the 1st year in Japan when i am 16 years old with no relatives living there, and in what ways could i find a guardian or of the sort to vouch for me living and studying there? I could guess the expenses and save up (which i can). But What are the LEGAL Requirements that are needed and can it possibly be done? If not, why can it not be? I'm sorry if I'm imposing too many questions. Thank you very much for your time. Have a great day.

There is no "attend high school" visa for Japan. Unless you have another reason to be in Japan (e.g. a dependent visa for living with a family member), you won't be able to attend high school outside of an exchange program. This is especially true since you say you would likely need to work to support yourself while in Japan - countries aren't usually fans of handing out visas to foreign nationals who may not be able to financially support themselves.

Wait until you have finished high school, and go to Japan for university.

Hi Rakib,

First of all, I'd like to tell you that I haven't been sleeping well, because I often have dreams here in Japan about traveling abroad and then waking up in the middle of the night to realize it's not going to happen for some time.

We have to face the fact that overseas travel will not be common for months, or perhaps a year or two. And it's all because we care for each others' health. It's all for love.

Use these months and years to work on your Japanese language ability. Study your other subjects well, so that you can work as a bridge between the two countries some day.

Once the vaccination and curative medicine are developed and spread, it would be just the right time for you to apply for university in Japan.

Note that the first year of senior high school here in Japan starts in April for those who are 15 years old at the time. Since high school is not compulsory education, people need to pass a difficult entrance exam in Japanese language. There are also private international high schools here, but expenses are very high. Many foreign teenagers who were forced to come to Japan with their families do manage to attend public high school, but they suffer due to lack of language support. On the other hand, things will be a lot easier if you come here for college/university, granted that you are already doing well in your own country.

Looking forward to your future.

you can't move to Japan only by your will.
you should study hard in your country to get excellent school score.
then, you will have good chance to get MEXT scholarship to enter university in Japan. you don't need to worry about everyday's expense in Japan. after graduation, you will have good chance to get a job in Japan or you can enter graduated school to learn more.

study hard at high school in your country.

"Get a MEXT scholarship so you won't have to worry about anything else" is a pretty low-percentage shot at studying in Japan. Yeah, it's definitely a nice thing if you can do it, but it's far from the only way to study in Japan.

So getting to Rakib's questions:
���uI was wondering in which way i could possibly attend Highschool from the 1st year in Japan when i am 16 years old with no relatives living there, and in what ways could i find a guardian or of the sort to vouch for me living and studying there? I could guess the expenses and save up (which i can). But What are the LEGAL Requirements that are needed and can it possibly be done?�v

As a 16-year-old, you'd be a minor, and so the legal requirements you'd need to meet are a visa and a legal guardian in Japan. Let's start with the visa.

Basically, if you're not a Japanese citizen, you'll need a visa to live in Japan. In broad terms, there are three types:
a. Dependent visa - i.e. you're the child of someone who has a visa to live in Japan. Since your parents don't have Japanese visas, this won't be applicable to you.
b. Work visa - This also won't be applicable to you. As a minor, you won't be able to do the sort of full-time work that's applicable for a work visa.
c. Student visa - This is the one you could possibly obtain.

So the question becomes how to get a student visa. Student visas are dependent on acceptance to a school/study program in Japan. In other words, you have to find a school/program, apply, and get accepted before you can apply for the student visa. You can't just apply for the visa first, then figure out what school/program you're going to attend afterwards.

This is why you'll hear people say there is no "I just want to study in Japan" visa. Even if you were to somehow find a Japanese family willing to vouch for you and provide you with a place to live, that isn't enough to get you a student visa if you haven't also been accepted by a school.

So now the question becomes how to get accepted by a school. For this, there are a few major paths:
a. Apply at a school that has no study abroad/exchange programs: This is going to be the most difficult path, and likely impossible. You'd be asking a school to sponsor a student visa for you despite not having any experience in the process or support staff for it. It's far beyond what a school could reasonably be expected to do.
b. Apply at a school that does have a study abroad/exchange program: This is the path that's going to give you the best chance of success. Schools that have such programs are versed in the process of applying for/sponsoring student visas, and also support staff to help with the transition to life in Japan and any problems that might arise.

You mention you have talked to your home country school's counselor and the Japanese embassy and they haven't been able to help you. If that's the case, you should next try contacting applicable schools in Japan.

���uIn what ways could i find a guardian or of the sort to vouch for me living and studying there? �v
This generally isn't something that you would do yourself. Instead, schools that sponsor student visas are often the ones that do this, once the student has been accepted and committed to coming to Japan. There are non-school affiliated homestay organizations, but these are generally for shorter stays by travelers, not people living in Japan and going to school there full-time.

