Photo by note thanun on Unsplash
Deciding where to send your kids to school is always a key consideration, no matter where you live. However, things do become more complicated in Japan, especially when you have a mixed family and want your kids to be bilingual. Education gets tied up with so many things here – culture, mindset and perceived opportunities in the future. When you add having biracial/bilingual kids into the mix and the desire to give them the best start so that they can excel both in Japan and potentially overseas, this decision becomes even more challenging.
Spoiler alert: our kids go to the local neighbourhood school. And thankfully, they’re thriving there. So, in this post, I want to share the thoughts and motivations that led my wife and me to choose the local system for our children and to continue keeping them there.
The whole local versus international school debate is widely discussed on gaijin/foreigner forums and Facebook groups. From my perspective, concerns primarily revolve around two aspects: finances and fostering creative thinking (perhaps in that order!). Honestly, for us, it was all about the money. When we first arrived in Japan, we were rebuilding our lives from scratch. We didn’t have a steady income. Our kids were young (5 and 2), so sending them to an expensive international kindergarten never made sense. Fast forward eight years, and we’ve kept them in the local system, and we’re happy that we did.
As I write this, I’m thinking that perhaps this post simply serves as a justification for not investing 2 to 3 million yen – around US$20k – a year each in our girls’ education! Nevertheless, I hope it allays some fears when sending your kids to a local school if you decide to go down that route.
So, let’s start with the plus points:
Community: This is the big one. In Japan, kids from the same neighbourhood go to the same neighbourhood school. They walk to school together, learn together and hang out after school. It’s pretty obvious, but it’s great to see my kids making solid friends they’ll grow up together with, whilst we form friendships and connect with other parents in the community.
Varying viewpoints: Much discussion surrounds the multiculturalism found in international schools. That is true, but perhaps less so in Osaka, where there are fewer foreigners. Instead, the student bodies at the international schools here are mostly made up of kids from wealthy Japanese families. Having attended Eton, I don’t have an issue with this at all – to each their own! However, it could be precisely because of my exposure to that educational environment that I appreciate the diverse mix of children and families from different backgrounds that come together at local Japanese schools. There’s something very egalitarian about local Japanese schools that I admire, and I believe it will provide my kids with a glimpse into the real world.
Cultural context: We don’t see ourselves leaving Japan anytime soon. Japan is home and where my kids are planting their roots. They are Japanese (and British and Malaysian, as I keep reminding them). They’re not third-culture kids, so it makes sense for them to go to local schools and fully integrate them into their local culture. Naturally, we want the best of both worlds for them – the opportunities that come with being part of Japan and the broader global outlook that being bilingual can bring. Conversely, I fear there is always the risk of having too ‘Western’ a mindset to integrate or perform in Japanese society yet also being too ‘Japanese’ to fully function overseas. I have a feeling my kids will build their futures here in Japan, so, in this respect, we are playing it safe by keeping them in the local system and hope that their bilingual abilities will be part of their skill set, setting them apart wherever their journeys take them.
Money: Local school is more or less free. Simple. We plan on saving that money and using it to fund experiences abroad to broaden their horizons – in other words, fun foreign holidays for all of us (!) – and education overseas if or when they’re ready for it. Currently, I’m thinking of a gap year before or after university or a master’s degree somewhere outside Japan. It’s still early days. It’s got to be up to them, but I’m merely planting those seeds of possibility with them at the moment.
What about the negatives?
Well, it has to be their English. My kids are much more comfortable speaking, reading and writing in Japanese. Convincing them to embrace English literacy is a struggle that deserves its own blog post (trust me, it's a journey). However, I find comfort in the fact that they have a solid foundation. In an English-speaking environment, they'd manage just fine. As a parent, my job is to keep them interested and engaged in English (again, another topic for another blog post!)
And secondly, there is the perception that students at local Japanese schools lack the ability to think creatively. I’ve got to say that, with my two girls, I cannot definitively say that this is true or not. They seem curious, independent and happy to share their opinions (especially my older one). But this is something I do need to keep an eye on. That said, I feel that fostering creative thinking is a joint responsibility between the education system and us as parents. I’m committed to exploring ways to enhance their thinking skills and will be sure to share how I get on.
As I wrap up, we have been pretty happy with how our girls are faring at local school. They've formed friendships, are connected with their local culture and are developing into independent yet socially conscious young people. And for that, I’m genuinely grateful.