Can I start high school in Japan at 16?

I currently live in New Zealand and am a 15 year old year 12 (grade 11). If I stay in New Zealand, I will graduate high school at the end of 2022. I�fm not satisfied with the New Zealand learning system for high school (NCEA, similar to GCSEs) as I don�ft like the modern approach and the constant assessments. Because this is a problem with the whole countries curriculum, I can�ft just switch school. I have friends in japan who are the same age as me and just started senior high school this year. Would it be possible for me to go to japan and study Japanese for a year and then go to a Japanese high school for 3 years and graduate at 19? I would graduate 2 years later than I would in New Zealand but I feel like it�fs worth it if I can get a better education.

Unless you already read and right Japanese and a conversational level, dont bother. Sorry to be a realist, high school is full of students that have been reading and writing for 10+ years.

Get finished up with compulsory education at home, then if you still want to be in Japan you can spend a few years there language school or university.

I want to say that although there is basically zero chance of you being able to enter Japanese high school at such an age, and at such short notice, it�fs not something you should be particularly broken up or disappointed about. I�fve lived in Japan and also travel there for two or three months at a time regularly which is more or less the same as living there minus working for a Japanese company. I meet a lot of foreign residents and the ones failed to make adequate plans or had unrealistic expectations are miserable in nearly all cases. If you were somehow able to pull it off, you would not be happy there. You don�ft speak Japanese and one year at a language school isn�ft going to get you close to the level you need to be at not just to study, but to function socially as a normal 16 year old girl would want to. Also you may be disappointed with the Japanese education system; NZ�fs is just as good.

Trust me, waiting will be worth it for the difference in quality of experience you have. Just go in a few years.

There are foreign youth who do come to Japan at your age, because they are forced to by their parents relocating here, but like the other poster implied, language assistance is very poor for them at the moment. The pandemic is not helping students, regardless of their nationality, to fully enjoy their school life either.

You can come here after finishing high school in your home country, and you'll be able to share life with Japanese people your age in a better way. Or you can try to find an exchange student program now, if you think it still answers your needs.

In general, Japan's learning system for high school seems to be just as bad or good as that of New Zealand's, which is the reason a lot of Japanese teens choose exchange student programs that allow them to go to New Zealand.

I just want to clarify, the reason I want to go to japan right now, isn�ft to experience the country but because of the education system. Both New Zealand and Japan do have good education systems but the New Zealand education system just doesn�ft work for me. It�fs very skill based and not fact based. I am tired of doing research assessments because they think we don�ft know how to do them yet. New Zealand recently redid its education system and modernised it but this modern learning just doesn�ft work for me. I actually went to a day at a university today and sitting in lectures is just so much more informational. I do plan to remove to japan in the future but really has nothing to do with that and is just about my love of learning.

Why Japan - a country whose language you are not fluent in? Why not an English-speaking country?

I would look into International Baccalaureate schools - they sound like the type of learning you want. Most subjects are heavily exam based (e.g. the sciences are 80% exam); there are only a few in-school assessments. However, it is a very demanding program in terms of the amount of content (six subjects, must study a foreign language; subjects go much further than most national curriculums, often into university-level knowledge; you must participate in Theory of Knowledge classes, the CAS - creativity, activity, service - program, and complete a 4000 word Extended Essay separate to your subjects). I know NZ does have IB schools available.

/-
I think all IB schools in New Zealand are private schools and I can�ft afford $40,000 a year for school alone. I�fve looked into other English speaking countries nearby like Australia and Singapore but they don�ft offer the kind of education I�fm interested in. Australia is very similar to New Zealand in terms of education, Singapore does have a good education system but it has a high cost of living. My parents aren�ft able to move for my education either and I already know a school in japan that accepts foreign students to complete the three years of Japanese high school.

I get that most families cannot afford a private IB education of 40k per year, but did you think attending high school in japan will be free? Putting aside actually getting a visa to study in a japanese high school, you want to attend a language school for a year, that isnt free. You would need to have a roof over your head, thats not free. You would need to eat, thats not free. You would need a plethora of other things, which also arent free. You could live with a family friend who would house and feed you, but i doubt they would do it for free.

There are high school exchange programs that are 'free', basically paid by your government, should try that.

Considering overseas schools when you can't afford a private school in your own country seems very, very silly. Did you not consider the costs associated with living and attending school in Japan? It's hard to believe you're really serious about this.

This still doesn't answer my original question of why you're considering education in a country where you don't speak the language, and presumably don't hold a current visa or residency status allowing you to live there.

I get that you feel that the style of education you're currently in doesn't suit you, but moving to another country is not the answer - there are several hurdles and quite a large number of costs you don't seem to have considered. Either complete your current schooling, or find another option in NZ. I find it hard to believe that a $40000 private school is the only option. In fact, I just did a quick Google and found several NZ IB schools that cost around half that - a far more reasonable cost that moving to an entirely new country.

