Japanese Schools in Berlin: Two Hoshuko, a Full-Time School and an Online Option Compared (2026)

Four ways to keep up Japanese in Berlin: how we chose and what the order means

First, how we chose. We used three tests. One: the school’s own website confirms that it exists and gives contact details. Two: at least two of the following are readable on official pages: location, class days and times, and fees. Three: children can attend regularly now, or an opening is announced on the official site. Anything that failed these tests was left out rather than added to make up a number. Individual tutors, classes that appear only on booking sites, and adult courses are covered briefly later, together with the reason each was not included.

The order is not a ranking and not a popularity order. We grouped the options by how they fit alongside a child’s current local school (a German state school or an international school): first, after-school hoshuko (two schools); second, a full-time school that replaces the local school; third, online learning from home. The two hoshuko are listed with the one whose official site states a founding year (1973) first, which says nothing about quality. Tomodachi Japan is a business of NIJIN Inc., so it is handled on the same items and at the same length as the other three.

The table below is the big picture. Each school’s details follow in its own section.

What the table shows is that these four are not really competitors. They occupy different slots. A hoshuko is meant to run alongside local school, a Japanese school replaces it, and online learning is a no-commute add-on. Which one fits depends on your child’s age, current Japanese, whether you may move to Japan, and how much driving or travelling your household can absorb. The first thing to settle is why you want to keep up Japanese: preparing for a return to school in Japan, being able to talk with grandparents, or making Japanese friends. The answer changes which row of the table matters most.

MEXT draws the line between school types like this. A Japanese school (nihonjin gakko) is a full-day school providing education equivalent to Japanese elementary, junior high and senior high schools. A supplementary school (hoshuko) is a facility where Japanese children attending local or international schools take Japanese-language classes on Saturdays or after school. As of April 15, 2026, MEXT counts 91 Japanese schools (about 15,000 students) and 246 supplementary schools (about 20,600 students) worldwide. Japanese International School Berlin appears under Germany in MEXT’s list of accredited schools.

Want your child to keep up Japanese from home?

Tomodachi Japan, a business of NIJIN Inc., was not yet open as of October 29, 2026. A free consultation with a teacher and a free brochure request are available. Please check the official page for time slots and pricing.

See the official admissions page

Berlin Japanese Supplementary School: a hoshuko on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons

The first is the Berlin Japanese Supplementary School (ベルリン日本語補習授業校), legally “Japanische Ergänzungsschule in Berlin e.V.” According to its website, it was founded in 1973 by volunteers from the Japanese community of what was then West Berlin and marked its 50th anniversary in 2023. The school says it is supported by the Japanese government, Japanese companies in Berlin and parents. It teaches “Japanese language” and “arithmetic and mathematics.” Classes are held at Halensee-Grundschule (Joachim-Friedrich-Str. 35/36, 10711 Berlin), which means a local primary school’s classrooms are used after the regular school day.

The home page says it is recruiting new members from age 0 through high school and that more than 200 students are enrolled. The same page adds that some classes are already close to capacity, so it pays to ask early. It does not say which grades are filling up, so check with the office.

What stands out is that Berlin’s hoshuko meets on weekday afternoons. Many families picture a Saturday school, but according to the official timetable this one opens on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and each child attends once a week on their class day. The school year runs April to March, as in Japan, and holidays follow the Berlin state school calendar. German schools run five days a week, so this model frees up the weekend for family life but puts travel and lessons into a weekday evening. Whether that is a burden or a relief depends on your household.

The stated educational aim is for children to “study Japanese willingly, show consideration and responsibility, and enjoy interacting with others in a multilingual, multicultural setting.” Primary and lower secondary have one class per grade. Upper secondary has a mixed-level “Class A” for students with varied Japanese backgrounds, while “Class B,” aimed at entering Japanese universities, has been suspended since the second semester of 2021, according to the school.

Berlin Japanese Supplementary School: timetable, fees and how to enroll

The official timetable separates kindergarten from primary and above. Kindergarten meets on Wednesday and Thursday in age-based classes. From primary school up, each grade has set days. The school notes that class days, times and subject hours can change with each year’s enrollment and class structure, so confirm the actual day with the office.

