Can I retake high school?

I’m a 18 year old half japanese, holding a long term visa. Currently I’m still holding my other citizenship but my japanese citizenship is on the way (late register) . I graduated high school in my home country and I wish to enter school in japan. But, they said senior high school has an entrance exam and I think I cannot make it. Can I retake high school in japan and then I’ll study hard to be able to pass the entrance exam in senior high school? Because they said there’s no entrance exam in high school. orrr, Is there any special treatment for peeps like me who wants to go in senior high school? like we non japanese speakers will receive a more easy test. thank you

I cannot quite figure out what you want to do, but if you have already finished senior high school, you cannot enter a high school in Japan again, but the next aim should be to go to a college, university, or a vocational school in Japan (if that is what you want to do).

You can enroll in a Japanese language school and study the language (and study on your own) until your language level becomes good enough to pass an entrance exam for a college/university/vocational school.

"like we non japanese speakers will receive a more easy test."

Generally both students who are native Japanese speakers and students who are non-native Japanese speakers are expected to be reached to academic level that each school requires . Because high school is not compulsory. Therefore, I think exams themselves are same or made at the same academic level, just some schools or municipals try to remove language barrier, providing all-hiragana version, for example.


According to a website of MOFA https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/kaikaku/sikaku/1311012.htm there is no law to ban high school graduates to re enter a high school again. However, as long as you are non Japanese speaker, your options are so limited. I think a Japanese language school that offers a course for those want to receive higher education or an university that offers all-in-English coures is more practical. If you live in Japan for ever, a BA degree is essential.

「Can I retake high school in japan and then I’ll study hard to be able to pass the entrance exam in senior high school?」
Are you asking if you can retake high school in Japan, and after you retake high school then try to pass the high school entrance exam? If so, no, you cannot, as you have to pass the school's entrance exam before you begin taking classes there.

「Because they said there’s no entrance exam in high school.」
I'm not sure who you are referring to with "they," but if someone told you that there is no entrance exam for high school in Japan, that is incorrect. Most high schools have entrance exams.

「Is there any special treatment for peeps like me who wants to go in senior high school? like we non japanese speakers will receive a more easy test.」
By "peeps like me," do you mean non-native Japanese speakers, or people who have already graduated from high school in another country and want to enroll in high school in Japan?

As far as I know, no high schools in Japan have an easier entrance exam for non-Japanese speakers. By that I mean they don't have a separate test with easier questions for non-Japanese applicants. You might be able to find a school with an international focus that offers its entrance exam in English, but presumably the difficulty of the questions themselves would be the same as those on the Japanese-language version of the test. There are sometimes schools that have less strict requirements for foreign exchange students, but that's generally only for students who will be studying at the school for just a short time.

As for whether there are ways for people who have already graduated from high school to once again enroll in high school in Japan, no, there are none that I am aware of.

If you don't mind my asking, why are you looking to specifically retake high-school level classes in Japan? If your goal is to educationally prepare yourself to enter a university or junior college in Japan, there are other adult education options available to you, such as attending a language school (to improve your Japanese language skills) or attending a college prep course (to improve your non-language subject proficiency to better prepare for university entrance exams).

On the other hand, if your goal is to get a job in Japan, attending a trade/vocational school would do more to help you in job-hunting than retaking high school will.

Another factor to consider is the social aspect of attending high school after already having graduated in your own country. As you are 18, right now you might mentally/emotionally still feel like a high school student, but consider this. The Japanese school year starts in the spring, so if you somehow did enroll in a Japanese high school, you'd be waiting until next year, when you're 19. As a first-year student, your classmates would be 15, four years younger than you. Using that same age gap, do you, as an 18-year-old, feel like you'd be happy spending all day as the only person of your age in a peer group of 14-year-olds, doing the same-level class assignments and homework that you were doing four years ago all over again? Odds are it will be very difficult to make strong friendships with your classmates, and while your Japanese class might be interesting, the other hours of the day you spend doing math, science, etc. that you already did four years ago is probably going to be boring and unsatisfying.

So to summarize, there probably isn't a path for you to enroll in high school in Japan, but there are adult/continuing education options that are much more likely to be a better fit for you academically, career-wise, and socially.

「Can I retake high school in japan and then I’ll study hard to be able to pass the entrance exam in senior high school?」
Are you asking if you can retake high school in Japan, and after you retake high school then try to pass the high school entrance exam? If so, no, you cannot, as you have to pass the school's entrance exam before you begin taking classes there.

「Because they said there’s no entrance exam in high school.」
I'm not sure who you are referring to with "they," but if someone told you that there is no entrance exam for high school in Japan, that is incorrect. Most high schools have entrance exams.

「Is there any special treatment for peeps like me who wants to go in senior high school? like we non japanese speakers will receive a more easy test.」
By "peeps like me," do you mean non-native Japanese speakers, or people who have already graduated from high school in another country and want to enroll in high school in Japan?

As far as I know, no high schools in Japan have an easier entrance exam for non-Japanese speakers. By that I mean they don't have a separate test with easier questions for non-Japanese applicants. You might be able to find a school with an international focus that offers its entrance exam in English, but presumably the difficulty of the questions themselves would be the same as those on the Japanese-language version of the test. There are sometimes schools that have less strict requirements for foreign exchange students, but that's generally only for students who will be studying at the school for just a short time.

As for whether there are ways for people who have already graduated from high school to once again enroll in high school in Japan, no, there are none that I am aware of.

If you don't mind my asking, why are you looking to specifically retake high-school level classes in Japan? If your goal is to educationally prepare yourself to enter a university or junior college in Japan, there are other adult education options available to you, such as attending a language school (to improve your Japanese language skills) or attending a college prep course (to improve your non-language subject proficiency to better prepare for university entrance exams).

On the other hand, if your goal is to get a job in Japan, attending a trade/vocational school would do more to help you in job-hunting than retaking high school will.

Another factor to consider is the social aspect of attending high school after already having graduated in your own country. As you are 18, right now you might mentally/emotionally still feel like a high school student, but consider this. The Japanese school year starts in the spring, so if you somehow did enroll in a Japanese high school, you'd be waiting until next year, when you're 19. As a first-year student, your classmates would be 15, four years younger than you. Using that same age gap, do you, as an 18-year-old, feel like you'd be happy spending all day as the only person of your age in a peer group of 14-year-olds, doing the same-level class assignments and homework that you were doing four years ago all over again? Odds are it will be very difficult to make strong friendships with your classmates, and while your Japanese class might be interesting, the other hours of the day you spend doing math, science, etc. that you already did four years ago is probably going to be boring and unsatisfying.

So to summarize, there probably isn't a path for you to enroll in high school in Japan, but there are adult/continuing education options that are much more likely to be a better fit for you academically, career-wise, and socially.

I think OP may misunderstand that high school in Japan is a leisure land.
in Japan, students in each grade from elementary to senior high schools are constituted in the same age. if you enter high school again, you are already TOO old for other students. you can't enjoy "the leisure land".
go to an appropriate "leisure land" which fits your age.

Like AK pointed out at the very beginning, you cannot enroll in a high school in Japan, and the reason is because you have already graduated one.

It has nothing to do with entrance exams, your skills, your nationality, or the place of the high school you graduated. It's plain and simple: High schools in Japan are for those who have never graduated a high school.

So, why do you want to go to high school in Japan when you've already graduated one? Depending on your answer, perhaps someone could give you some advice.