School Records and Documents a Family Can Prepare Before Entering a Japanese School

Foreign-national children can enroll in Japan’s public elementary and junior high schools. The entry point for the procedure is the board of education of the municipality where you live. The first thing they usually ask is where, what, and in what language your child has studied so far. There is a lot a family can write out in advance.

The national approach is set out in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s (MEXT) enrollment guidebook, notices, and guidelines, and in the Enforcement Regulations of the School Education Act (all as posted on MEXT’s site and e-Gov as of 23 September 2026). However, which grade your child enters, and what support is available, is decided by your local municipality and the school. The national materials show the general flow; only your board of education can give you an answer for your own case.

There is no legal requirement to attend, but enrollment is possible

MEXT’s “Guidelines on Promoting School Enrollment of Foreign Children and Ascertaining Their Enrollment Status” (1 July 2020) states that the guardians of a foreign-national child are not subject to the enrollment obligation under Article 16 and other provisions of the School Education Act. It goes on to ask municipal boards of education to inform people that enrollment in a public compulsory-education school is possible for foreign-national children too.

For children who have come from Ukraine, the Vice-Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology issued a notice on 18 April 2022 titled “On Securing Educational Opportunities for Children Who Have Evacuated from Ukraine.” The notice asks each school to take an “active approach to acceptance” for anyone wishing to enroll, and, for transfer into high school and the like, to “handle it as flexibly as possible and accept the student promptly.”

Who to consult differs by type of school

Per MEXT’s enrollment guidebook, the point of contact for enrollment is the municipal board of education for elementary and junior high school, and the prefectural board of education for public high schools and special-needs schools. Some municipalities also have a consultation counter for foreign residents at their office.

The same guidebook explains the process for enrolling in elementary or junior high school as follows:

• Submit a notification of moving in at the municipality’s resident registration counter
• Tell the municipal board of education that you want to enroll your child in a Japanese school, and submit an “Application for Enrollment of a Foreign Child”
• Receive a “Permit for Enrollment of a Foreign Child” from the board of education, and confirm the name and location of the designated school
• Go to the designated school and discuss the child’s upcoming school life. Bring the permit and documents related to the child’s schooling in their home country (such as a certificate of enrollment or a transcript)

The names and order of documents can differ by municipality. In Yokohama, for example, the enrollment procedure for city elementary schools asks for a document that can confirm identity, such as a residence card or special permanent resident certificate. In Osaka, the “Application for Enrollment” attached to the “Enrollment Guidance” sent from the ward office to eligible households is submitted at the ward office counter by a set deadline (both per each city’s website as of September 2026; procedure names and contact points differ by municipality, so these two cities’ examples may not apply as-is elsewhere). The 2022 notice also calls for “flexible handling” in confirming residence when a residence card or similar cannot be shown during the procedure. Even if you do not have all your documents, consult the board of education first.

What the school will ask

The enrollment guidebook lists the following as items a school discusses with guardians at enrollment:

• The child’s name and how it is pronounced, sex, date of birth, date of arrival in Japan, nationality, address, length and plans of stay, and developmental history
• School history in the home country, grade level (years of schooling) in the home country, and history of learning Japanese
• Medical history, allergies and the like, favorite subjects, strengths, hobbies, and hopes for the future (career path)
• Family composition, contact details and methods (for emergencies, workplace, interpreter, etc.), how the child gets to and from school, the family’s history of learning Japanese, and whether an interpreter is needed

This gives a sense of what a family can prepare. Below are three points that tend to come up especially often, taken one at a time.

1. School history: up to what grade, and where

Ukrainian schools are divided into 4 years of primary education, 5 years of basic secondary education, and 3 years of profile secondary education (Article 12 of the Law on Education). Enrollment is, in principle, at age 6, and under peacetime rules the school year starts on 1 September. Since the timing of enrollment and how years are divided differ from Japan’s, it helps to write out “what grade you were in in Ukraine” in a form such as the following:

• The name and location of the school attended, and the period of enrollment (from what year and month to what year and month)
• The last grade you were enrolled in, and whether you completed that grade
• If there was a period of remote or online learning after the full-scale invasion, that period and its form
• Whether you are continuing the Ukrainian school curriculum remotely since coming to Japan, and whether you want to continue it

Under Ukrainian law, every time a student advances to the next grade, they are issued an annual “certificate of achievement” (свідоцтво досягнень) recording their results for the year (Law on Complete General Secondary Education, Article 17, paragraph 4). A completion certificate for each stage is recorded, with a registration number, in the state’s unified electronic database (Article 18, paragraph 4 of the same law). The law also provides that, when a student leaves school because of moving abroad or similar, their assessment can be brought forward and completed early (Article 17, paragraph 6 of the same law). If you have documents like these on hand, bring them along.

Ukraine’s school system itself is covered in detail in Ukraine’s 12-year school system, whose final three years begin in 2027.

2. Language: what language you learned in, and what languages you can speak

Classes in Japan are normally conducted in Japanese, the enrollment guidebook notes. What the school wants to know is your child’s language situation.

• The language spoken at home, and the language used at school (the language of instruction in Ukrainian schools is, in principle, the state language, Ukrainian)
• Other languages your child can speak or read (such as English), and to what level
• How much Japanese your child has learned, and whether they can read hiragana and katakana
• Whether an interpreter is needed when a guardian talks with the school, and if so, who can help

A child without sufficient Japanese may receive “Japanese-language instruction” at school. Article 56-2 of the Enforcement Regulations of the School Education Act provides that, for a child not proficient in Japanese, a “special curriculum” can be used where special instruction suited to their level of Japanese is needed (applied to junior high schools as well, via Article 79). The 2022 notice likewise asks schools to provide children from Ukraine with appropriate instruction and support, including Japanese-language instruction. However, which schools offer how much Japanese-language instruction differs by school and municipality. The guidebook notes that in some cases a child can be moved to a school that offers adequate Japanese-language instruction, but this too is a decision made municipality by municipality.

