If no school says yes: Tokyo's second-round list, and why the 2026 one is not the 2027 plan
都内私立中学の第二次募集（令和8年度の公表の読み方）
- Applies to
- Tokyo
- Source last checked
- , Open the Japanese source
- Official source
- 令和8年度都内私立中学校の状況【第二次募集】（東京都、2026年2月2日）
Most Tokyo private junior highs fill their places in the first days of February. A smaller group then opens a second round (第二次募集, daini-ji boshū) for children who do not yet have a place they will take. Tokyo publishes that list as a news release, from a survey by the Tokyo private junior and senior high school association (東京私立中学高等学校協会). The release that is on the metropolitan site today is the one from 2 Feb 2026. It is the April 2026 intake. It is not the plan for April 2027.
What the 2 Feb 2026 release said
The survey date printed on it is 19 Jan 2026. It counted 19 schools, every one of them offering only 若干名 (jakkan-mei, a small number, not a fixed quota):
| Schools | Places | |
|---|---|---|
| Boys' schools | 0 | none listed |
| Girls' schools | 11 | a small number at each |
| Coeducational schools | 8 | a small number at each |
The association's page for the same list says the metropolitan government published it from the association's survey, and that you should keep checking because a school can still change its plan. The metropolitan page says the same: later changes are posted by the association, and the time of day, plus the actual application papers, are questions for the school.
The shape of that appendix, all of it for February and March 2026, shows what a second round tends to look like. A few examples, each of them already past:
- Kanda Jogakuen (Chiyoda, girls): a small number, application deadline 5 Feb 2026, exam 6 Feb 2026, choose two subjects from Japanese, maths and English, result the same day. A further small number with a deadline of 9 Feb and an exam on 10 Feb.
- Kunimoto Girls (Setagaya): three separate small rounds across the rest of February 2026, mixing Japanese and maths, Japanese and English, or English, plus an interview.
- Koishikawa Shukutoku (Bunkyo, girls): rolling, applications until 12 Mar 2026, exam until 13 Mar, Japanese, maths and an interview, result on the day of the exam.
- Shutoku (Katsushika, coeducational): rolling until 20 Feb 2026, pick one subject from Japanese, maths and English, plus an interview.
- Tokyo Mirai (Adachi), listed as a 学びの多様化学校: a small number, documents and an interview, exam 24 Feb 2026, result 25 Feb.
The footnotes under both pages of the appendix say to confirm the papers and the hour with the school. A rolling deadline can close:
願書締切日が随時の学校については、募集を終了する場合がありますので、各校にお問い合わせください。
No boys' school was on that list. A boy without an offer was looking at the coeducational rows, or at a girls' school only if the school enrols boys, which these did not.
What to do for April 2027
The Reiwa 9 list, for entry in April 2027, is a new document. It is not written by adding a year to the dates above. In 2026 the metropolitan government published the list on 2 February, the week of the first exams, from a survey taken in mid-January. Watch the same two places in February 2027: the metropolitan press page, and the association's news page. Until that release exists, a school that told you "we might have a second round" has not given you a date.
When the new list appears:
- Phone the school the same day. 若干名 can already be gone, and a rolling row can close without a new announcement.
- Ask what the paper actually is. On the 2026 list, many rows were Japanese and maths, sometimes with English or an interview, and one school was documents plus an interview. Your child's February papers may not match.
- Ask the hour. The published list often gives only the calendar day.
- If you get an offer, the enrolment deadline is that school's, and it can be the same day. The exam-week article is about paying or declining inside those windows.
- If you decline a first-round offer you do not want, do it as soon as you know. Waiting-list movement at other schools depends on people releasing places. That does not create a second-round seat by itself.
The local public junior high is still there if no private school offers a place you will take. Chuo ward's filing, for families who do have an outside offer, is in the after-acceptance article. A family with no outside offer follows the ward junior high path instead, and tells the elementary school that is the plan.
What it costs
The 2026 list does not print exam fees or tuition. Ask the school when you phone. Budget for a last-minute application fee and, if you pass, an entrance fee on a short clock. A rolling exam in March can also mean the child has already started preparing for the ward junior high's entrance ceremony. Ask the elementary school what it needs from you if the plan changes in March.
What goes wrong
Copying a date from the February 2026 appendix into a 2027 diary. Travelling to a school on the strength of "若干名" without phoning. Assuming a boys' school will appear because one did in some earlier year: on this release, none did. Missing a same-day result because you expected a letter the following week. And waiting for a second round that, at many schools, is never opened at all. Nineteen schools opened one in February 2026. The rest of Tokyo's private junior highs were not on the list.
What to do now
- Keep the public junior high as a real plan until a private school you will attend has been paid for.
- Bookmark the metropolitan press page and the association's news page. Look at them on the first week of February 2027, not before, for the new list.
- If the first week of February 2027 ends with no offer you will take, phone only the schools on that year's list, and ask whether the small number is still open.
- Do not reuse a 2026 deadline. The release you want will say 令和9年度 on it.
Your child's dates, not the general ones
Add your child and ward. The timeline does the rest.