311,792 Students Enrolled: Japan’s Correspondence High Schools, Where 74 Credits Come From Reports and Schooling

Alongside the full-time and part-time courses where students attend a classroom every day, Japanese high schools also have a “correspondence course” (Article 54 of the School Education Act). It’s a system where you study at home or elsewhere with course materials, submit reports, attend school on scheduled days for guidance, and build up credits by taking exams. According to a preliminary release of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s (MEXT) School Basic Survey, as of May 1, 2026, 311,792 students were studying through correspondence courses — the highest number on record.

Below is based on the text of the School Education Act and its Enforcement Regulations, the High School Correspondence Education Regulations (Ministry of Education Ordinance No. 32 of 1962), MEXT’s correspondence high school guidance and surveys, and materials on the High School Enrollment Support Fund, as confirmed in September 2026. Which school you can enter and which support you can receive is decided by each school and the prefecture or other body that oversees it.

Learning Through Reports, Schooling, and Exams

Article 2 of the High School Correspondence Education Regulations defines correspondence-course education as being conducted “by the methods of correspondence-based guidance, face-to-face guidance, and examinations.” MEXT’s correspondence high school information site explains this as follows.

• Reports (correspondence-based guidance): you work on a set number of reports, submit them to a teacher, and receive comments back.
• Schooling (face-to-face guidance): you attend school and learn in person with teachers and other students. It is not online.
• Exams: taken on what you learned through reports and schooling.
• Instruction using diverse media: watching television or internet video and submitting a report on it can exempt up to 6/10 of the schooling hours (up to 8/10 across multiple media, where there is a particular need).

The number of reports and the schooling hours needed for 1 credit are set as standards by the Courses of Study. MEXT notes that the number can vary by school.

Subject	Reports (times per credit)	Schooling (unit-hours per credit)
Japanese language, geography and history, civics, mathematics	3	1
Science	3	4
Health and physical education — “physical education” part	1	5
Health and physical education — “health” part	3	1
Arts, foreign languages	3	4
Home economics, information, specialized subjects	2-3, as needed for each subject	2-8, as needed for each subject

There’s no need to attend every day; apart from schooling and exam days, learning is mainly at home or elsewhere. MEXT’s “Frequently Asked Questions” notes that because study time is easy to adjust, it’s easier to combine with a part-time job or other work.

Graduation Needs 74 or More Credits and 3 or More Years

The conditions for graduation partly match, and partly differ from, the full-time and part-time courses.

• Credits: the principal recognizes completion of the full high school course for a student who has earned 74 or more credits (School Education Act Enforcement Regulations, Article 96). Same as full-time and part-time courses.
• Years: the standard course length for high school is 3 years for full-time, and “3 years or more” for part-time and correspondence courses (School Education Act, Article 56).
• Special activities: including homeroom activities, students receive at least 30 unit-hours of guidance by the time they graduate (per MEXT guidance).

MEXT explains that graduating from a correspondence high school gives you the same final educational qualification, “high school graduate,” as full-time or part-time courses. Under Article 12 of the Regulations, a principal may also count credits earned in a part-time course or another correspondence course toward the credits needed for graduation.

Wide-Area and Narrow-Area, Public and Private

Correspondence high schools decide which area (prefectures) of students they accept. Per MEXT guidance, a school is called a “wide-area correspondence high school” if that area spans 3 or more prefectures, including the prefecture where the main school is located. Article 54, Paragraph 3 of the School Education Act provides that for authorizing a wide-area course, the prefectural board of education or governor giving the authorization must notify the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in advance. MEXT’s school search and status survey classify schools that are not wide-area as “narrow-area.”

Establisher	Wide-area	Narrow-area	Total
Public	2 schools	79 schools	81 schools
Private (school corporation)	116 schools	111 schools	227 schools
Company-established	15 schools	0 schools	15 schools
Total	133 schools (41.2%)	190 schools (58.8%)	323 schools

Company-established schools are set up by a corporation under the special provision in Article 12 of the Act on Special Zones for Structural Reform, in a zone a local government has had certified by the Prime Minister. The same survey found that 51.1% of private schools were wide-area, and all 15 company-established schools were wide-area.

The Main School and Satellite Facilities

Many correspondence high schools have, besides the main school, what are called “affiliated correspondence-education facilities” (“satellite facilities” in MEXT’s guidance). Article 3 of the Regulations divides these facilities into two types.