3. Things to flag: health, food, and feelings

• Medical history, allergies, medication, vision or hearing, and anything else the school should be careful about
• Foods your child cannot eat for religious or health reasons — the enrollment guidebook notes that if there are foods your child cannot eat at school lunch, consult the homeroom teacher
• If your child needs support related to a disability or development, the details of that situation — the guidebook notes that placement in a special-needs school or special-needs class is sometimes possible
• Anything on your mind from the change in environment or experiences of the war — write only as much as you are comfortable with

The 2022 notice, recognizing that children from Ukraine face difficult circumstances, asks schools to consider instruction and support, in school life and at times such as school lunch, that takes into account health, feelings, and living conditions. You do not have to share anything you would rather not. This list is only to help you organize, ahead of time, what you do want to share.

What grade your child enters: basically decided by age

In Japanese schools, grade level is decided by age. The enrollment guidebook states, “children born between 2 April and 1 April of the following year are in the same grade,” and notes that as a result, the grade a child transfers into may not match their grade in their home country.

Entering the grade that matches your child’s age is the basic rule, but there are exceptions. The 2020 guidelines state that where it is recognized that a child is not immediately suited to education at their age-appropriate grade — for reasons such as insufficient Japanese-language communication ability, or differences in the content or sequence of study between Japan and abroad — a school may allow enrollment in a lower grade, “temporarily or formally.” They also state that this requires giving the child and their guardian a careful explanation and obtaining their full understanding.

Japan’s elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools have no system of skipping a grade; the guidebook explains that a student proceeds in order from whatever grade they entered. Entering a lower grade also changes the timing of later steps such as moving on to the next school. Before your child’s grade is decided, it is worth asking the board of education or the school about the reasoning and what to expect.

The guidelines also state that a person who has passed compulsory-schooling age (6 to 15) without completing compulsory education may, at a municipal board of education’s discretion, still be accepted into a public junior high school, and that in municipalities with an evening junior high school, people should be told that enrolling there is possible.

Entering or transferring into high school

High school is not compulsory education, and entrance usually requires taking an entrance examination (enrollment guidebook). The 2020 guidelines ask boards of education to work on measures for public high school entrance examinations such as setting a special quota for foreign-national students, reducing the number of test subjects, or adding furigana readings to kanji in exam questions. Whether such a quota or accommodation exists, and on what conditions, differs by prefecture. The 2022 notice also asks for “appropriate and flexible handling” when administering transfer examinations for children from Ukraine entering high school.

About money

• Tuition at public elementary and junior high schools is free, and textbooks are also distributed free by the national government (enrollment guidebook). The 2022 notice states that textbooks are provided free even in the case of a mid-year transfer
• Public elementary school lunch fees became eligible for national cost relief starting April 2026 (for details, see this article on school lunch fee support and enrollment assistance). Lunch fees at junior high schools, and at national or private schools, remain the guardian’s responsibility. Where a municipal board of education recognizes that enrollment is financially difficult, “enrollment assistance” for school supplies, lunch fees, and the like is available
• At high school, regardless of whether it is national, public, or private, a “High School Enrollment Support Fund” toward tuition is available. A legal amendment in April 2026 (Reiwa 8 Law No. 8) removed the income cap, replacing it with eligibility based on nationality and status of residence (incoming students who do not qualify, excluding international students, have separate support funded by the national budget)

The 2022 notice also asks for flexible handling of enrollment assistance and high school support-fund applications — including extending the application period — when the usual procedure is difficult. Check with your municipal board of education (or the prefecture, for high school) whether your household qualifies.

The language of documents, and translation

The enrollment guidebook advises bringing “documents related to your child’s schooling in their home country (such as a certificate of enrollment or a transcript)” when you go to the school. Whether that document needs a Japanese translation, and whose translation is acceptable, is not stated in the national materials. Ask the board of education before arranging a translation. If you do not have the documents on hand, mention that when you consult them too.

MEXT publishes a Japanese/Ukrainian bilingual edition of the enrollment guidebook. The Ukrainian-language column lists the items a school asks about, and can be used to prepare by filling it in as a family. This guidebook, however, was created in April 2015, and some of its content, such as the list of public holidays, no longer matches Japan’s current system.

A checklist for questions to ask the board of education

• What grade is my child likely to enter, and why? If it is a lower grade, can this be changed later?
• Which school will my child attend? Can we switch to a school that offers Japanese-language instruction?
• Who provides Japanese-language instruction, and how many hours a week?
• What documents should we bring? Do Ukrainian-language documents need translation?
• Can an interpreter be arranged when talking with the school?
• Where do we apply for school lunch, school supplies, and enrollment assistance?
• For high school: is there a special quota or examination accommodation for foreign-national students? What about the transfer examination?

MEXT has a help desk for schooling and Japanese-language education for people who have come from Ukraine, and recommends contacting it by email. The contact details and languages supported are collected in where to ask first when you start living in Japan.

The national materials and legislation reflect the content as of 23 September 2026. The details of procedures differ by municipality and can change. For your actual procedure, follow the guidance of the board of education in the municipality where you live.