A few things from someone that also went through the NZ system, and observing how my daughter also fare:.
First, learn English - your initial post has obvious errors.
Second, while NCEA is not necessarily ideal for everyone, it is a whole lot better than IB depending on what you ultimately want to do. IB is terrible for those going the STEM route. BTW, private school is way less than $40k, I know having paid fees for my daughter for 13 years.
Third, maybe you need to understand that while systems (like education are not perfect) and the system really didn't help my in my final years of high school, it is also quite variable between schools and even individual teachers. It is designed for the majority and you should not expect it to be tailored for you. The rest of the world and life will not be.
Fourth, if you think Japanese school will be substantially better, you are mistaken. The reality is that it is unlikely to be better for you, and with Japanese as a second language you will be so far behind everyone else, it will be a poor result for you. To expect to get to a level where you could even do the entrance exams in a year is not realistic. (You do know senior high school is optional and most decent schools cost.) Plus, if you want to go on to university, getting into a good school is an important factor.

Hi Rachelcookie, I understand where you are coming from. I�fve lived in Japan. As a New Zealander educated in NZ and with a daughter who was educated with School Cert and UE and two grandchildren coming through NZs education system, now, I totally get it. My grand daughter is in Year 10 and studies Japanese. My grandson did Cambridge and is now in his third year at University doing a conjoint degree including Japanese. , I think it improbable that you can be high school educated in Japan, unless your parents were moving to Japan for employment . This however should not stop you planning forward to do your university degree in Japan. You need to achieve NCEA 3 to insure your application could be considered. As well you should study Japanese, and if that is not available at your high school, you can study through NZ correspondence school, and that is not expensive. There are several Japanese universities offering under graduate study, inclusive of learning Japanese language from scratch. If you were able to pick up a high school nearby you, you may be able to pick up Japanese this year and Year 13, you may find the school has exchange trips. My daughter had these for a term in both her Form 5&6 ( year 11&12) It really helped her language and her employment. Good luck, don�ft give up. Good marks in NCEA 3 will get you into University, and that could be a Japanese one.

I�fm sorry, I should have added, focus on universally accepted subjects.. too many New Zealand cultural ones will not hit the mark on your application.

Before I start my diatribe - I'll give you a bit of background on myself. I'm an international IB teacher who has taught in 6 countries (including Australia and Japan). I've also taught many students who needed to learn a second language which is quite a challenge.

While it is true that schooling is not suited for everyone - moving to another country without a family support network is a recipe for disaster.

For English which uses a phonetic alphabet - it takes around 4/5 years to have what is considered academic English. The reason why a large amount of Northern Asia's education system is seen as more fact based is that Primary/Elementary school is often focused around learning the Japanese alphabet so you can just read a newspaper.

To put it simply - there is no way that you could complete the work anywhere near an acceptable level without earning the disdain of many of the students. An example is that many Japanese students wait until the last student has finished. I've seen this many times with Japanese students who I have taught in the past. They would be waiting for you to finish all of the time which is occurring at the time of their schooling when they are gearing up for further education.

If you don't like research projects then don't even consider IB. Most classes are very exam focussed - but you need to complete an Internal Assessment in all classes which are independent research. For example - in Science you need to complete an experiment (without help) and then write a 2000 work report on the findings. There is also the extended essay which is a lot of work.

The reason why schooling is more focusing on completing reports and such is because remembering stuff is no longer seen as an important skill in a work place setting. Most teachers and the greater community at large may not say this - but the main focus on education is to give citizens the skills needed to work which is why there changes are being made. These changes are also happening in the Japanese education system - but at a much slower rate in the general system.

I doubt that my suggestion will honestly be available anytime soon - but attending a one year Japanese exchange program is probably your best bet to see if it's a good choice for you. This does not take into account if you are even "eligible" for a visa for education.

@mfedley, I am currently an IB Chemistry teacher and disagreement with your statements about the IAs. There is definitely support - students are not supposed to do this completely independently, as they don't have the research skills to do so! The idea is for the teacher to provide guidance to assist the student in their internal assessment; the student comes up with research proposals and is guided in selecting a research question from there, then they complete their experiment/database investigation again with assistance from their teacher, then write the report which the teacher drafts. I don't know how it happens where you teach, but if the students are simply left to their own devices with no supporting guidance that is not the spirit the assessment is intended in.

Also, the IA has a 12 page limit in the Sciences, not 2000 words. For 20% of the final grade, it's really not as intense as some schools and teachers make it out to be. I think way too much pressure is put on the IA, personally.

There is still a lot less school-based assessment in the IB versus what OP has described in the NZ curriculum, hence my original suggestion of an IB school - much more accessible to OP than moving to Japan!