Facility category	What it can do	Regulation
Face-to-face guidance implementation facility	Cooperates in carrying out schooling and exams. Basically a branch school or cooperating school; a university, vocational school, or similar may also serve under special circumstances	Article 3, Paragraph 1, item 1 and Paragraph 2
Study support facility (support facility)	Cooperates in consultation on career paths or physical and mental health, clerical work attached to correspondence-based guidance, learning support, and the like. Not a facility for schooling or exams	Article 3, Paragraph 1, item 2

Regardless of which facility a student attends, they are enrolled at the high school where the main school is, and it is that school’s principal who grants graduation (School Education Act Enforcement Regulations, Article 96). Article 14 of the Regulations requires a high school to publish, for each cooperating facility, its name and location, capacity, tuition and other costs, and the number of teaching and other staff, among other information. MEXT’s “Frequently Asked Questions” notes that costs for activities a cooperating facility runs independently may be charged in addition to the main school’s tuition. When considering enrollment, you can check, through the information published by the relevant high school, which high school and which category of facility you would attend, and how much the tuition and facility costs are, respectively.

Rules That Changed in 2022 and 2023

The High School Correspondence Education Regulations were amended in 2021 and 2022 to secure the quality of learning, taking effect in April 2022 and April 2023.

Effective date	Amending ordinance	Main content
April 1, 2022	MEXT Ordinance No. 14 of 2021 (promulgated March 31, 2021)	Defined cooperating facilities as either a “face-to-face guidance implementation facility” or a “study support facility.” Also capped the number of students per schooling group at 40 or fewer. Requires each subject’s guidance method, annual plan, and evaluation criteria to be summarized in a “correspondence education implementation plan” and shown to students. Made evaluation of each facility’s activities and the publication of information mandatory
April 1, 2023	MEXT Ordinance No. 40 of 2022 (promulgated December 28, 2022)	Removed the lower limit of “240 or more” for capacity, to be set appropriately based on teaching staff and facilities. Changed the number of teachers from “5 or more” to “5, or the number of enrolled students divided by 80, whichever is greater, or more”

MEXT’s fiscal 2025 status survey (as of May 1, 2025) states that the proportion of schools and facilities publishing the information Article 14 requires — particularly staff numbers, admission, withdrawal, and graduation figures, and the correspondence education implementation plan — tended to be low.

How Many, and Where They Study

According to the fiscal 2026 preliminary release of the School Basic Survey (published August 26, 2026), as of May 1, 2026 there were 358 correspondence high schools: 153 stand-alone schools offering only a correspondence course, and 205 combined schools that also offer full-time or part-time courses. By establisher, 83 are public and 275 are private.

Enrolled students totaled 311,792 (61,572 public, 250,220 private), up 6,595 from the previous year and the highest on record. The same preliminary release shows the number of full-time and part-time students fell by about 29,000 from the previous year. The finalized figures are due to be published in December 2026.

MEXT’s fiscal 2025 status survey found that among the 77,998 students who enrolled in fiscal 2025, 44,461 (57%) had been non-attending (futoukou) in their third year of junior high school.

Who Can Enroll

High school admission is open to those who have completed junior high school, and those recognized as having equivalent or higher academic ability (School Education Act, Article 57). The latter includes “a person who has completed a nine-year course in school education abroad” (School Education Act Enforcement Regulations, Article 95, item 1). How Ukrainian schooling through grade 9 relates to this is covered in our article on high school entrance exams for students who came from abroad. Whether a school actually admits you, and when you can enter or transfer in, is decided by the school.

Tuition and Support Payments: A New System From Fiscal 2026

Students at correspondence high schools can also receive the “High School Enrollment Support Payment” toward tuition, if they meet the conditions (per MEXT’s “Frequently Asked Questions”). This system changed significantly under an amending Act (Act No. 8 of 2026), which took effect April 1, 2026.

• The income cap was removed.
• The maximum annual payment for a private correspondence course is 337,200 yen (28,100 yen a month). For a public correspondence course it is 520 yen a month.
• Eligibility is now determined by nationality and status of residence. According to MEXT materials, those covered are: people with Japanese nationality; special permanent residents; permanent residents; spouses of Japanese nationals; spouses of permanent residents; people on Long-Term Resident status who are recognized as intending to permanently reside in Japan in the future; and people on Dependent status who completed elementary and junior high school in Japan and are recognized as intending to work and settle in Japan after graduation.

The same materials’ table excludes students on statuses of residence such as “Designated Activities” or “Student” from the new system. However, MEXT also shows support available to students who fall outside the new system. Students already enrolled before March 31, 2026 continue to receive the old system’s support payment as a transitional measure. Students who enter after April 2026 (excluding those on Student status) receive support at the same level as the old system from the national budget, with the amount varying by a household income benchmark (below about 5.9 million yen, below about 9.1 million yen, and so on).

Which support applies to you and what documents are needed are explained by the school you attend and the prefecture where it’s located. Applications are submitted to the school. MEXT publishes leaflets on the system in Japanese and English.

Weighing It Against Other Paths

Among the ways to gain eligibility to take university and other entrance exams without graduating high school is the High School Equivalency Examination. Credits earned at a correspondence high school can be used to exempt subjects on that exam. For someone who hasn’t completed junior high school, there is also the path of a night junior high school. How to convey a child’s educational history is covered in our article on the learning history and documents a family can prepare before entering a Japanese school. This article does not judge which school or path is right for you.