What is a correspondence high school?

Japanese high schools have three types of course: full-time (zennichisei / 全日制), part-time (teijisei / 定時制) and correspondence (tsushinsei / 通信制). A correspondence course is a regular high school course under the School Education Act. Graduates receive the same high school diploma as full-time graduates.

The basic graduation rules are the same for all courses. To graduate, a student must earn 74 or more credits and have satisfactory results in special activities (homeroom and school events). The minimum length of study is 3 years for full-time courses and 3 years or more for part-time and correspondence courses. In a correspondence course, at least 30 class hours of special activities are required before graduation.

They are used widely by students who did not attend junior high school. In MEXT’s survey of 323 schools with correspondence courses (fieldwork as of May 2025, results published 2026), 57.0% of students who entered in FY2025 had been futoko (absent long-term) in their third year of junior high school. In numbers, 44,461 of 77,998 entrants. The share differed by school type: 53.5% at public schools, 56.6% at private schools and 65.4% at company-run schools.

This matters for a simple reason. If your child has stopped going to school, they are not an unusual case at a correspondence high school. More than half of the students around them arrived by the same road. If you are still at the earlier stage of that road, start with our guide to school refusal (futoko) in Japan.

How big is the sector?

Correspondence courses are no longer a small corner of the system. MEXT’s 2026 survey recorded 281,606 students enrolled as of 1 May 2025, spread across 323 schools.

Of those 323 schools, 133 are wide-area and 190 are prefectural (narrow-area). The difference is explained below, and it decides which schools your family may apply to at all.

How study works: credits, reports, schooling and exams

How the credit system works

Correspondence high schools use a credit system (tan-i sei / 単位制) rather than year groups with pass-or-repeat exams. Each subject is worth a number of credits. Students earn credits subject by subject. If a subject is not completed, the student repeats that subject, not the whole year.

Because time and credits are both required, the question “when can my child graduate?” always has two halves. Ask any school both: how many credits will carry over, and how many months of enrollment will carry over.

Reports, schooling and exams

By law, correspondence teaching is done through three methods:

The national curriculum sets a standard number of reports and schooling hours per credit. This is the single most useful table for judging how heavy a year will be, because it tells you roughly how much writing your child will face.

A student taking about 25 credits a year will therefore write somewhere in the region of 60 to 70 reports a year. Nearly all of them are in Japanese. That is a real workload, and it is the part most families underestimate.

How schooling is arranged varies a lot. Some schools hold it on set days each week at the main campus or a learning center; others run intensive sessions of several days at a time, sometimes with an overnight stay. Some schools also offer extra optional days for students who want a more regular routine. Always ask how many days a year your child will need to attend, where, and whether the days can be adjusted.

One rule is worth knowing before you compare schools. Where a school uses approved media (video lessons, online materials), it may exempt up to 6/10 of the required schooling hours for a subject; using several media, the total exemption may not exceed 8/10. So “almost no attendance required” claims are usually a school applying this rule, not a school ignoring the law. Ask which subjects the exemption is applied to, and what is left.

Reports are the real test of fit. Many students cope well with the schooling days and then stall on the reports, because nobody is standing next to them. Before you enroll, ask to see a sample report booklet for one subject, and ask how reports are submitted: on paper by post, by scanning, or through an app. Ask what happens when a report is late, and who contacts your child.

Types of correspondence high school

Public vs private

Public (prefectural or municipal) correspondence schools usually have low tuition and fewer extras. Private schools vary widely: many offer more flexible schooling, online learning, extra classes and more staff contact, and their fees are higher. Some schools are run by companies under special zone rules.

Wide-area vs prefectural

A wide-area correspondence school (koiki tsushinsei / 広域通信制) accepts students living in its own prefecture and in two or more other prefectures, so students can join from across Japan. A prefectural (or narrow-area) school accepts only students living in its prefecture or one neighboring prefecture. Wide-area schools often have learning centers in many cities; check where the one nearest you is and who runs it.

The practical consequence is that a family in, say, Kanagawa can apply to any wide-area school in the country, but can apply to a narrow-area school only if it is in Kanagawa or immediately next to it. If you expect to move within Japan during the three years, say so at the interview: a wide-area school may let your child continue, while a narrow-area school may not.

Public, private, wide-area: a comparison

Neither column is better. A public correspondence school is often the best value in Japan for a self-directed teenager. A private wide-area school can be the only workable option for a student who cannot leave home most days. Our page on attendance rules and costs explains the wider cost picture for families outside the full-time system.

Support schools are not high schools

A support school (sapoto-ko / サポート校) is a private learning facility that helps students of a correspondence high school with reports, schooling preparation, study and daily life. It is not a school under the School Education Act and cannot grant a diploma. Students who attend a support school are also enrolled at a correspondence high school, and the diploma comes from that school.

This means families pay two sets of fees: the correspondence high school’s fees and the support school’s fees. The support school’s fees are not covered by the high school tuition support fund. Some support schools offer a lot of structure and care, which suits many students, but ask for a full breakdown of both fees before you decide.