���uMy family is not rich but i think we can afford to have me sent there and attend high school and i was thinking if i could legally get a small part-time job to support paying for the homestay at least.�v
You mention getting a part-time job to try to finance your living expenses, but be aware that in Japan high school is not part of legal compulsory education, and even public high schools require tuition.

�� While there are exchange programs for high school students to Japan, you might be better served by waiting until college to come. Forgive me if this sounds presumptuous or rude, but the fact that you're asking these questions on an English Internet forum instead of utilizing Japanese-language sources makes me think that your Japanese-language skills aren't at a particularly high level yet. If so, regular classes at a Japanese high school really aren't the place to hone them.

As a largely homogenous country, the vast majority of the high school-age student body in Japan speaks Japanese at a native level. It's one thing if a non-Japanese-native student has some pressing reason to be attending high school in Japan (such as having to live in Japan because of their parents' jobs, being a refugee, etc.), but it's another for someone to attend a Japanese high school and slow down the speed of instruction just because they're interested in Japan and want to live there.

This is another reason why you should be looking for schools that offer study abroad/exchange programs. Those schools are set up to provide support to the student, and also to teachers in structuring lessons that allow the Japanese students to get the education they need without leaving the foreign student confused and frustrated.

As an example, imagine if a Japanese student, who speaks Japanese but very little of any other language, suddenly wanted to start attending high school in Bangladesh. If there was some reason he had to, or if it was going to be a short-term program, then sure, people in the school (teachers, administrators, other students) would probably be willing to help out however they can. But if he said "Hey, I don't speak the language, and I could have just as easily gone to school in Japan, but I think Bangladesh is cool, so I'm gonna go to school here and you need to help me," it's a different situation.

Also bear in mind that even if you like Japan so much that you're willing to get below-average grades while struggling with the language, the teacher will still have the pressure/negative performance reviews from having an underachieving student.

Because of that, unless your Japanese is at a level where you feel you could jump right into reading textbooks, writing reports, and having classroom discussions all in Japanese (and that goes for humanities subjects like Japanese literature and history too, not just math and science), you're really better off looking for a short-term study abroad program instead of trying to enter a Japanese high school as a regular, full-time student, and perhaps looking for a more intense study-in-Japan experience as a college student.

I'm an international teacher who has taught in 6 countries (including Japan) and just wanted to make the general comments.

(1) It can take up to 7 years for a student to learn to learn an academic language. That is - if they can read and write the alphabet.
(2) Japan uses 3 alphabets. Hiragana is reasonably easy to learn, but Katakana and Romaji honestly takes most of elementary and middle school to get a good grip of the written language. From memory - you need to be able to read 3,000 characters for a simple newspaper. (I might have made some errors in names here)
(3) Japanese high school is competitive. Students that understand little of the language and content will be a major drain on the teacher and fellow students. I've often had students who were in Japanese school and would wait for everyone else to finish instead of asking for more work.
(4) Living overseas without family support is tough. I'm an adult with a job, skills and my place of work is in my home language. I find living overseas difficult. This would be even more challenging for a teenager.

�uJapan uses 3 alphabets. Hiragana is reasonably easy to learn, but Katakana and Romaji honestly takes most of elementary and middle school to get a good grip of the written language. From memory - you need to be able to read 3,000 characters for a simple newspaper. (I might have made some errors in names here)�v

I think it'd be an exaggeration to say that it takes most of junior high school to katakana. It's not significantly harder than hiragana, and for a dedicated, mature student (i.e. someone who's not a small child), with a basic textbook you can tech yourself both hiragana and katakana in a month each, even going at a leisurely pace.

As for Romaji, that's just what Japan calls the Roman/Latin/English alphabet, and so the OP will already be familiar with that.

The big hurdle, though, will be kanji. While you don't need to know all 3,000 general-use kanji at the start of high school, you'll need a solid foundation of several hundred to be able to read even first-year high school textbooks. Making things particularly difficult is that looking up kanji you don't know in a Japanese dictionary is significantly harder than looking up English words in an English dictionary.

The number of general-use Kanji (Joyo Kanji) is 2136 and high school textbooks definitely require you to be able to read all of them because children learn all of these Kanji through compulsory education and high school comes after compulsory education.

surviving alone without knowing the language at 15 years old is not easy. OP must have extremely tough mentality. when he/she has such mentality, I believe that it will be executable (and a easy task) for him/her to get good school record in his/her country with the native language.
or, he/she simply has an easy dream in which he/she can live in Japan better than his/her country without making any effort ?

