Children and Education

Introduction

If your children are accompanying you, there will be special difficulties in adjusting to the life-style of Japan. Since the primary care system for children in Japan is based on the family and the Japanese school system is rigidly structured, you should be aware of some of the important differences between the support system for children in Japan and your home country. If you will be accompanied by school age children, please read the following sections carefully!

Baby-sitters and Daycare

Finding a private baby-sitter in the Tokyo area is very difficult. There are professional services, but these are very expensive. Daycare for children older than three months in public nurseries is available. However, only children of mothers who have full time work or full time student visas, are eligible for these facilities. There are several difficulties with this system mainly due to high demand. Currently, a mother must wait several months for space for her child. The catch is that the waiting period does not start until she commences work and hence many mothers who would like to work full time are trapped. For older children, some neighborhoods have organized afternoon play groups in the community centers. You should ask about these programs when you arrive. All the local services are in Japanese.

Kindergarten/Nursery School

Children, who are over three years old in April of a particular year may be admitted to either a private (English or Japanese) or public (Japanese) kindergarten. This means that a child born in May can enter only at the age of about four years. Admission of new students is usually in April. The school days are Monday to Friday, and attendance is in the morning for between three and five hours. Private kindergartens seem to be more flexible about exceptions to the regular admission procedures than public ones.

The NTT staff has made arrangements for two children of postdocs to attend a private Japanese kindergarten run by a Christian church. The school is in Musashino, within walking distance of the Musashino R&D Center. The facilities are good and the children have received extra attention because of their special needs. The fees are around 20,000-yen a month. There are also private English schools, but these can be reached only by bus and train. (See list below.)

Elementary/Middle/High School

Parents of school-aged children can choose either a Japanese public or private International school. There are several Japanese public schools near NTT. The school year begins in April, lasts 240 days and there are three short vacations. The American and International private schools conduct their classes in English (American), usually meet for 180 days, and have a long summer vacation. Also, German, French, Korean, and Chinese schools exist. Most of the International schools are outside of Musashino. If you are interested in such a school, it may be possible to arrange housing closer to the school, thereby accepting a longer commute for yourself and shortening the commute for your child. Be sure to make your plans clear to the NTT personnel staff and obtain approval if this is your intention.

NTT's bilingual staff will assist you in enrolling your child in a public school upon your arrival in Tokyo. You will need special permission from the municipal education committee, and there will be an interview with your child and the principal of the school concerned. There are no provisions for special Japanese language instruction, but many primary school-aged children have been known to learn the spoken language quickly and, if beginning near the first grade, they should be able to follow the classes after a few months.

It is important to keep in mind that a foreign child in a Japanese school, even in Tokyo, is still something of a novelty and with few of the teachers speaking English, basic communication about day to day tasks may be difficult. Also, parents will find it difficult to participate in school activities (Teacher-Parent Associations and other social clubs), unless they can communicate in Japanese.

If you have older children, enrolling them in public school may be much more difficult. The students are already expected to know several hundred kanji (Chinese pictograms), and your child will be illiterate. Closing the gaps may take several years, and therefore, may not be worthwhile for a short stay in Japan. If you intend to stay in Japan for a very long period of time, you may want to consider that only the Japanese schools will prepare your child for the Japanese university entrance exams.

Usually, foreign children in the Tokyo area attend American or International (European) schools. These schools are based on either American or International (European) baccalaureate standards. Tuition and fees, depending on the school and the grade, may range from about 500,000-yen to 2,000,000-yen per year. The entrance fee alone may be 200,000-yen. (NTT does not provide support.) Partial scholarships are given by many schools, but you must apply well ahead of time to be considered. It would therefore be best to make arrangements more than six months before the September in which you plan to enroll your child. At that time, you should be able to reserve a place and make the necessary applications.

There are no International Schools within a 30 minute commute from the Musashino area. If you are interested, consult books listed under Information Sources and in the bibliography, or ask the NTT administration office for a list. The two American Schools listed here are within 30 minutes commute (train and bus) from NTT:

The American School in Japan
1-1-1 Nogawa, Chofu-shi.  Tel (0422) 31-6351
Nursery, grades 1-12: coed, secular;
very expensive:  1,800,000-yen/year.

Santa Maria School
2-2-4 Minami-tanaka, Nerima-ku.  Tel (03) 3904-0509
Nursery, grades 1-6: coed, Catholic;
cheapest:  550,000-yen/year.

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