Exchange Student?

[chisato]

I am a 15 year old (male), freshman at high school. I'm a hafu, and I live in the US but go to Japan most years in the Summer for about a month and stay with my grandparents. I have gotten a strong liking for Japan, and am seriously thinking about moving there when I get older. (I'm not a Japanophile, I and no, I don't draw manga or anything like that.) However, since when I visit in the Summer for only a month and I don't attend school or anything I don't have a big chance to experience the lifestyle, although I do as much as I can without going to school. I have been thinking about becoming an exchange student for a year to experience the lifestyle and culture as much as possible. I'm not sure if the program is for people like me who are already fluent in the language ( I know some kanji), and have experienced the country many times before, etc. If anyone has any experience in exchanging or a situation like this overall please let me know. I'm just not sure if the exchange program would be best for me. Please take this seriously.

[Kakashi]

I was an exchange student last year for a month in the summer, and I really wish it could have been longer. Since you are probably well aware of customs and cultural differences by now, I see no reason why you shouldn't do an exchange. However, you're going to see a huge difference between high schools in Japan, and those in the U.S, and it would be best to master your writing skills as well. But all in all, I would say go for it!

[Lonthego]

Hi
I was at a Japanese school for around two years, you can look on my blog for pics, though I think your experience would be different depending where you go, what type of program it is ,etc.
Maybe you could tell us more about the program itself, or which ones you are considering because there are several organizations out there, such as Rotary Exchange, YFU, CIEE, AFS, AYUSA etc. Look through them if you haven't already

[rizu]

I did a six month exchange when I was 16. My American high school was sponsored by the university that had an exchange program with my sister city, so they carried the exchange programs down into the high school level. My school sent two students to Japan and the school in Japan sent two students to my high school. The experience will depend a lot on your host family, IMO. I was fortunate enough to get a host family that encouraged making friends and doing extra-curricular activities, and during my summer vacation they took me to a couple different cities.

HOWEVER the other student from my American school got stuck with a host family that was super strict, wouldn't let him go to hang out with his friends after dark, and if he broke any rules the mom called up our teacher and told on him. He ended up breaking the rules to have fun anyway, BUT he almost got sent home three months in.

School in and of itself, we attended a public school, were placed in a normal classroom, and went to most of the normal classes except two. During those times we were taught Japanese history in English, and then had a Japanese language lesson. All in all, it was pretty much a full immersion.

The companies such as Rotary and such I know have some pretty strict rules so if you don't mind following them, then go for it. If you want to be able to do your own thing and just have to follow basic school rules, then try to find a city exchange I guess. But if you have family there maybe work something out with your grandparents and try to make an agreement with a school in their city.