Elementary school entry and o-juken (小学校受験) in Japan for foreign families小学校入学と小学校受験（お受験）
Most children start at the public elementary school for their address. Some sit a private or national school's entrance round the autumn before. Both paths are here, with the dates and what they cost.
Who: 5-year-old class to grade 2
What it is
小学校受験 (shōgakkō juken), which families call お受験 (o-juken), is an entrance round for a private elementary school taken in the autumn before the child turns six.
Public elementary school in Japan is open to a child of foreign nationality who will live in the municipality.
Dates and deadlines
From the rules this site's timelines run on. Your child's own dates, by birth date, are on their path page.
Pre-school-entry health check (就学時健康診断, shūgakuji kenkō shindan) 就学時健康診断
to Approximate
The usual dates each yearEach ward sets its own dates.
Every child starting elementary school next April gets a free health check at a local school. The ward mails the date in mid-October; by law it is held by the end of November.
Source: 学校保健安全法施行令 第1条
School-entry notice (就学通知, shūgaku tsūchi) arrives 就学通知（入学通知書）
to
The usual dates each year
The ward must tell you your child's public elementary school and entry date by January 31. Children without Japanese nationality may get a school guide (就学案内) instead and need to apply for a place.
Source: 学校教育法施行令 第5条
After-school club application (学童クラブ, gakudō) for April 学童クラブ 4月入会申請
to Approximate
The usual dates each yearEach ward sets its own dates.
Working parents apply each autumn for the ward's after-school club for grades 1–3 (some wards go further). The window is set by the ward, roughly mid-October to mid-December.
Source: 令和9年度（令和9年4月入会）学童クラブ入会申請について
What it costs
Published figures only, each with its source. An average is not a bill.
- Kindergarten, all 3 years: ¥532,177 at public schools, ¥1,038,087 at private schools
- Elementary school, all 6 years: ¥2,197,261 at public schools, ¥10,457,700 at private schools
- Average spent per child, school costs and spending outside school together, from the Ministry of Education's survey of children's learning costs for fiscal 2023.
Source: 令和5年度子供の学習費調査 調査結果の概要（文部科学省、令和8年1月16日差替）表9
Read: What parents paid from kindergarten through high school: the fiscal 2023 survey
Free tools
- Your child's path, by birth date
Which school year your child is in, and every window and exam date from hoikuen to high school.
- Route budget, to university
Kindergarten through high school from the ministry survey, then the national university fee standard.
Every guide for this step
29 guides, grouped by topic. Each one is checked against an official Japanese source.
International and foreign schools
O-juken: private and national elementary schools
- National elementary schools in Tokyo: one school's lottery round, and what the next school publishes itself
- Private elementary entrance (o-juken): what one school's April 2027 round asked, and when
- University of Tsukuba Elementary School: April 2027 entry is a lottery, an assessment, then a second lottery
- What a private elementary entrance round asks of a five-year-old and the parents: two Tokyo schools' April 2027 guides
- Private elementary fees: the national average, and what one Tokyo school charges after a yes
Kindergarten
- Bunkyo ward private kindergartens, April 2027: forms from 15 October, applications from 1 November, and what the ward pays
- Kindergarten fees and the free-fee cap: what ¥25,700 covers, and what you still pay
- Kindergarten, daycare, a certified children's centre, and a small local programme
- Lessons (習い事) at kindergarten age: what families actually spent
- Sumida ward public kindergartens: the November 2026 application for April 2027
- Toshima ward public kindergartens: apply from 1 to 23 October 2026
After-school care (学童, gakudō)
Development support
Starting public elementary school
- A foreign child starts at a public elementary school by applying to the municipal board
- In a Japanese school the grade follows the child's age, not the old school's grade
- Meguro: the school entry notice for April 2027 is due in mid-December 2026
- Minato ward: the preschool-entry health check is at your address's school
- Setagaya: a child of foreign nationality enters a ward elementary school by application
- The entrance ceremony is an April morning, and the school entry notice is handed in that day
- The Japanese school year starts in April and the long break is summer
- The new-parents' briefing is where the school hands you the list and the bank form
- The public elementary school follows your address, unless your ward runs a choice round
Money and supplies
People also search
What parents type into Google or ask ChatGPT about this step, and the page on this site that answers it.
In English
Questions parents ask
What does the o-juken exam test?
That is the pattern across Tokyo: a paper component, a behaviour-in-a-group component, often a movement component, and the school keeps the detail to itself.
What is a national elementary school (国立小学校)?
A national elementary school (国立小学校, kokuritsu shogakko) is a school attached to a national university. Each school writes its own notice: its own area, its own number of places, and its own way of choosing children.
Which school year will my child be in?
When a child joins a Japanese elementary or junior high, the grade is set by age. The Ministry of Education's guidebook for foreign children says children born from 2 April through 1 April of the next year are in the same grade.
Can a foreign child go to a Japanese public elementary school?
Public elementary school in Japan is open to a child of foreign nationality who will live in the municipality.
When is the health check before school entry (就学時健康診断)?
Usually to (approximate), at a local school. Your ward mails the date.
Source: 学校保健安全法施行令 第1条
When does the school entry notice (就学通知) arrive?
to . If nothing has come by , call your ward's school-affairs section (学務課, gakumuka).
Source: 学校教育法施行令 第5条
When do we apply for an after-school club (学童クラブ) for April?
Usually to (approximate). Each ward sets its own window.
Source: 令和9年度（令和9年4月入会）学童クラブ入会申請について
How much does elementary school cost in Japan?
Over 6 years of elementary school, families spent ¥2,197,261 per child at a public school and ¥10,457,700 at a private one, counting juku and lessons too (the Ministry of Education's survey for fiscal 2023).
The other steps
- Before this step: Hoikuen applications (hokatsu)
- After this step: Chūgaku juken (junior-high entrance)
- Every step, from hoikuen to university
What to do next
- Find your child's path: the free juken check
Free, no sign-in. The route that fits, what it costs and the deadlines on the way.
- See the season pass
Verified dates and fees for every school, a reminder before each deadline, unlimited questions.