A guide for families choosing a school in Tokyo. In a city this large, two things sort the field before anything else: where a school sits, and which curriculum it runs. This guide is organized around both, with fees in yen and a plain reading of what each school is.
Tokyo has no single gate that sorts its international schools the way Taiwan's foreign-school rule or Singapore's residency law sort theirs. Japanese nationals are not barred from international schools here, so the field is open, and the two questions that narrow it are where a school is and what it teaches. The city is vast, and a campus in central Minato is a different daily life from one in the western suburbs, so this guide groups the schools by district. And the curricula differ in kind: one American and Advanced Placement school, several IB schools, a British school that now runs the IB at sixth form, a bilingual school built around Japanese, and a Taiwan-curriculum school teaching in Mandarin.
There is one rule worth understanding early, and it is not a gate. For a child of Japanese nationality, attending an international school does not discharge Japan's compulsory-education obligation, which covers the elementary and lower-secondary years, because these schools are classified as miscellaneous schools rather than as the Article 1 schools that satisfy that duty. It does not stop a Japanese-national family from enrolling, and it does not affect university entrance, since a graduate of an internationally accredited school keeps eligibility for Japanese universities. But it is a real consideration for a dual-national or returnee family, and a family in that position should confirm the position with its local ward office. Our Japan guide sets the rule out in full. Each guide states where its school stands.
What separates these schools across founding, curriculum, grades, district, and the one feature each is most distinctive for, with the fees, English and Japanese provision, and admissions basis families ask about most. Fees are each school's own published figures, in Japanese yen, not converted. Each school's full guide carries the detail.
| ASIJ | Tokyo Int'l | Nishimachi | BST | St. Mary's | Seisen | Tokyo Chinese | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1902 | 1994 | 1949 | 1989 | 1954 | 1962 | 1929 |
| Curriculum | American, AP | IB continuum | American-style, K–9 | English National, IGCSE then IB | American, IB Diploma | IB continuum | Taiwan, in Mandarin |
| Grades | Nursery to 12 | K to 12 | K to 9 | Nursery to 13 | K to 12, boys | K to 12, girls | Grades 1 to 12 |
| District | Chofu, and Roppongi | Minato (Mita) | Minato (Moto-Azabu) | Minato and Setagaya | Setagaya (Seta) | Setagaya (Yoga) | Chiyoda |
| Distinctive for | Scale, space, the American anchor | Small, central, a brand-new Diploma | Deep Japanese, a K–9 foundation | British lower school, Mandarin offered | Boys, a long-run IB Diploma | Girls, the fullest IB, co-ed kindergarten | Taiwan curriculum, a fraction of the cost |
| Annual fee | ¥3,143,000–3,826,000, plus large one-time fees | ¥3,300,000–3,600,000 | ¥3,529,000, one rate all grades | ¥2,960,000–3,070,000 | ¥2,860,000–3,050,000 | ¥1,500,000–2,700,000 | ¥0.5–0.9M, far below the rest |
| English support | Grades 1 to 8, no separate fee. High English expected | EAL in primary. Japanese nationals needing EAL not admitted | Grade-level English required at entry | EAL team. English for age required, one fluent parent | To Grade 8, limited 9 to 10, none for Grade 11 entry | EAL in elementary. Grade-level English assessed | English taught as a subject, not the medium |
| Japanese & Mandarin | Japanese daily, heritage track. No Mandarin | Japanese K to 10. No Mandarin | Daily Japanese, nine levels, native track. No Mandarin | Japanese from Nursery. Mandarin in secondary | Japanese to IB level, native track. No Mandarin | Japanese to IB level, native track. No Mandarin | Mandarin the medium. Japanese base. English a subject |
| Admissions | Rolling in cycle, 15 to 20 percent new a year, no test | Rolling except K and DP. No Grade 12 entry | Opens 1 November. No Grade 9 applications | Annual cycle from November. Most years full | Rolling. No Grade 12 entry, a screening test | Assessments from Grade 1. Priority categories | Autumn cycle for Grade 1, in person. Test in either language |
Every figure is each school's own published number, in Japanese yen, not converted, and checked September 2026. Where a school bills per term or semester, the annual figure is shown. Several schools charge substantial one-time fees on top of tuition, from around one million yen at Tokyo International, Nishimachi, and Seisen to over a million and a half at The American School in Japan. Each guide breaks these out and gives a first-year total. Two Diplomas here are new and unproven: Tokyo International's first Diploma results come in 2027, and The British School's first IB cohort graduates in 2027, having moved from A Levels. Tokyo Chinese School is a Taiwan-curriculum school in a category of its own, included because it costs a fraction of the others and keeps the Taiwanese system open.