In official Japanese documents, facilities of this kind now sit inside a defined category. A correspondence high school may work with tsushin kyoiku renkei kyoryoku shisetsu (通信教育連携協力施設), which are split into two kinds:

A MEXT notice of 18 December 2025 set out conditions for correspondence schools whose students commute to a learning support facility. Among them: the facility must be named in the school’s own rules, the principal must judge that the support given there is appropriate, there must be a written agreement between school and facility, the school must visit regularly, the school must publish information about the facility, and the facility must not be presented in a way that makes families think it is the high school itself.

Comparing the main options

Part-time high schools (teijisei) are another option for teens who want daily contact with teachers but a lighter or later timetable. Some are evening schools, and some offer morning, afternoon and evening sessions.

If your child is not yet at high school age, the comparison you need is a different one: see free schools in Japan, education support centers and homeschooling in Japan. Our overview of how Japanese schools work explains where high school sits in the system.

Costs and the tuition support fund

The High School Tuition Support Fund (koto gakko to shugaku shienkin / 高等学校等就学支援金) pays towards tuition at high schools, including correspondence courses. The money goes to the school, not to the family, and it is set against tuition. The amended law took effect on 1 April 2026, and from FY2026 there is no income limit.

Three limits apply to correspondence students on top of the amounts above:

• Support is counted against a maximum of 74 credits in total.
• No more than 30 credits in one year are supported.
• Support may be received for up to 48 months on a correspondence course (36 months for full-time). This is why repeating a lot of subjects has a cost: the months keep running.

Eligibility also depends on nationality or residence status. Support is available to students with Japanese nationality and to holders of Special Permanent Resident, Permanent Resident, Spouse or Child of Japanese National, Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident, and Long-Term Resident status where the person intends to settle in Japan, and to Dependent status holders meeting set conditions. “Student” (ryugaku / 留学) status is not eligible. You apply through the school, usually in the first weeks after enrollment, and again each year.

The fund covers tuition only. Entrance fees, facility fees, textbooks, schooling travel and accommodation, and support-school fees are separate. Ask each school for its total cost over three years. Nijiiro’s Japanese correspondence school cost simulatorJA can help you compare (a browser translator works on it).

Help with costs beyond tuition: the scholarship grant

A second scheme helps with the costs the tuition fund does not touch. The High School Student Scholarship Grant (koko-sei to shogaku kyufukin / 高校生等奨学給付金) is a grant, not a loan, and does not have to be repaid. It is intended for textbooks, materials and other non-tuition education costs. It is administered by prefectures, so application dates and paperwork differ; ask the school office or the prefectural board of education.

For comparison, a tax-exempt household with a child on a full-time course receives 143,700 yen a year at a public school and 152,000 yen at a private school. Correspondence amounts are lower because the assumed cost of materials is lower.

The grant has its own nationality and residence conditions, which are close to but not identical to the tuition fund’s. The published requirements list Japanese nationality, Special Permanent Resident, Permanent Resident, Spouse or Child of Japanese National, Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident, Long-Term Resident intending to settle, and Dependent status where the student has completed junior high school in Japan and intends to work here. If your status is not on that list, ask the prefecture directly rather than assuming.

When students join: April, October, transfer and re-entry

April is the main entry point, as it is across the Japanese school system. Many correspondence schools, particularly private ones, also admit students in October, at the start of the second semester, and some accept transfers at other points in the year. The timing is set by each school and is not the same everywhere, so check the admissions page of every school on your list.

Three words describe how a student joins:

If your child is thinking of leaving a full-time high school, try to talk to the new school before withdrawing. A transfer is usually simpler than a re-entry, and a gap can push graduation back by six months or a year. MEXT’s guideline tells schools to check a student’s previous learning carefully when accepting a transfer or re-entry part-way through a term, which is your cue to bring the paperwork to the first meeting. Nijiiro has a Japanese guide to transfer and re-entryJA.

Credits from a previous school

Credits already earned at another high school are normally recognized by the receiving school, and months of enrollment normally count toward the three-year minimum. But recognition is a decision made by the receiving principal, not an automatic transfer, and schools differ in how they handle part-finished subjects.

Ask these four questions in this order, and write the answers down:

• How many of the credits already earned will you recognize?
• How many months of enrollment will you count?
• What happens to subjects that were partly completed but not credited?
• Given those answers, in which month would my child graduate, and how many credits a year does that require?

The last question is the one that matters. Two schools can recognize identical credits and still produce different graduation dates, because they schedule subjects differently.

Using the equivalency exam alongside school

The High School Equivalency Exam (kosotsu nintei shiken / 高卒認定試験) is a separate route. It is held twice a year, in August and November, and people can take it from the fiscal year in which they turn 16, including while enrolled at a high school. Depending on the subjects chosen, 9 or 10 subjects must be passed. Credits already earned at a high school can exempt a candidate from some subjects, on production of a statement of credits, but a candidate must sit and pass at least one subject; full exemption is not possible.

