Attending Highschool in Japan?

[Makino]

Hello! I was wondering if there was anyways to get a scholarship to attend Highschool in Japan (like a quarter)? My plans/ideas were to study Japanese hardcore for this year, and next year, then take the Language proficiancy test level 2/3(?). I was hoping that I could write a letter to my state senator explaining why I would like to be funded to travel to Japan, or try to find some program that would pay for me to go. My family is not poor, but we are not rich either. Any ideas or suffestions? It would help so much!!

[jasonbvr]

If you can't find an exchange program on your own, it probably doesn't exist. Suck it up, go to school where ever you are, get qualified, then come to Japan. There is at least once a month a question like this. I don't see why anyone would want to go to any other level of school in Japan other than university. School here is border line torture until you reach university.

[Makino]

eh.. sorry. I wasn't saying that I can't find a program, I just wanted to know if anyone had previously used one, and it worked out well.

I dont want to go to japanese highschool so i dont "miss out on the expiriance" But rather that it would help immensly with language and it looks good on college resemes in America.
._.

[MMM]

As long as it is coupled with a Japanese language learning program. I would look into some of the International schools.

There was someone yesterday asking about this.

Japanese high school is NOT like the anime and manga. Personally, I found it pretty dreary and depressing compared with an American high school.

[Cyclamen]

Originally Posted by MMM

Japanese high school is NOT like the anime and manga.

That's the point. Japan isn't like anime and manga.
It seems like a lot of people here aren't aware of this.

[MMM]

Now, I don't know what the original poster thinks about Japanese high school or not, but I would say that you see a lot more Japanese kids in American high schools than the other way around.

I spoke to one girl from Australia a couple years back who was doing a one-year exchange at a high school in Japan. She was the only non-Japanese and at the school, and it was an English-track school...so she gets to be the test person for everyone.

She said the first few months were hell, but then she got used to it. Naturally her Japanese improved dramatically.

[jasonbvr]

It would kinda be like being an ALT except you don't get paid. And you have homework. That doesn't sound very fun to me.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by jasonbvr

It would kinda be like being an ALT except you don't get paid. And you have homework. That doesn't sound very fun to me.

And you get to take math, history, kokugo, and all the other fun classes IN Japanese.

[zmcnulty]

I spent a year in high school in Japan. Easily the best thing I ever did, since it really set things in motion for my life.

I went on a program through AFS. I received no credit for that year, so technically I spent 5 years in high school. But your school counselors may be different. It may be the case that you have to write papers once a month on your experience and that will count as something. It may be that you have to actually pass your classes in Japan to get credit. It's between you and your school. In my case, I just decided to not worry about it at all and focus on the experience rather than the class credit. So I wasn't really bothered when I got at most 5/100 on all of my math tests in Japan

Obviously there are going to be language difficulties. I took Japanese classes in high school for 2 years before going, and that was not "enough." To give you an idea, I took the JLPT level 2 at the end of that year in Japan, and I didn't pass. There was no formalized language instruction as I was literally the only foreign student at my school (1 of 2 foreign people at the school, since there was also a JET teacher). AFS supplied me with a self-study textbook that was appropriate for my level. During kokugo class I would go into the library to study that textbook (sometimes with help from the library assistant, sometimes not), since kokugo would be 100% useless for me at that point (and probably even today...).

Throughout the year, I took math, history, physics, calligraphy, home ec, health, PE, english (reading), and english (grammar). As expected, I was frequently called upon to read from the textbook for the English classes.

Japanese high school can be like anime and manga at times. Devotion to certain social groups, putting in a lot of hours after school at club activities, rote memorization of facts and figures, cliques that put on fronts, surprising personalities... they're all present in anime and manga to some extent. Obviously real life is very different but as anime/manga are sometimes based on realistic concepts, you can find some strong correlations. If anything anime/manga (ones about high school life at least) could help you get better prepared for the lifestyle.

From a financial standpoint, there are a lot of different options. Ask the program provider about financial assistance, they can give you plenty of choices. If you're at all associated with Rotary, certainly ask them; they're constantly sponsoring students to do study abroad in both high school and college (but keep in mind you can't get a Rotary scholarship if you've already lived in the country for 6+ months).

Let me know if you have any questions...