From the timetable you can work out the load. For primary years 2 to 6, one session ties up 16:00 to 18:45, or 2 hours 45 minutes including breaks, split into 2 hours of Japanese and 1 hour of maths. For a child who spends the day in a German or international school, that is another block of schooling after the regular day. Lower and upper secondary meet on Friday evenings and finish at 18:50.

Costs have three parts: an entrance fee, a monthly membership fee and an annual administrative fee. The one-time entrance fee is €50 for full members (kindergarten Koguma and up) and €25 for associate members (kindergarten Yochi-yochi). Monthly and annual amounts are below.

Payment is by SEPA direct debit, per household. Membership fees are collected three months at a time in advance, at the start of April, July, October and January. The administrative fee is collected each May (or right after joining, if a child starts mid-year). The school states that the administrative fee is an annual charge regardless of when a child takes leave or withdraws, with no reductions or refunds. Households receiving social welfare benefits and similar can ask for a 50% reduction in membership fees.

The official enrollment steps are as follows.

The “three months’ notice, by month-end” rule for leave and withdrawal is easy to miss. If your family may relocate or return to Japan, read it before you join. The school says the board may make exceptions for reasons such as illness or relocation.

Chuo Gakuen Berlin Supplementary School: a member-run hoshuko

The second is the Chuo Gakuen Berlin Supplementary School (共益法人ベルリン中央学園補習授業校). Its website describes a school that gives Japanese-language supplementary lessons based on MEXT’s kindergarten curriculum guidelines and the elementary and lower-secondary Courses of Study. It was founded by parents and teachers in Berlin who wanted to build Japanese ability that fits each child’s growth, and it is run cooperatively by its member families. The FAQ says families are strongly encouraged to help with school events and that, because the school is run by its members, parents are its operators.

On location, the official access page says the address and map are currently withheld for safety reasons and asks visitors to phone or email. For that reason we do not print a street address here. The home page does tell us that the kindergarten “Higashi” (east) classes were announced to move from August to a building in Moabit, near the U9 Turmstr. station, and that kindergarten days and times differ between the main school and the Higashi classes. The school rents classrooms in a German state school, so, according to its FAQ, its holidays follow the German state school calendar.

In the classroom, Japanese language is the core, alongside “integrated studies” on themes such as geography and Japanese history. From year 1, a kanji-test class is required, with two exam sittings a year, according to the school. For children who plan to return to Japan, a “returnee class” offers individual instruction in chosen subjects, and the school describes career guidance, entrance-exam preparation and mock interviews for those heading back. For lower and upper secondary, the school says it plans to teach Japanese and short-essay writing.

This school gives more concrete guidance on Japanese ability than most. Some Japanese is needed from the Usagi class (age 3) and from primary school up. The example for Usagi is “can understand instructions in Japanese.” For Kirin (age 5), children are expected to read the 46 hiragana to some degree. For year 2, the example is “can read and write sentences and read the kanji from year 1 to some extent.” The FAQ is candid that a child with no Japanese will probably struggle to follow lessons from primary school upward.

Chuo Gakuen: classes, fees and how admission works

Fees are a household entrance fee plus a monthly fee per class. The entrance fee is €50 for both regular members and “Friends of the School” members. Monthly fees depend on lesson length in kindergarten and on the division from primary school up.

The FAQ also says that from primary school up you buy kanji workbooks, and that some events have participation fees. Enrolled children of compulsory-school age receive textbooks from Japan. There is also an optional supporting membership at €300 or more per year.

Unlike the other schools, the first hurdle is whether there is a place. According to the admission page, you first check the “class vacancy overview” PDF, then phone or email, and only classes with vacancies can offer a trial. There is no waiting list, and the school does not contact families individually when a place opens. For full classes, new recruitment happens twice a year, after the first semester ends (mid-June to mid-July) and at the end of the second semester (mid-December), announced on the home page.

