Japanese language schools in numbers

A listed school must be certified by 31 March 2029 to keep taking students on a student visa.

The official guidance doesn't address students already enrolled at a school that misses the deadline.

Certified schools only

Median ¥1,033 per class hour across 93 schools. The middle half cost ¥981 to ¥1,088.

Each certified school's headline course, from its MEXT record: total fees ÷ class hours. The headline course is the 2-year course, or the longest course when a school has none. Listed schools that aren't certified are left out: MEXT holds no course record for them.

Certified schools only

At 17 of the 22 schools whose report states a mix, one nationality is more than half the students.

Students by nationality, summed across the annual reports certified schools filed with MEXT. Listed schools that aren't certified don't file one.

The directory doesn't hold a national series of student numbers yet, so there is nothing to chart here.

• Every school (schools.csv)

  One row per school: names, status, prefecture, ward or city, coordinates, nearest station, the year it has operated since and where that year comes from (established_basis: mext_opened, list_first_seen for an “at least” year from the immigration list's past editions, list_floor for “2009 or earlier”, or school_stated), and the documented tuition, intake months, course lengths, outcome shares and classroom mix its page shows.

• Every course (courses.csv)

  One row per documented course: length, intake months, class hours, total fees, price per class hour, entry expectations and goal, each with its source document and date.

The CSVs and the figures on this page are published under CC BY 4.0. Keep the credit lines below with them.

• 日本語教育機関認定法ポータル (the MEXT register of certified schools) · 文部科学省 (MEXT)

  文部科学省ウェブサイト利用規約 (PDL1.0-based, CC BY 4.0 compatible)

  出典：日本語教育機関認定法ポータル（文部科学省）（https://www.nihongokyouiku.mext.go.jp/）を加工して作成

• 留学告示 別表第一: the Immigration Services Agency's list of notified Japanese-language schools · 出入国在留管理庁 (Immigration Services Agency)

  公共データ利用規約 第1.0版 (PDL1.0), CC BY 4.0 compatible

  出典：出入国在留管理庁ホームページ（https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/resources/nyuukokukanri07_00217.html）をもとにjivx作成

• 留学告示 別表第一, past editions from 2009: the year each school was first listed · 出入国在留管理庁 (Immigration Services Agency; 法務省入国管理局 until March 2019)

  告示, not subject to copyright (著作権法第13条第2号); the agency's pages under 公共データ利用規約 第1.0版 (PDL1.0)

  出典：出入国在留管理庁ホームページ（https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/resources/nyuukokukanri07_00217.html）の過去の版を加工して作成（各校が続けて掲載されている最も古い版の年を算出）

• Internet Archive Wayback Machine: the copies of the list's past editions · Internet Archive

  Internet Archive Terms of Use (access for scholarship and research)

  Past editions of the list read from their copies in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/)

• 都道府県コード及び市区町村コード (municipality codes and names) · 総務省 (MIC)

  公共データ利用規約 第1.0版 (PDL1.0), CC BY 4.0 compatible

  出典：「都道府県コード及び市区町村コード」（総務省）（https://www.soumu.go.jp/denshijiti/code.html）をもとにjivx作成

• アドレス・ベース・レジストリ (Address Base Registry): school coordinates · デジタル庁 (Digital Agency)

  公共データ利用規約 第1.0版 (PDL1.0), CC BY 4.0 compatible

  出典：「アドレス・ベース・レジストリ」（デジタル庁）（https://www.digital.go.jp/policies/base_registry_address）を加工してjivx作成

• 登記所備付地図データ (registry office maps): parcel positions in the Address Base Registry · 法務省 (Ministry of Justice)

  登記所備付地図データ利用規約 (政府標準利用規約 第2.0版準拠, CC BY 4.0 compatible)

  出典：「登記所備付地図データ」（法務省）（https://www.geospatial.jp/ckan/organization/moj-mapdata）をもとにデジタル庁が作成した地番の位置を加工してjivx作成

• 国土数値情報 鉄道データ N02 (2025): station names and positions · 国土交通省 (MLIT)

  CC BY 4.0 (オープンデータ, editions from 2020)

  出典：「国土数値情報（鉄道データ）」（国土交通省）（https://nlftp.mlit.go.jp/ksj/gml/datalist/KsjTmplt-N02-2025.html）をもとにjivx作成

• Wikidata: English station names · Wikimedia Foundation

  CC0 1.0

  Station names in English from Wikidata (CC0)

Fees, intake months, course lengths and outcome forms of schools that aren't certified come from each school's own published documents; every course row names its document.

Left out, because their terms don't allow it

• JASSO's survey of international students (外国人留学生在籍状況調査): JASSO's site policy forbids reuse without its permission (無断転用は、禁止いたします), so no JASSO series is published.