High School Exchange Programs in UK

Hey guys.

Recently, I've been interested a lot in a high school exchange into Japan, but there doesn't seem to be any main or known programs in the UK. Does anybody know of any that I could look into?

Please bear in mind that this is a new interest I have, I haven't spoken to my parents or my school about this yet, but I would like to do some thorough research before I do. I would like to do this around 16 (Year 11), I'm currently in Year 9.

I have quite a decent knowledge of Japanese, started studying the gcse course, would that give me more options?

Thanks in advance,
Lily

If you contact the UK branch of the Japan Foundation then they may be able to give you some information or point you in the right direction.

One thing I would say is that at 16 you are right at the end of your GCSEs. Sitting exams, finishing and handing in coursework. I won't say that it is necessarily a terrible time to go on an exchange to another country, but my teachers certainly would not have been happy about it if I had done that.

That said it has been well over 20 years since I took my GCSEs so do take this with a healthy grain of salt. Maybe things are different now.

Is there a city near you that has a Japanese sister city?

This is in the USA and has been paused due to Covid, but there are several high schools that have short term exchanges with their sister cities in Japan. I have a friend who was very involved in the Sister City Group between Oakland and Fukuoka.