Japanese Language
Exchange Program

What is Japanese Language Exchange Program?

Japanese junior high school students interact with students of the same age in various countries in Japanese.Through this exchange, Japanese and overseas students deepen a mutual understanding by learning about the diversity of life and culture in each country.This is a program that aims to foster "individuals who can work together with people of different cultures to address social issues” by providing opportunities to realize coexistence with different cultures.

  • In this program, we invite students studying Japanese from around ten countries around the world to carry out an interactive program in Japan. We would like to continue to provide opportunities to realize coexistence with different cultures even in situations where it is difficult to travel overseas. In order to secure opportunities for exchange, we will introduce and implement a hybrid-type program that allows online exchange in addition to the conventional face-to-face content.

Program Structure

Preparatory Training in Japan for Overseas Teachers

To ensure the success of the Japanese Language Exchange Program, we invite accompanying overseas teachers to Japan for pre-training the year before the program. In addition, online training is held prior to and following the training in Japan.

Japanese Language Exchange Program

A program in which Japanese junior high school students and overseas students from around ten countries interact in Japan. By interacting with students from overseas schools through various programs, students can experience cultural diversity and the difficulty and pleasure of communication. This cultivates their motivation to improve their ability to coexist with different cultures.

※Japanese participating schools are junior high schools.

【14th and 15th Japanese Language Exchange Program】

Depending on the spread of infectious diseases in each country, all or part of this program may be canceled or postponed. We are preparing for implementation in one of the following directions depending on the situation.

  • In the case that the program to visit Japan can be held
  • ー We will conduct face-to-face exchange after paying sufficient attention to measures against infectious disease and conduct online exchange prior to and following the program to visit Japan

  • In the case that the program to visit Japan is postponed
  • ー We will conduct only online exchange until the program to visit Japan can be implemented

Even in the case of only online exchange, students can experience cultural diversity and the difficulty and pleasure of communication, and it will lead to the development of the ability to coexist with different cultures.

Schedule (Tentative)

By combining face-to-face exchange and online exchange, continuous exchange is possible. Even if the face-to-face exchange cannot be held, participating schools can interact with overseas schools of various cultures through online exchange.

【Example】 The 10th Japan Experience Program for Overseas Children (Exchange between Students) -Introduction Video-

Program Period: April 11th (Thursday) -April 25th (Thursday), 2019

2 Japanese schools and 11 overseas schools from 10 countries / regions participated in the exchange for approximately 2 weeks.

※ The Foundation and Program names are as of April 2019.
※ Content differs from the planned 13th Program.

For Applicants

Applications for overseas children for the 15th Japanese Language Exchange Program have now closed. Thank you for your application.

The 15th Japanese Language Exchange Program (For overseas schools)
Pamphlet (671KB)  

Support Provided

Support is provided for travel expenses, accommodation, meals, activities, etc. for participation in each portion of the face-to-face program. Support for online exchange includes the costs of equipment for improving the web environment for Japanese participating schools.
(Please refer to the application guide for details.)

Evaluation Committee

Yuko Abe (Chair) Professor, Akita International University
Yuka Kikuoka Senior Lecturer, The Japan Foundation Japanese Language InStitute,Urawa
Masako Ogata Association for Japanese-Language Teaching Program Manager
Yoshinobu Yamashita Former Principal, Oosato Junior High School

Cooperating Organizations

The Japan Foundation

Association for Japanese-Language Teaching (AJALT)