Tokyo private junior-high fees, and the Reiwa 8 tuition grant

Tokyo publishes two different money facts that families mix up. One is the metropolitan government's list of what Tokyo private junior highs charged in the first year. The other is a tuition grant run for the Tokyo government by the Tokyo Private School Foundation (東京都私学財団). Both were read on 9 October 2026. A third number, the education ministry's ¥1,128,061, is the average yearly school cost of a child at a private junior high anywhere in Japan, including trips, uniforms and commuting. It is not the Tokyo first-year average below.

The first-year bill, Reiwa 8

On 18 December 2025 the Tokyo government released first-year payments for Reiwa 8, the school year that started in April 2026. The survey covers 184 Tokyo private junior highs, leaving out schools that were closed. A first-year payment (初年度納付金, shonendo nōfukin) means tuition, the entrance fee, a facilities fee, and other payments written in the school rules. The exam fee (検定料, kenteiryō) is listed beside them as a reference. It is not inside the total.

Where a school charges different fees for different courses, each course is counted as its own row. On that basis the averages use 210 rows for the fees, and 209 for the exam fee.

	Reiwa 7	Reiwa 8	Change
Tuition for the year	¥514,983	¥524,818	+¥9,835
Entrance fee (once, at entry)	¥265,296	¥263,929	−¥1,367
Facilities fee (once, at entry)	¥32,670	¥29,238	−¥3,432
Other payments, per year	¥220,438	¥230,049	+¥9,611
First-year total	¥1,033,387	¥1,048,034	+¥14,647
Exam fee, for reference	¥24,138	¥23,895	−¥243

Of the schools in the survey, 51 (27.7 percent) raised the first-year total, 3 (1.6 percent) lowered it, and 130 (70.7 percent) left it unchanged. The highest total among schools still recruiting was ¥2,117,800 at Ueno Gakuen's international course. The lowest was ¥668,000 at Hachioji Jissen.

Tuition and the "other" line are charged every year. The entrance fee and the facilities fee are charged at entry.

The attached school-by-school list also has a column marked 寄附学債 (kifu gakusai, a donation or a school bond). "有" in that column means the school asks for one. The press release's definition of the averaged total does not describe that column. Hiroo Gakuen's own 2027 guide, a separate document, asks families for a facilities donation of ¥100,000 a unit and requests two or more units. It also says a donation in the year of entry is generally outside the donation tax deduction. Ask the school what its column requires.

The Reiwa 8 tuition grant

The foundation's page for the metropolitan grant (私立中学校等授業料軽減助成金, shiritsu chūgakkō tō jugyōryō keigen joseikin) is income-blind:

所得制限はありません。

For Reiwa 8 the grant is ¥100,000, plus a temporary ¥20,000, so the cap is ¥120,000 per child for the year. The cap is also the tuition the family actually pays. If a school scholarship already covers every yen of tuition, there is nothing for the grant to pay and the child is outside the scheme. Other scholarships can be used as well; you declare them, and the same ¥120,000 cap still applies to tuition you actually bear. The grant is not an entrance-fee refund and not a facilities-fee refund.

You can receive it if both of these are true.

• The child and the applicant have lived in Tokyo continuously from 1 May 2026 until the day you apply. The page says some moves are treated as exceptions, including a move out of Tokyo for the new school or a school-approved period abroad, and it tells you to call.
• On 1 September 2026 the child is enrolled in one of the school types named below. The school may be outside Tokyo.

Either parent with parental authority may apply, including a parent who is not the household head and not the higher earner. One application per child. If one parent lives in Tokyo and the other is posted away, the Tokyo parent applies. If both parents are abroad, the FAQ says the papers differ and tells you to call. The payment account must be in the applicant's name. There is no paper form. You apply online, after the child has entered, once each school year. A child still in elementary school cannot file this year's grant, and a missed year cannot be claimed later.

Schools classed as 各種学校 (kakushu gakkō), including international schools and foreign schools, are outside the grant. The FAQ names the schools inside it: a private junior high, a private special-needs junior-high department, the later years of a private compulsory-education school, and the earlier years of a private six-year secondary school.

You upload a residence record (住民票, jūminhyō) for the whole household, showing the head of household and how people are related, issued within three months of the application, with no My Number on it. If a number is printed, black it out. The record has to show a Tokyo address as of 1 May 2026. The FAQ's own example: a move onto the Tokyo register on 10 June 2026 is outside the scheme. A family-register (本籍) line is optional.

The Reiwa 8 window is Tuesday 1 September 2026, 09:30, through Thursday 15 October 2026, 23:59. An application still unsent when the window closes is refused. The site is down for maintenance on Sunday 13 September and Sunday 11 October, from 01:00 to 07:00. Read the notice the school handed out before you start. Results arrive by email in late December, and the money is paid in one sum to the applicant's account. A missing paper delays the payment. If tuition is in arrears, part or all of the grant may be paid to the school and put toward that bill. The centre's phone is 03-5206-7808, weekdays 09:15 to 17:00.

The FAQ says this text is the Reiwa 8 edition and that the next year may change.

What to do now

• A fee average and a grant cap do not decide whether a school will offer your child a place.