Recruitment for the second semester of 2026 (September entry) closed at noon on August 17. However, a note dated September 3 on the home page says the target classes (all kindergarten main-school classes except Zou, all Higashi classes except Zou Higashi, and primary years 2 to 5) are accepting entries on a rolling basis by email. If applications exceed capacity, places are drawn by lottery. This changes from day to day, so check the home page and the vacancy PDF before you apply.

For the 2026 summer intake, the path from trial to enrollment was described this way: you receive the membership documents on the trial day, tell the office by the day after the trial whether you want to join, and submit the application on the next class day to become a member. Leave can last up to one year, but seats are not held during leave, so a child in a full class may not be able to return.

Japanese International School Berlin: a full-time school is a different category

The third is not a hoshuko but a full-time Japanese school: the Japanese International School Berlin (Japanische Internationale Schule zu Berlin e.V.). According to the principal’s message, it was founded to provide primary and secondary education under Japanese law to children of Japanese and other nationalities. The school describes itself as a full-time school in the Lankwitz district of southern Berlin, covering year 1 of primary through year 9 of lower secondary. It also appears under Germany in MEXT’s list of accredited schools.

The features the school highlights are small classes and teaching tailored to each child. Its international elements include lessons on Berlin and German history and geography, exchanges with local schools, visits to the Berlin Philharmonic and State Opera, and English conversation and German taught by native speakers. It says it is open to students of any nationality. Its financial-support page says the school left its previous building in 2023 when that building became privately owned, so no current street address appears on the official pages we read. Please confirm the address before visiting.

The big difference from a hoshuko is that your child does not attend a local school; this becomes their school for the day. You get full-time education following Japanese Courses of Study, but at €720 a month the official fee is roughly ten times a hoshuko’s monthly fee (€73 to €76). The school says it depends mainly on tuition from a small student body. Think of it as the option for families who want daily life close to a school in Japan, not as a supplement to a German school. For most readers, it is less a rival to the hoshuko than a way to check whether a Japan-style school day exists in Berlin at all.

The four options on the same criteria: days, times, fees, admission and trials

Here is everything so far on one page. Tomodachi Japan is covered in detail in a later section. This table is for seeing what fits your household, not which school is better.

One factor does not appear in the table: a class may be full. Both Berlin hoshuko say on their official pages that some classes are near capacity or have a class limit. If you are thinking of enrolling, checking vacancies is the realistic first step. The flow chart below is not an official process; it is our way of organizing the decision.

You do not have to follow this chart. In practice, the days you can travel, your child’s local school finishing time and your child’s energy tend to decide. Tomodachi Japan’s official FAQ explicitly says it can be combined with a weekend Japanese school (hoshuko).

Getting there in Berlin: Halensee in the west, Moabit in the north, Lankwitz in the south

Berlin is a large city, and the venues are spread across it. The official pages say almost nothing about nearest stations or travel times, so this section does not state journey times or line numbers as fact. It gives the district each school names and the steps to check yourself.

The Ring, served by S41 and S42, circles the city centre. S-Bahn Berlin’s official station page gives Halensee’s location as Kurfürstendamm 129a-b, lists S41, S42 and S46, and puts it in fare zone A. However, how many minutes the school is from the station is not stated officially, so check the walk on a map. For Chuo Gakuen’s Higashi classes, the school itself points to U9 Turmstr. in Moabit. The Japanese International School Berlin, in Lankwitz, means a daily commute, so its route is the one to research most carefully.

What matters is not the minutes on one leg but how the whole day fits together. Suppose a child’s local school ends in the mid-afternoon, the hoshuko starts at 16:00 and ends at 18:45. Travel and dinner turn the whole evening into one block. Berlin winters are dark early, and on days when you would get home after 19:30 many families will want an adult to do the pickup. Try writing it out on paper using the steps below.

Time zones, weekdays and daylight saving: Berlin timetables and the gap with Japan

Berlin’s clocks moved from summer time to winter time (Central European Time, UTC+1) on October 25, 2026. They go back to summer time (UTC+2) on March 28, 2027. Compared with Japan (UTC+9), Berlin is 8 hours behind in winter and 7 hours behind in summer. We took the dates of the changeover from German press reports, a secondary source.