Each guide covers one school in depth: curriculum, published fees in yen, admissions, and the families it suits. Grouped by where the school sits, since in Tokyo the commute shapes the decision.
A small non-profit IB school that recently became a full K to 12 school and moved to a new Mita campus. The IB runs from kindergarten, but the Diploma is brand new, with its first results in 2027, and the school takes no Grade 12 entry.
Read the TIS guide →The school that takes Japanese most seriously, with daily lessons across nine levels and a native-speaker track to a Grade 9 thesis. It ends at Grade 9, so it is a foundation rather than an all-through school, and every family plans a move at fourteen.
Read the Nishimachi guide →An all-boys Catholic school running the IB Diploma, which it has offered since 1979, on a large rebuilt campus. It teaches no Advanced Placement despite what directory sites claim, takes no Grade 12 entry, and gives Catholic applicants admission priority.
Read the St Mary's guide →An all-girls Catholic school and the first all-girls IB continuum school in Japan, running all three programmes to strong Diploma results. Its kindergarten is co-educational, so boys attend to age six, and girls continue to Grade 12. St. Mary's is the boys' companion nearby.
Read the Seisen guide →Families come to Tokyo from across Asia, and the choice they face is wider than a ranking. It is whether they want the American, Advanced Placement path or the IB, a large suburban campus or a small central one, a single-sex school or a co-educational one, and, for a Taiwanese family, whether an English-medium international school or a Taiwan-curriculum school in Mandarin fits the child better. This guide is built to make those distinctions clear rather than to rank the schools, because for a real family the right answer depends on the child and the family's own situation, not on a league table.
We teach families remotely from Taipei across roughly eight countries, and we already work with families in Japan, though our Japan experience to date is in Kansai rather than Tokyo. We have no affiliation with any school in this guide and no referral arrangement with any of them, which is what lets this page set them side by side plainly. What we help with is the same whichever way a family decides: readiness for an entrance assessment where a school sets one, the academic English these schools assume, and, for families staying in Japan, keeping a child's Japanese and, where they want it, Chinese growing alongside.
Our Student Coordinator speaks with relocating families regularly, often before a posting is confirmed, and can help you work out which schools fit your family, what each one asks at entry, and how to prepare a child for the assessment. We work with families remotely from Taipei. We start by listening.
We cover schools a family relocating to or living in Tokyo would realistically weigh, chosen for the spread of curriculum, district, and character rather than as a ranking, and Tokyo is one of many cities in our Explore Schools guide. In a metropolitan area this large no shortlist is complete, and we add schools as our coverage grows. School figures are drawn from each school's own published materials, in Japanese yen and not converted, and checked September 2026. Where a school publishes no figure, this guide says so rather than estimating. We take no referral or affiliate arrangement with any school in this guide.
Published September 2026 by Harland Academic Leadership. Each individual school guide carries its own update date. We refresh this Tokyo index when coverage expands or when school-level facts change materially. Two facts on this page are dated for a reason: The British School in Tokyo moved to the IB Diploma from August 2025 with its first IB results due in 2027, and Tokyo International School's first Diploma cohort also graduates in 2027, so both schools' IB records are noted as not yet established.