Music degree or cosmetology in Japan?

My daughter wants to get to Japan as soon as possible. We are trying to plan her high school education accordingly. I homeschool, therefore there are many possibilities. She is excellent in the language, but wants more intense study over there. She is gifted musically and loves cosmetology. What are the cosmetology schools like, and is there a market for that sort of work? Or would it be better to pursue a degree in music at one of their universities? We were told that cosmetology school was like a 4 yr. program. Is that true?

Hello Ms. Courtney Schneider.

I'm not sure what you mean by "there are many possibilities," but basically, Japanese education for high teens and older require not only native level Japanese but also academic skills. In other words, students are expected to have accomplished junior high school kanji, math, social studies etc. all in Japanese. Otherwise, foreign students can try for exchange programs or attend international schools.

Meanwhile, cosmetology is probably the most popular course among female high school graduates who don't have enough academic skills to go to ordinary universities. My understanding is that most schools are for 2 years and require hard work.

However, a mother of a high teen daughter (I only have a son) told me that, since the career is so unrewarding, she insisted her daughter to look for courses that lead her to things like dental hygienist jobs.

Classical music would have more "status" than cosmetology if she is skillful enough to be granted entrance at a university. But I believe classical music careers require a lot of money to maintain. On the other hand, pop music won't be rewarding unless the student is skilled enough to become a superstar, and at the moment, there are no foreign superstar musicians who came out of school in Japan.

In any case, if she has enough Japanese language skills to attend oridinary schools for the Japanese, she should have the ability to search the Japanese internet to look into her possibilities and ask questions on Japanese Q&A forums. If not, why not search for exchange programs or home stay programs even if it's just for a short term.

Hope there is a bright future for her whatever she does.