Hoshuko lessons run on Berlin local time, so the start time does not shift when the clocks change. The time difference matters for anything tied to Japan time, such as video calls with grandparents or online lessons held at the same time as children in Japan. The table below converts Berlin times to Japan time. These are our own calculations.

The table shows that a Berlin weekday afternoon, the hoshuko hours, is already the middle of the night in Japan. If you want to talk live with children in Japan, realistic Berlin slots are weekday early mornings or the daytime on weekends. That also means a hoshuko in the afternoon and an online class in the early morning or at weekends rarely collide, which makes them easy to combine.

Check school holidays too. Berlin Japanese Supplementary School says it follows the Berlin state school calendar, and Chuo Gakuen says it follows the German state school calendar. According to secondary sources that cite the Berlin education department (Kalenderpedia), the autumn break in 2026 is October 19 to 31, the winter break is December 23 to January 2, 2027, the mid-winter break is February 1 to 6, 2027, the Easter break is March 22 to April 2, and the summer break is July 1 to August 14, 2027. Each school’s own annual calendar has the exact dates.

Tomodachi Japan: an online Japanese school you join from home (not yet open)

The fourth is the online Japanese school Tomodachi Japan, a business of NIJIN Inc. Its website describes a Japanese school for children growing up abroad, with classes of 8 students who study together every day, including children in Japan. As of October 29, 2026, it had not opened. The official admissions page says the school has “not yet opened,” that the pilot opening listed for December 2026 depends on enough people signing up, and that it will not promise a date it cannot keep.

On timing, the official site says that the daily timetable is adjusted to each country’s time zone and that multiple time slots are offered so families from Asia and Oceania through Europe and the Americas can join at a reasonable hour. A meta description on the curriculum page lists three patterns: weekday daytime, weekday evening and weekend. But which slot corresponds to which Berlin hour is not published; the timetable and tuition are sent with the free school guide. The FAQ page also names Asia and Oceania as examples and does not name Europe, so the surest way to find out whether Berlin hours work is to ask in the free consultation.

Because it has not opened, there is no track record or enrolled-family feedback yet. What you can start before opening is the “dedicated-support trial plan,” in which one teacher is assigned to each child. The pricing page says enrollment on this plan may close depending on demand. The entrance fee is ¥0 for anyone who starts on this plan, and free for first-cohort students who apply by March 31, 2027. Payment is by credit card or bank transfer, and overseas payment methods are being added gradually.

Using online learning on Berlin time: weekday mornings, evenings and weekends

This section explains how a Berlin household might think about Tomodachi Japan, keeping what the official site says apart from our own arithmetic. The official site tells us that time slots are prepared for different time zones, that there are weekday and weekend patterns, that the tuition model is unlimited attendance for a flat fee, and that about 100 sessions a month are on offer to choose from. It does not tell us the Berlin times or how long one session lasts.

If the idea is to talk with children in Japan at the same time, the conversion table above implies that a Berlin weekday morning (07:00 to 08:00) is mid-afternoon after school in Japan and a Saturday morning is Japan’s late afternoon. That is our reasoning from the time difference, not the school’s timetable. It does mean the online slots would not collide with a hoshuko in the afternoon, which is helpful if you plan to combine them. On the other hand, an early-morning class may clash with getting ready for school. Ask in the free consultation exactly which slots exist for Berlin time.

The official site also says who it suits and who it does not, which is useful. It says it fits families who value conversation, friendship and continuity through moves, and that families whose main aim is a certificate such as a JLPT level, who want score-based evaluation, or who want only one-to-one tutoring may be better served elsewhere. It states that it can be used together with a supplementary school.

As the comparison table shows, Tomodachi Japan is different in character from the other three because it has not opened. Unlike the two hoshuko and the Japanese school, it has no published current enrollment or class timetable. The opening date is not guaranteed either. Whether you can live with that uncertainty, or prefer to wait until tuition after opening is published, is a decision we regard as equally reasonable.

