Papers the elementary school must seal: the report, the transcript, the envelope

Several junior highs ask the elementary school to write a report and seal it. You cannot write that page yourself. You also cannot open it to check. Keio Shonan Fujisawa's April 2027 returnee guidebook is the clearest set of rules in the pack read for this article. Other schools ask for a different packet. The Tokyo public combined schools' report is a separate article.

What you hand the elementary school, for Keio SFC

Keio's returnee exam wants its own 調査書 (chōsasho, school report). You give the current elementary school three things, at the time you apply:

• the school's blank report
• a long-3 envelope (長3封筒) with Keio's label already stuck on
• the sheet of notes for the person who fills the report (調査書作成上の留意事項)

The school writes it, seals it, and gives it back. You then post it with the rest of the application. Two sentences in the guidebook make the seal the whole point:

開封すると無効となります。

校長公印のないものは無効となります。

If the envelope has been opened, the report is invalid. If the principal's official seal is missing, the report is invalid.

Parents fill every other form, in blue or black pen that does not erase. Correct a mistake with a double line, a correction seal, and the new words in the margin. The report is the exception: the elementary school fills it, not you.

If the child was at a school abroad and Keio's form cannot be completed, or a section is blank, attach copies of transcripts that show the learning from April 2025 onward. Number each copy so it matches the school-history form. If the only missing piece is the grade 5 attendance record, you do not have to attach a transcript for that gap. A certificate of enrolment from the school abroad is not required.

When it has to arrive

Web registration at Keio can start on 2 Nov 2026. The papers themselves must arrive between 1 Dec and 14 Dec 2026, by registered mail (簡易書留) only. There is no window. From outside Japan, use EMS or another service with tracking. You print the address label from miraicompass after you have paid the ¥30,000 exam fee, in colour, on white A4, and you stick it on a 角形2号 envelope. If you are posting from abroad, that label goes on the inner envelope.

Keio does not email you when the packet arrives. You watch the tracking number. The exam ticket becomes printable on 22 Jan 2027, after the school has matched the registration to the papers. A packet that is late, or a report that was opened, means there is no ticket.

The exam fee is not returned, and neither are the papers, once they have been sent.

The page the family writes, and the page the school writes

Keio also wants an activity report (活動報告書). That one is yours. From grade 4 onward, pick one of three areas: something sustained at home, something at school, or something outside both (a club, a lesson, a volunteer group). Column A is the outline and any performance, prize or presentation. Column B is the parent's view of the child's role, how long it lasted, and what the family had to do with it. The elementary school does not write this page. Do not ask the teacher to.

A different school asks the elementary school for something else

Gakushuin boys' returnee guidebook, for a child already back in Japan, says the Japanese elementary school's transcript is not required. It wants the overseas school's transcript or report for the last year before the return (or, if the child is still abroad, the last year before the application). It also wants the school's own certificate of the time abroad, signed in principle by the parent's employer. The parent cannot be the certifier. Those papers must arrive by 20 Nov 2026. The web form closes at 23:59 on 15 Nov.

Hosei 2's returnee round (exam 10 Jan 2027) uses two of its own forms: an overseas-stay certificate and a returnee questionnaire, printed from the school site. The employer prepares the certificate. You post them by recorded mail (特定記録). The web application closes at 16:00 on 18 Dec 2026. A postmark later than the deadline day is refused, whatever the reason. The office will not take the envelope at the window.

The Kawasaki municipal combined junior high uses yet another report, its form 2. The elementary school enters grade 6 marks as they stand at the end of the first term (the second term, if the school has three terms), matching the official record (指導要録, shidō yōroku). The family mails it, with the application, by registered post. Documents posted 5–7 Jan 2027 are accepted, and a postmark on 7 Jan still counts. That report is not Keio's form. A teacher who has just sealed Keio's envelope has not thereby done the Kawasaki one.

What goes wrong

Asking the elementary school in the week of 1 December. The teacher may need the notes sheet, a meeting, and the principal's seal, and the principal may be out. Opening the envelope "just to check the name" makes Keio's report invalid. A transcript from the school abroad that arrives after 14 Dec does not get a second chance in this guidebook. Sending Hosei's packet by ordinary mail, or walking it to the office, is a packet the school has said it will not accept.

Names are a separate trap. Write the name the elementary school uses on its register, and the same romanisation on the web form. Keio's school-history pages ask for every school through March 2027, including holidays, because a holiday month in which the child was still on the roll counts as time enrolled.

What to do now

• In November, give the elementary school Keio's blank report, the labelled envelope and the instruction sheet, if Keio is on your list. Ask when the principal can seal it.
• For each other school, read whether it wants this school's form, an overseas transcript, or an employer's letter. Do not assume one sealed envelope serves all of them.
• Post Keio's set so it arrives by 14 Dec 2026, keep the tracking number, and do not open the report.
• If the child was abroad for part of grade 5 or 6, order the overseas transcript before the autumn holiday at that school.

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