13th Year Abroad in Japan

I was wondering what my best options are for studying abroad in a high school for my 13th year (I'm graduating in 2011 and would like to go to Japan the following spring). I've already been to Rotary, CIEE (which is too expensive), is there anything else or is that about it?

Check local community college study abroad programs.

I originally went to Kyoto for about $4500 US for 2 months through College of DuPage in Illinois, USA, which is fairly cheap because it also includes airfare, housing, food, bus passes, classes at local language academy, etc.

We had a student joining us from Texas last time I went (met up with the group at our lay-over in San Francisco).

Program Website: http://www.cod.edu/academic/field/studyabroad/Japan/

I actually plan on staying for a full academic year, or least want to. Thank you anyway!

Are you asking if you can attend a Japanese high school as an exchange student after you have already graduated in your home country? If that is the case then I'm afraid that there is no 13th year in Japanese high school and that high school exchange programs usually only accept students under the age of 18. Basically you can't be a high school exchange student if you are finished with high school. I'd suggest looking into college study abroad programs instead.

SYA has been around since 1964, they have full year study abroad programs for high school juniors and seniors, and PGs in China, France, Italy, Spain, Japan and Vietnam. SYA Japan is located in Inchinomiya, just 15 minutes north of Nagoya.

call the admissions office for more information 978-725-6828 ext. 111.

Some schools do actually offer programs for students in their last year of high school or gap year (the year between high school and university). For example, the following school in Tokyo.

http://www.seiritsu-int.com/index2.html

Schools that offer programs like this are almost entirely private schools. I have yet to hear of a public school that allows long term exchange students.

If you do some searching on the internet, you should be able to find lots of opportunities to apply directly with a school rather than going through expensive study abroad agencies.