Choosing by age and Japanese level: finding the right entry point

Even within Berlin, the right place varies with age and Japanese ability. We use the conditions stated officially as a guide. These are rough guides, not indications of whether a child will be admitted.

Ages 0 to 2. Berlin Japanese Supplementary School’s Yochi-yochi class (ages 0 to 1) is a parent-and-child class on Wednesday and Thursday, 15:45 to 16:45. Chuo Gakuen has Tsukushi (age 0), Tanpopo (age 1) and Hiyoko (age 2). Lessons at both are about 60 minutes. The question is whether a weekly trip is realistic.

Ages 3 to 5 (kindergarten). Both hoshuko have kindergarten divisions. At Berlin Japanese Supplementary School, Koala and Panda meet 17:00 to 18:30 and Lion meets 15:45 to 18:30. Chuo Gakuen lists guides for Usagi and above, such as being able to understand instructions in Japanese, and expects Kirin (age 5) children to read hiragana to some degree. For families who mostly speak German or English, a kindergarten whose stated aim is to get children used to Japanese through play can be a gentle entry.

Primary-school children. This is the age with the most choice. If a return to school in Japan is possible, Chuo Gakuen’s returnee class and both hoshuko’s Japanese and maths lessons following the Courses of Study are candidates. If no return is planned and you want your child to keep speaking and reading Japanese, a weekly hoshuko, online learning from home, or a combination are options. Chuo Gakuen’s FAQ says an older primary pupil with almost no Japanese will probably find lessons hard, so building a conversational base at home or online first is also a realistic path.

Lower and upper secondary. Berlin Japanese Supplementary School has lower and upper secondary classes on Fridays, 16:15 to 18:50. Chuo Gakuen also has them and plans Japanese and short-essay lessons. Tomodachi Japan’s official FAQ includes students up to the third year of high school. Older pupils have more homework and activities at their local school, so ask your child whether once a week is sustainable.

Across the official pages, one assumption is shared: support for Japanese at home is needed. A hoshuko supplements the Japanese a family already uses; it is not a place to start from zero. For children who speak almost no Japanese, a conversation-first online school or a full-time Japanese school may be the better entry point.

Estimating the cost: a first-year guide from the published fees

Adding up the published amounts gives a rough guide. The figures below are simple first-year totals from the official fees as of October 29, 2026. They exclude travel, books and kanji workbooks, event fees, lunch and exchange rates. Monthly fees are counted for 12 months, but how months off are treated should be checked with each school.

The full-time Japanese International School Berlin is at roughly ten times the level of a hoshuko. But that is a difference of role, not like for like: a hoshuko is an addition to local school, and a Japanese school is a replacement. Also, Berlin Japanese Supplementary School collects fees three months at a time (April, July, October, January), so what you pay at joining is three months of fees plus the entrance and administrative fees.

Chuo Gakuen is run with the help of member families. The school gives examples: helping at events, serving on the board or parent council, library duty, class liaison and classroom-safety shifts. The time that takes is as important to check as the money. Berlin Japanese Supplementary School’s sports day was also reported in its June 2026 news as organized by parents.

Tomodachi Japan’s pricing page says plainly that the current amount is not a promise of what will continue. Tuition after opening is given in the free school guide. The price is a single standard price with a regional discount (the “scholarship”) applied automatically according to country of residence, with no application or proof of income. Overseas prices may be higher or lower than Japan’s, so what Berlin pays has to be confirmed by requesting the brochure.

For local parents: options if your family speaks German or English

What if your family has no Japanese roots, or only one parent is Japanese, and you want your child to learn Japanese? Here is what can be confirmed officially.

Start with the hoshuko. Berlin Japanese Supplementary School states no Japanese-ability requirement on its pages. It says nothing about nationality and describes its aim as nurturing people who can act as a bridge between Japan and Germany. Chuo Gakuen’s admission page sets no nationality or residence criteria, but it gives a guide to Japanese ability and assumes homework support at home. In both cases it is safer to assume that Japanese is already used at home. If it is not, tell the school about your situation in detail before a trial.

