Education Overseas Japanese school enrolment down 20% in a decade

Schools established for Japanese families overseas are seeing enrolment fall as more parents opt for local education systems and Japan's declining birth rate narrows the pool of potential students. Some institutions have begun to broaden their admissions policies to remain viable. These schools were established to provide Japanese children living overseas with an education similar to that available in Japan, helping families maintain continuity in their schooling while abroad. As of April, 94 such schools in 50 countries and regions were officially recognised by the Ministry of Education.

Most are private schools, usually run and funded by local Japanese associations and business representatives. Students who finish their junior or senior high programmes can still apply to high schools and universities in Japan, which remains the main reason many families choose them, even as enrolment gradually declines.

An early one opened in Bangkok in 1956. They spread worldwide, driven by the overseas expansion of Japanese companies during the country's rapid economic growth. Total enrollment in these schools hovered in the 2,000s during the 1970s before increasing to around 21,000 by 2014, education ministry data shows. But the number began dropping in 2015, falling roughly 20% over 10 years to around 16,000 in 2024. The decline results both from Japan's tumbling birth rate and a growing trend of families choosing other schools. Lifestyle changes leading to more Japanese employees being posted overseas without families and fewer people leaving Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic also are seen as factors.

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My children attended a local Japanese supplementary school and I have watched the numbers drop locally over the years. This has some interesting effects you may not even think of like the basically "required" PTA rotation becomes very small which was seriously overloading some parents this caused some more families to leave. This last October there was a school fundraiser sale which was in the red for the first time I think. Our school is officially recognized, has a principle rotated in from Japan, the consule general comes to events etc. My daughter indeed we plan to have go to a Junior high in Japan, my son might go to a high school so yes that is related. The grade dates are different so math gets taught in Japanese supplementary school before local school. We lost our building in covid and had to move. I see less rotation in from Hitachi and others they still come just numbers are not as high as before. So I have seen this locally.