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“Going International” Pro’s and con’s of being a 外国人 in an international school in Japan 

Foreigners have visited Japan and explored it’s culture from the beginning of the century. But do the foreigner’s children go to to Japanese schools or international school’s? What are their advantages and disadvantages? how would they compare it to other places?

There are approximately 30 international school in Japan, most of them all bunched up in Tokyo and around the Kanto region. Some foreigners are attracted to Japan’s beautiful nature and they may set foot on the countryside, but in this article we will be concentration on the urban and sub-urban areas of Japan.

An International life Out of the 30 international schools in Japan, 10 of them are in Tokyo. About another 10 are in Nagoya and Osaka, the rest of the ten in other places, so international schools have a wide range of areas. With all these schools, foreigners in Japan may have a good access to international education. I happen to be a student that goes to Yokohama International school, so I will talk about the daily life at this school. I have interviewed two students in this school, both saying that their father’s company has transported them to Japan, so it looks like most international foreigners come to Japan for business exchange instead of self interest. According to their results, the two interviewed people say that their advantage of being in an international school is that they get to meet other foreigners and Japanese people at the same time, which makes them feel more comfortable than a public Japanese school, making a better environment for learning. International schools in Japan provide a good experience of Japan, plus an n

Above: Tokyo international school entrance gives a Japanese background and a isolated westerns entrance in the middle. (google image search)

unforgettable international experience for most foreigners and Japanese people. Although because of its internationalism, different cultures can be a little problem. The students have different opinions, and they also come from different nations which make the opinions vary even more, so it may be hard to work in groups and to agree with

other people’s opinions. There is a high possibility of racism because of many different cultures, but since most International schools are private schools, there is less reliability on parents and the rules are stricter, which is another advantage despite complications between different cultures. This could be a problem from a Japanese person’s point of view and a foreigner’s point of view. However, for a half Japanese and a half foreign country person, it may be a peculiar experience, hence they may not feel like a Japanese person neither a foreigner. Especially for me, I have been living in Japan all my life and my first language is Japanese, I happen to be much more fluent in English because of the effect of English speaking schools and also since I have never gone to a public Japanese school. For me, it feels perfectly normal to be in an international school in Japan, though it may feel peculiar and a little uncomfortable for foreigners. The two people that I have interviewed both say it feels normal. That is probably because

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they have lived in many places already.

Experiences The first person I interviewed has lived in China and South Africa, and the second person I interviewed has lived in Canada, USA, Belgium, Germany and China. The two of them has already had a quite a lot of international experiences, so it may feel normal to them. For socialization, according to my experience, most foreigners socialize with other foreigners and most Japanese students socialize with other Japanese students. Even in international schools, students can be one sided. I have had over 6 years of International experience, and I hardly had any foreign friends. I don’t really know why, but I guess we are naturally born to be used to the people we recognize well even though after having a good international experience. Most foreigners tend to group up with other foreigners, not necessarily from the same nation, but basically a similar group. Maybe the visual similarity attracts people together. Again, according to my experience, the physical attempts from foreigners were fine most of the time. Generally, most foreigners are doing fine in the school that I go to. I think that the physical approach is probably the same in most International schools around the world, as well as in Japan. Our school provides field trips and field studies, which are chances for foreigners to experience Japan and its cultures. Also, In Nishimachi International school, they have strict courses of Japanese language

2008 by Joseph Yoji Brown

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classes so the school expects everyone who graduates the school can speak Japanese fluently. They also provide events like “Omochitsuki” which is very

Hokkaido International School, Japan (Google image search)

cultural, a fine experience for foreigners of what it is like being in Japan. .If the foreigner doesn’t have close access to a base or a certain place style town, the foreigner may miss some of the cultures, food and Nature from the person’s origination. For example, I have heard some Australians like Mr. Robinson, my science teacher; he says that he misses the juicy Mangos back in his country. He tells the class that “the one’s in Japan are from the Philippines and are nothing”.

A life in an international school in Japan can be a great experience, getting to meet new friends and relation ships which what I, myself is bad at even though I have had over 6 years of international experience. The advantage of being in Japan is to have a unique life different to the person’s origination, to have a cultural experience and learn also about modern day Japan. The advantages of being in an international is that the student can have and international point of view experience, improve relation ships with others around the world, to learn to cope and respect other people’s cultures, and most of all, experience and improving skills of social presentations and speeches which they do not do very often in public Japanese schools. International schools also provide a wide variety of school activities to the experience of latest technology. The disadvantages may have to do with inconvenience and confusion with different cultures, missing life in other places, etc. Another problem is that Japanese people may find it annoying that people have different cultures, for example a Chinese family may celebrate a loud party during almost every night which may be a fact of life in China, but Japanese neighbors complain from the loudness. These issues can be a very big problem for foreigners living in Japan or any other country with cultural difference. Though I believe that most foreigners probably enjoy it here, whether they wanted to move here or not, but we cannot run away from the truth.” We all have disadvantages”.

Mr. Campbell’s english class