Rols- I have actually already looked into the price of attending school in japan. I�fm not sure of the exact price right now , as my dad has put this piece of paper somewhere that I did the calculations on, but I believe it was around $30,000 a year excluding flights and personal spending money . Flights to japan cost about $1,500 one way so that would be an extra $3,000. This is still not an ideal Price but it is significantly less than private school. The high school I looked at has a dorm, student apartments and host families I could stay with (host families being the cheapest option and a student apartment being the most expensive). The dorm and host family options both include food. They also have they�fre own language school and it seems other students have studied there for a year then started at the regular school.

/- I thought the answer would be obvious after explaining why both Singapore and Australia don�ft work, there are no nearby English speaking countries that has a curriculum that works for me and I can�ft afford to fly to the other side of the world. After seeing your comment about IB schools, I checked again and the only IB school in my city is a $40,000 private school. My friend currently attends this school and has tried to persuade me to go there to but I can�ft control how much money my family has. As a domestic student, if I attended a school in another city I would need to use the dorms and return home every holiday. I would either need to fly home or be picked up by my parents so the price would add up and it would be a hassle for my parents.

JapanCustomTours- I�fm not sure what �eobvious errors�f you�fre talking about because considering I�fm 15 years old and this isn�ft a formal essay, the English is satisfactory. I�fm not sure what part of the country you live in but as someone who has often wanted to change schools, I�fve looked into the price of private schools In my city and they all cost about $40,000 a year. I do now the system is designed for the majority and I�fm not calling it bad but I�fm not the majority in this case and would like to go to a school where I am the majority and can properly learn. I don�ft believe it�fs a stupid request to want to get a proper education. Of course I don�ft know for sure if Japan is better but there is a small chance that I will do better there and I would be kicking myself if I didn�ft try.

Kersy- thank you for the kind words. I�fm currently studying Japanese at school and have been since year 10 and plan to continue either way. My school was planning on doing a 2 week exchange trip this year but it was cancelled due to COVID. They�fre hoping to be able to do one next year instead.

Mfedley- I know it�fs far from the same situation but in 2012 my family moved from the UK to New Zealand. While I do still have the support from my parents, we don�ft have the support from the wider family as they all live in Europe. I am quite used to not having a large area of support and I usually work out things alone as my parents get stressed without the support from my grandparents. Of course this is very different as New Zealand is also an English speaking country and I do still have my parents, but I believe this makes me more prepared for being alone in a foreign country than most students.

High schools don't sponsor you for a visa.
On what permission will you live in Japan without your parents on a working visa?

Tai- a student visa

Mfedley- I know it�fs far from the same situation but in 2012 my family moved from the UK to New Zealand. While I do still have the support from my parents, we don�ft have the support from the wider family as they all live in Europe. I am quite used to not having a large area of support and I usually work out things alone as my parents get stressed without the support from my grandparents. Of course this is very different as New Zealand is also an English speaking country and I do still have my parents, but I believe this makes me more prepared for being alone in a foreign country than most students.<i/>

I don't think it does make you more prepared at all. Your adult parents moved together from one English-speaking Commonwealth nation to another English-speaking Commonwealth nation. You want to move as a minor, alone, from an English-speaking Commonwealth nation to a country with a totally different set of cultural standards, values, etc. where if I'm being blunt, most people can barely even string a sentence together in English. The number of people who move between the UK, NZ and Aus is very high, and the shared culture means we are barely recognised as foreigners in each other's countries. In Japan your experience will be the furthest thing from that of your parents.

Not only are your adult parents dealing with less stress than you will be in Japan, they are also presumably way better equipped to manage it than you are as a teenager.

There's a lot of good advice in this thread which I suggest you take on board. I'll just say it: you aren't going to Japan for high school. I can't be 100% sure of this, but I am 99.9% sure. The fact that you can't speak Japanese and will not be able reach the level needed for study in time is the main reason, but there's also the financial issue, the visa issue, and the many cultural issues. So, I think that the best use of your time would be to explore other options for a secondary education which fits your learning style closer to home or at least in the English-speaking world.

If you disagree that this isn't happening then please explain how you will become fluent in Japanese in such a short period of time. Many of us on here will have spent years slaving away at this language as adults without other school subjects to worry about before we reached a point where we would have been comfortable taking an entrance exam in Japan. Unless you're some kind of language prodigy I just don't see how this is possible.

"/" - I was more talking about doing IB in Japan - which was not something that I clearly mentioned in my original post. I'm more of an ESS and to a lesser degree Chem (only 6 months). I guess I just see IB as needing to not only "know stuff" but it's main focus is application. As such - I guess I did not fully digest your comment and went more for the jugular when it comes to moving to another country when a student wants a different education thats more fact based.

I do however agree that your suggestion of an IB school in the students home country is a much better fit. I completed a 1 minute search on the IBO website for DP Public Schools and there seems to be 3 in NZ. Do a quick search on the IBO website.

the strangeness of the arguments is that you compare money (which is cheaper) with your education. and then, your conclusion is "take a foreign country, which you don't know much, because of less money"