My daughter would like to study in Japan during high school. At this juncture, we are thinking about 2nd semester, sophomore year. I work for a Japanese man who has said that he would be able to facilitate this. Has anyone had a child who studied abroad without going through a formal program? I am just trying to figure out the logistics of this as the Japanese school year doesn’t match up with our school year and I am sure that there are other logistical problems. There wouldn’t be any visa issues as my boss knows the head of the Japanese consulate personally and told me that he could get a visa for my daughter in one day.
I told my daughter that she might have to take some classes on line to be able to study abroad. She has no issues with taking classes on line and would be open to doing this in addition to her schoolwork in Japan.
Any thoughts on this? Is it even feasible?
Thanks.
@MaineLonghorn has experience with this.
My daughter did a semester in Argentina as a junior through a bare-bones program that found us a school/family, but we had to arrange everything else. Here’s what I’d recommend.
First, check with your daughter’s current high school. Can she get credit for the classes she takes in Japan? Does the school in Japan need to provide a transcript? If so, does it have to be translated and/or notorized? And of course, make sure the school in Japan will agree to providing a transcript.
Usually, exchange students can take classes abroad on a pass/fail basis: will the Japanese school allow that? If your daughter isn’t fluent in Japanese, is there a language class she could attend while also in school?
My daughter did not have to take online/additional classes in order to graduate, but she did double-up on science in her senior year. Our high school awarded her foreign language, history and literature credit on a pass/fail basis.
A few other things to consider: do you have a back up plan in case your daughter’s housing in Japan doesn’t work out for some reason? Look into health insurance issues and read up about all the expenses you may have to consider: public transportation in Japan/travel/school uniform/school books & supplies, etc. If your daughter will be in Japan over a school holiday and her host family will go on vacation, can your daughter accompany them? (At your expense?)
It’s great you’re considering such an experience. Your daughter will grow tremendously during her stay and likely become a more worldly, independent person. College folks also look kindly on this sort of thing 
My children’s HS had a lot of international AFS students. Several students at the HS thought about studying abroad during HS, but I don’t think any of them ended up going during the school year. Some did summer programs instead. Our HS wouldn’t give any credit for study abroad during HS. So, if they were gone a year, they would have to make up the entire year.
It may depend on your state/graduation requirements, but unfortunately it was this way in ours.
My D really wanted to study abroad while in HS, but ended up waiting until she was in college. I think being over 18 avoided some other issues she may have encountered as well.
I would suggest that you meet with the guidance counselor and have a list of classes, with descriptions, that your D could take at the Japanese school. Have everything approved ahead of time. Our D spent a semester during her junior year at a foreign school while we were on sabbatical and had everything approved ahead of time. I also saved all of her schoolwork in case anything was questioned upon our return. It all worked out.
Where would your daughter attend school…i.e. would you try to send her to an English language school? You may or may not be aware secondary school in Japan is very stressful and very rigorous. The students spend a ton of time prepping for exams…like it is success or failure for life type exams. Thus not many kids her age will be “hanging out.” Based on my personal experience living in Japan I would also say that it may not be for someone who needs deep or warm connections–that can be hard to find with Japanese people as a foreigner (gaijin) but the ex pat community bonds very quickly.
Thanks for all the information. I am not sure where my daughter would attend school as we are just in the infancy stages of planning. We hadn’t thought about sending her to an English language school as she/I were thinking more of Japanese immersion.
The owner of the company where I work, who is Japanese and very well connected in Japan, already has a family in mind for her stay. My daughter is not a child who needs warm and fuzzy, but it would be nice to have someone with which to do things from time to time. I would say that her main goal is to be completely fluent in Japanese. Her secondary goal is to experience Japanese culture/life. This is all self driven as I don’t know a word of Japanese. I am just trying to support her passion. We will be hosting two Japanese students from Tokyo who are the same age as my daughter for ten days in August. This will give her an opportunity to ask many questions about Japanese school and life from two children “in the know”.
On the plus side, I know her high school counselor well as he was my son’s counselor when he was there. As I am not a complete stranger to him and he knew my son, it may make him more likely to facilitate her study abroad plans.
Thanks again!
I hope it works out, OP! In my opinion, it’s worth pursuing EVEN if it means your daughter has to repeat a year of a US high school. Overcoming obstacles, setting an ambitious goal (learning Japanese) and going for it – all of this will be a huge learning opportunity for your daughter. And yes, it will be respected by colleges which won’t give a hoot that her year in Japan may have meant delays in graduation, should that happen.
My daughter’s (large, very diverse and public) high school encouraged study abroad, and the poor overworked counselors really did try to make it possible, academics-wise. While researching options for my daughter, I met with several kids/parents who went through this experience. The stories are marvelous: one boy chose to go to Holland, because he was intrigued with northern European countries’ approach to sustainable living and human rights. He learned Dutch. He traveled. When he got back, as a senior, he applied to many selective schools even though his GPA and SATs weren’t quite on par. Yet he got into many of them because of his year in Holland. He ended up going to Georgetown and now works for the UN. Another young woman chose to go to China, where she started the town’s first all-female soccer team. She’s now an architect working in Shanghai. Not all the kids had a 100% happy experience - every kid goes through culture shock, bumps in the road with their host families, feelings of alienation, homesickness and language struggles. But that’s what makes studying abroad so enriching (and so respected by colleges.) You’re really testing yourself at an age when a lot of kids wouldn’t be ready for such challenges. No wonder the kids come back so mature - and so equipped to move on in life!
I’m a big fan of immersing oneself in a culture - and nailing down a language before she gets there. I lived in Japan as a child and attended Japanese kindergarten for about half a year before moving on to an international school and sadly forgetting most of the Japanese I’d been learning. A while back we visited for two weeks and had a wonderful time. We spent some time with my sil’s Japanese Hiroshima cousins who were extremely generous with their time. I am sure she’d have an amazing experience.