So… you want to raise kids in Japan, do you? I see you also laugh in the face of trials and tribulation! Hahaha!
Not that signing up for Japanese preschool is anything to laugh about. It can be quite a pain, actually. Especially if, like me, you live in a more suburban or rural area far from any international or English-friendly schools. Then you’re really in for it because it’s almost guaranteed that all of the documentation, notices, and parent-teacher conferences will be 100% Japanese. So, if you don’t have a decent level of Japanese now, you’d best get to studying ASAP.
One thing that I can say (for myself, at least) is that now that I’ve had one child go through preschool (and about to graduate next month), I’m far more prepared for my next youngest’s enrollment than I was the first time around.
So, if you too are preparing to enroll your kid in a Japanese preschool (or you’re simply curious about the process), here are some things you should know:
1. Start Looking Early for a Good Japanese Preschool
Now, this step will vary depending on where you live – but if you live in a big city (like Tokyo, for example), the waitlists are years long. You may want to start looking up preschools before your kid is even born.
If you live in a suburban or rural area, though, chances are you won’t have to worry about such a long waitlist. Most enrollment starts either a year to six months before the start of the school year in April, depending on whether or not you want your kid to start classes early as a three-year-old or if you’d rather wait until the year they turn four.
If you have a Japanese spouse who grew up and went to preschool in the area, you may have an advantage over other kids, since the children of alumni are often given priority in enrollment. If you’re not that lucky, though, be sure to line up a few backup preschools in case your kid doesn’t get into your first-choice school.
2. Take Note of Important Dates
Once your child is accepted into a Japanese preschool, you’ll be sent an envelope containing some documents you’ll need to go over; they’ll be in Japanese, so if you’re not proficient, have a friend or partner with you as you read. This will include things like school fees, expectations for your child’s schedule, and notification of some important events you’ll need to attend to get ready for the coming school year. For me, there were two: Orientation (or setsumeikai, 説明会) and School Supplies Day (or yōhinhanbai, 用品販売).
Orientation is where you’ll be given more in-depth information on the school itself, what your child’s school life will be like, and other important details. Everything will be in Japanese again, so make sure you have someone with you who’s fluent if you aren’t yourself. You’ll bring your preschooler-to-be with you to orientation and will have a chance to meet other parents and their kids, and you’ll also receive further information packets on bus routes, items needed for school, financial aid, and so on. While at Orientation, you’ll also be expected to submit a fee (for us it was 30,000 yen – equivalent to about US$240) and an order form for school supplies, though at our preschool we didn’t have to submit the fee for that until a later date.
You’ll probably also be given an application to set up automatic payments through your bank if you choose to do so. This is a form that you’ll need to fill out, sign with your inkan, and submit directly to the bank in question. If you don’t have a bank account, though, or simply don’t want to deal with automatic payments, most preschools have options to pay by cash every month.
School Supplies Day is much simpler; you come in with the remaining documentation you’d received at Orientation (bus route information, financial aid application, etc.) and submit it along with the payment for the school supplies that you’re now picking up. Once you hand all that over, they’ll give you the supplies and you can truck on home – and from that point, you just have to wait until the Opening Ceremony when your kid will officially become a preschooler.
3. Learn Some Japanese
If you’re not already at least at a conversational level of Japanese, this is something you’ll definitely want to get on as soon as possible. Your kid’s preschool will be sending you lots of documentation, pamphlets, and notifications of upcoming school events every week, and you (or whoever is preparing your child for school in the mornings) will need to stay up-to-date with everything.
It’s not easy at first, but after a while, you’ll begin to recognize the same characters and sentences used over and over. You’ll still need to scan the notices carefully (and to this day I still get tripped up when I don’t pay that extra attention), but it won’t always be the slog that it was in the beginning.
4. Buy Other Needed Supplies
Although you’ve likely already purchased a bunch of supplies from the preschool (uniform, writing utensils, clay, etc.), there are still quite a few things your preschooler will need that you need to buy on your own: hand towels, handkerchiefs, cloth lunch mats, and indoor shoes and the like.
There is a lot that is needed, but at the very least you have the opportunity to personalize it a bit since you’re getting this stuff on your own. It’s a good chance to get your kid a lunch box with their favorite cartoon characters or a backpack they really like. (Note: the backpack is not one that they’ll be bringing to school on a regular basis, but rather just for field trips.)
You’ll probably also need things like a swimsuit and pool bag, drawstring bags for various school items, and some ribbon or yarn. A lot of your preschooler’s things will be hung up during the day, and you need to attach the ribbon/yarn yourself so that they can hang it! So, uh, brush up on your sewing skills while you’re at it.
5. Have a Formal Outfit Ready for the Opening Ceremony
Here’s one that kind of puzzled me initially, but my husband insisted it’s very important to dress up for the entrance ceremony. As such, you’ll need some nice formal wear. If you go to your local department or clothing store in the springtime, you’ll often find a section specifically for “opening ceremony”-type clothing, which will give you an idea of the kind of attire that will be expected. Not quite “wedding” formal, but something close, with a bit more of a professional or reserved look.
Mostly, just make sure you look nice. Traditional kimono is also acceptable (as I found out upon seeing some other parents dressed thusly at my eldest’s opening ceremony), but that can be a trickier minefield if you’re not familiar with the different types of kimono.
Anyway, that was my (not so) quick overview of what to expect when you’re enrolling a child in a Japanese preschool. I could go into more detail about certain aspects, so if you’re curious to see that in a future post, just let me know in a comment down below!