The Japanese International School Berlin says in the principal’s message that it is open to students of any nationality. It also has German and English lessons and teaches German history and geography, but it is a full-time school taught in Japanese.

Next, options beyond hoshuko and full-time schools. These are the ones we did not include in the four-way comparison, and why.

We could not confirm these officially at this time, so they are not part of the comparison. If one interests you, check the latest official information from the provider. For context, the Japan Foundation’s 2021 survey counted 11,687 Japanese learners in Germany: 47 in primary education (0.4%), 1,529 in secondary (13.1%), 5,480 in higher education (46.9%), and 4,631 in other institutions (39.6%). That suggests that places to learn Japanese as a child are limited across Germany.

Sample enquiry emails: what to ask each school

Email is the basic contact method for each school. Berlin Japanese Supplementary School: info@berlin-hoshuko.de. Chuo Gakuen: info@chuo-gakuen.de (the website shows a “●” in place of the “@”, so swap it back). Japanese International School Berlin: info@jap-schule-berlin.de. For Tomodachi Japan, book a free consultation or use the contact form on the official site. In a first message, describe your child’s situation concretely and number the questions; replies tend to be more useful.

For Chuo Gakuen, add: “Is the class main school or Higashi?”, “the day and time for my child’s class in the timetable PDF,” and “the latest vacancy overview.” For the Japanese International School Berlin, confirm “the current address and nearest station,” “school days and hours,” “the next trial enrollment period,” and “the year the fees apply to.” For Tomodachi Japan, ask in the free consultation: “Is there a slot that works in Berlin time?”, “How long is one session?” and “What is the expected tuition after opening?”

Note the date and the name of whoever replies, so you can follow up if the answer differs from the website. Schools update their information, so look at the official page once more before you decide.

Before you apply: a ten-point checklist

If four or more of the ten are still unchecked, it is perfectly sound not to rush. The last point, your child’s own feelings, is easily left till last, but it is a fair place to start choosing. First confirm 1 to 5 (venue, fees, vacancies, conditions) by enquiry, then talk through 7 to 10 (household situation and your child’s feelings) as a family. Doing it in two steps cuts down on needless emails.

Any item you cannot tick becomes a question for your enquiry.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

These are ten questions parents commonly ask. Answers are limited to what could be confirmed on official pages as of October 29, 2026. Admissions, fees and timetables change easily, so check the official sites before you decide.

Summary: an after-school hoshuko, a full-time school or online: choose the form you can sustain

The four ways to keep up Japanese in Berlin that we could confirm officially are Berlin Japanese Supplementary School, Chuo Gakuen Berlin Supplementary School, Japanese International School Berlin and Tomodachi Japan. The hoshuko are after-school schools on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and run alongside local school. The full-time Japanese school can replace local school, but costs about ten times a hoshuko. The online school involves no travel and says it offers time slots matched to time zones, but it had not opened and we could not confirm Berlin times.

When you choose, start by putting into words, as a family, why you want to keep up Japanese and with how much effort. Do you want to keep school subjects going for a return to Japan, or is conversation and friendship the heart of it? Can you take on weekday-afternoon travel, and the work of helping to run a member-run school? The answers will tell you which hoshuko fits, or whether online learning from home would be easier to sustain.

Finally, here are the items we marked “check with the school.” They are: current vacancies by class at Berlin Japanese Supplementary School; the days and times in Chuo Gakuen’s timetable PDFs; the address and nearest station of Chuo Gakuen’s main school; the address, school days and fee year of Japanese International School Berlin; Tomodachi Japan’s Berlin time slots and tuition after opening; and each school’s annual calendar. Confirm each one by enquiry before you decide.

Would you like to talk with a teacher, free of charge?

Tomodachi Japan, a business of NIJIN Inc., is an online Japanese school where children around the world and in Japan learn in small classes. It had not opened as of October 29, 2026, so before opening you start on the dedicated-support trial plan. Free consultation and brochure requests are on the official page.

See the free consultation and brochure