The parent interview: what three April 2027 guidebooks actually print
保護者面接について学校が募集要項に書いていること（2027年度）
- Applies to
- All of Japan
- Source last checked
- , Open the Japanese source
- Official source
- 2027年度 生徒募集要項 帰国生入試（横浜雙葉中学校）
Some junior highs interview a parent. Some print a sentence that says they do not. The April 2027 guidebooks read for this article describe who is in the room. They do not print the questions. Keimei Gakuen's parent pre-interview is a different appointment, already written up on its own, and it is not repeated here.
Yokohama Futaba: one parent, with the child, about ten minutes
Futaba's returnee exam is on Saturday 5 Dec 2026, for a small number of girls. There are two methods, a test-score method and an essay method. Both include an interview after the written paper. During the paper the parent waits in the waiting room. Then:
面接は、保護者 1 名と本人をご一緒に行い、時間は 10 分程度です。
The parent brings indoor shoes. Nobody needs a packed lunch. The school does not list the questions. Both methods use this interview, so choosing the essay paper does not remove the parent from the room.
The written half differs. The test-score method is 45 minutes of maths (100 points) plus an English or French certificate converted to points (B1 is 50, A2 is 45, A1 is 40, and Eiken grade 4 is 30). The essay method is the same maths paper plus 45 minutes to read a passage and write about 400 characters in Japanese (50 points). You choose one method when you apply. You cannot apply to both, and you cannot switch later.
Keio Shonan Fujisawa: a parent comes on the second day
Keio SFC's returnee exam has two days. 2 Feb 2027 is the written paper (four subjects, or Japanese, English and maths). An escort is optional. If you come, you stay out of the school building until the third period ends, and you agree a meeting place beforehand.
The second day, 4 Feb 2027, is only for children who passed the first day. It is an interview with a parent, and a PE practical. Girls go before boys. The guidebook says one parent is enough:
面接は保護者同伴ですが、保護者はお一人でも結構です。
Bring the exam ticket, indoor exercise clothes, indoor sports shoes, and a bag for the clothes. Writing tools are not needed. The collection time, and the rest of the plan, are in a note called 二次試験受験心得. First-round passers read it on the website from 13:00 on 3 Feb. The password is emailed to the miraicompass address between 22 and 29 Jan 2027. This article did not open that password note, so it does not describe the questions or the length of the interview. What the public guidebook does say is that a parent is in the interview, that one parent is enough, and that PE is the same morning.
Gakushuin boys: the parent interview is not held
Gakushuin boys' returnee exam is on 4 Dec 2026. The day's notes say, as item 1:
保護者面接は実施しません。
The interview that does happen is a group interview of the boys, worth 100 points. When you apply you choose A or B. Both start from a shared interview. A then weights English ability. B asks about life abroad, including language. You are done around 15:00, once the interviews finish. One parent may enter the building with the child. A waiting room is set aside, and lunch is eaten there. Indoor shoes are not required. The parent is present in the building and absent from the interview.
Mita's returnee guidebook is shorter still. For the international class the interview is in English and Japanese, and it is the child only. For the international-science class it is in English, and it is the child only. A parent is not in that room.
How to prepare when the school prints no questions
What you can rehearse from those pages is practical. Decide which parent will go, and that the other will not, at Futaba and at Keio. At Futaba, bring indoor shoes for the adult. At Keio, have the exercise clothes ready for the second day before the first day's result, because the second day is the next morning. At Gakushuin, the boy chooses A or B on the application, and that choice is the thing to talk about at home: English, or life abroad.
The child's language on the day is also printed. Futaba does not say the interview is in English. Gakushuin's A interview is where English ability is weighted, and the written Japanese essay is a separate 25 minutes. Mita splits English and Japanese by class. If you need the interview in a particular language, the page to trust is that school's, and a school that is silent has not promised a language.
What it costs
None of these guidebooks adds a fee for the interview. It is part of the exam you already paid for: ¥25,000 at Futaba, ¥30,000 at Keio SFC, ¥30,000 at Gakushuin, ¥25,000 at Mita. Those exam fees are not returned. Keio's second day does not ask for a second fee in this guidebook.
What goes wrong
A parent who has practised answers for a school that has printed "we do not interview parents". A second parent in the Keio interview after the guidebook said one is enough. A Futaba morning with no indoor shoes for the adult, or a lunch you did not need to pack, and a parent who expected to sit beside the child during the maths paper. The parent is in the waiting room until the paper ends.
What to do now
- For each returnee or international exam on your list, find the word 面接 and write down who attends.
Your child's dates, not the general ones
Add your child and ward. The timeline does the rest.