Passing shows academic ability equal to a high school graduate and gives eligibility to apply to universities, junior colleges and vocational schools, and it is treated as equal to high school graduation for employment and many qualifications. It is not a high school diploma, and MEXT states plainly that a person’s final academic record does not become “high school graduate” unless they graduate from a high school.

The two routes can be combined. A student on a correspondence course may sit the exam for subjects they find hard to complete as reports, and a principal may recognize passed subjects as credits toward graduation. Ask your school whether it does this and up to how many credits. See Nijiiro’s Japanese guide to the equivalency examJA.

After graduation

Graduates of a correspondence course hold a high school diploma and may apply to university, junior college, vocational school (senmon gakko / 専門学校) or employment on the same legal footing as any other graduate. Many universities make no distinction at all in their admission rules.

What we will not do is give you a national percentage. MEXT’s School Basic Survey does record destinations by course, but we could not read a reliable correspondence-course breakdown from a primary source we were able to verify, so we do not print one here. Aggregator sites quote such figures freely; treat them with care.

There is a better number for your decision anyway: the school’s own. Under MEXT’s quality guideline, correspondence schools are expected to publish information on entry, withdrawal, transfer and graduation, including the number of students who went on to further study or employment. Ask for the last three years, for the campus or learning center your child would actually attend, not the school as a whole. A wide-area school’s national figure can hide large differences between centers.

• Entrants and graduates, three years running. This lets you see how many of a cohort finish, rather than a headline graduation rate calculated only on students who reached the final year.
• Students who withdrew or transferred out. The figure schools are least keen to volunteer, and the most informative.
• Destinations after graduation. This shows whether career guidance is real or decorative.
• The same figures for the specific center. Local staffing, not the brand, decides your child’s experience.

Quality assurance: what changed by 2026

The sector grew quickly, and regulation followed. Three changes are worth knowing when you compare schools.

First, MEXT has maintained a quality assurance guideline for correspondence education since 2016, revised several times since. It covers teaching arrangements, the use of cooperating facilities, self-evaluation and the information schools should publish.

Second, an amendment to the ministerial regulation on correspondence education took effect on 1 April 2023. It defined cooperating facilities in law, removed the old blanket minimum enrollment of 240 students in favor of a standard based on staffing and facilities, and set teacher numbers at 5, or the number of students divided by 80, whichever is greater.

Third, MEXT’s 2026 survey shows the rules are not yet evenly applied. 41 schools (13.9%) had not carried out self-evaluation, and 2,398 cooperating facilities (58%) had not. Only 57.6% of schools had an enrollment of at least half their capacity.

How to use this at an open day. Ask: “Has this school carried out a self-evaluation, and may I see it?” (jiko hyoka / 自己評価). Ask the same about the center your child would attend. A school that publishes its self-evaluation and its withdrawal numbers is telling you something about how it is run, whatever the numbers say.

For foreign-national and returnee families

Correspondence study in Japan is study in written Japanese. That single fact shapes everything else for a family where Japanese is not the home language. Reports, exams and most schooling are in Japanese, and there is less day-to-day contact with teachers to fall back on than in a full-time school.

Three practical points, stated as plainly as we can:

• Language support varies and is rarely advertised. We could not find reliable public data on Japanese-language support at correspondence schools, so it has to be asked about school by school. Ask whether materials carry furigana, whether any staff can explain in English or another language, and whether extra Japanese lessons exist.
• The tuition support fund depends on residence status. As set out above, “Student” (ryugaku) status is not eligible, while several settled statuses are. Check your own status against the list before you assume a private school is affordable.
• Do not assume a correspondence school can sponsor a residence status. The “Student” residence status covers education at Japanese high schools among other institutions, but we could not confirm from a primary source how it applies to a correspondence course specifically. Ask the Immigration Services Agency and the school before making plans that depend on it. Do not rely on a school’s verbal assurance alone.

If your child is a returnee struggling after a move, our article on a returnee child struggling at a Japanese school covers the earlier decisions. If your child plans to study mainly in English, see our guides to international schools and online schools. For vocabulary you will meet on school paperwork, see our glossary of Japanese school terms.

Who to ask, and in what order

If you are not sure which type of place fits your child at all, our learning place finder asks eight questions and suggests a direction.

Checklist for choosing a school

Also see our guide to neurodivergent children in Japanese schools if reasonable accommodation is part of your decision.

Questions to ask at an open day, with Japanese phrases

Open days (gakko setsumeikai / 学校説明会) are where the real differences show. Take this table on your phone. The romaji is for reading aloud; the Japanese is for showing on a screen if that is easier.

What to do over the next few weeks

If your child is not ready for any of this, that is common, and it is not a failure. Nothing on this list has a deadline that cannot be moved by six months. Entry in October exists at many schools for exactly this reason.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

Sources