I am a 15 year old from bangladesh who wants to move to japan.
Let's ask the fundamental question that is not covered in your question or the above replies: Why?
What is you compelling reason to do this. It is not a need, but a want. A thought - it might be good? - but not something that is necessary. Why Japan and not some other country? Have you visited Japan before, do you know about how it works? As a 15yo I doubt that.
In this forum there are usually one or two threads like this each month.

Thank you very much for the amazing feedback and help to make me understand my circumstances and thank you very much for taking the time. I have read everything and understood them clearly, i appreciate it very much. And yes i may have limited access to the language but I have been talking classes on japanese from an actual academy and i am practicing as much as i can through Talking to my Japanese friends and exploring through games where i can meet and converse with others and i think i can hold a basic conversation but since i didn't know alot of the words i wanted to use in Japanese i came here to ask more comfortably, and the very reason i want to go to japan and live there, i think it's a great place honestly for my personal reasons, i think they have great food, they have great healthcare and the education system for their youth and the ethics that they're taught there are very nice and the people over there are very polite and if i could, i would like my own parents to shift to japan after I'm settled down over there because of the environment there, and i think it would be a great place to retire to for them and they'll be taken good care of, they are honestly willing to go along with my idea. And i want to live and stay in a place like Japan because i enjoy the culture (as much as i know, no need to attack me saying i know nothing) i enjoy the car culture there and i am pursuing a career to be a professor in philosophy and i am incredibly interested in the mindsets and beliefs of the people there and i am mostly for self satisfactory reasons where i want more material to be accessible to me so i can read and research on it. I enjoy the culture there, the food, the healthcare for my future children and and my own parents who are looking to retire, and i think if my children are born there i would be very happy with the pace of learning and environment they would be brought up in, and i think i would be very content if i was to move to japan and live there! Also they have very nice toilets. Thank you very much. I hope all of you are staying safe in qurantine and i hope all of you are having a great day, And Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim Brothers out there.
I hope I haven't said anything weird, I haven't double checked, thank you for excusing me if i have :D

Note that bringing your parents to live with you in the future in Japan wont be easy. Again, they need a visa. So let�fs say, you go to university in Japan and then find a job and make career, after let�fs set 10 yrs you�fll maybe earn enough to have a comfortable salary. But to bring your parents they need a reason for getting Japanese immigration office why they NEED to live in Japan. It�fs not simply that you have enough money to pay for them.
You can research on the visa criteria online.

in Japan, there is words, ���N���u��������. your ��u is "moving to Japan" and not "contributing to your country". Sigh.
this could be the origin why most of undeveloped countries still remain in the same state, whereas Japan have developed. I believe that today's Japan is the result of many Japanese's contributions for a long time from the time before WW2.

@Rakib,

based on what you typed I do not think you understand Japan at all.
It is not easy and you will face many challenges and other issues.

What you wish and what you want or can are different points, and Japan is not about what you want or what you wish. It is hard competition.

Maybe a language school would be a good start to get to know and understand Japan better.

You can't just decide to move to another country - most require you to have a good reason to be there as a foreigner, and to make yourself useful. Your parents would need to either work themselves, be studying, or be financially dependent on you to be able to move to Japan, as Japan does not have a "retirement visa". Think about it - why should they be allowed to move to Japan and have their retirement covered in terms of healthcare, etc. as foreign citizens? Why should Japanese taxpayers have to cover them? If you want your parents to move to Japan, they will need to apply for and fulfill the requirements of their own visas.

It's great that you have these big dreams, but you need to do a lot more research about what is actually realistic. It will take years to reach a level of Japanese language ability that would allow you to attend high school. You also do not fulfill visa requirements to simply attend school there. You would be better off waiting until university. There's no visa for just "wanting to move to Japan" - you have to provide something back to the country, whether it's student fees or working.

�uin Japan, there is words, ���N���u��������. your ��u is "moving to Japan" and not "contributing to your country". Sigh.
this could be the origin why most of undeveloped countries still remain in the same state, whereas Japan have developed. I believe that today's Japan is the result of many Japanese's contributions for a long time from the time before WW2.�v

There's absolutely nothing shameful about going overseas to pursue educational and professional goals, and . It's also extremely narrow-minded to assume that living overseas in no ways contributes to one's home country, or to discount the value of people's contributions to countries other than the one there were born in.

Japan itself has a long history of people who achieved success in the fields of business, science, and politics who have studied and/or worked overseas, and you could build a strong argument that the country's post World War II prosperity is thanks in no small part to the willingness of ambitious Japanese intellectuals to look beyond their national borders.

i would like my own parents to shift to japan after I'm settled down over there because of the environment there, and i think it would be a great place to retire to for them and they'll be taken good care of
Nope, that's not going to happen.