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Paper short abstract

This paper examines how Japan’s growing cultural diversity affects education, focusing on bicultural children and their families. Based on a study of the French international school in Kyoto, it explores parental choices, tensions, and strategies in navigating national and international schooling.

Paper long abstract

Over the past few decades, successive Japanese governments have implemented policies aimed at opening Japanese society to long-term immigration, including the introduction of various types of skilled professional visa, increasing the number of international students who can access the labour market and transition to long-term residence, and creating opportunities for naturalisation. These policies have contributed to a steady increase in the number of foreign residents in Japan as well as in international marriages. As a result, a sizeable group of Japanese citizens with one foreign parent has emerged. Often informally referred to as hafu, these children are born and raised in Japan, consider it their native country, and speak Japanese as their first—and sometimes only—language. Nevertheless, they are frequently treated as foreigners or outsiders within their own society.

This situation is particularly problematic in the context of schooling, as the Japanese education system continues to struggle to adapt to increasing cultural diversification and to provide an inclusive environment for all children. In response, some families turn to alternative educational pathways, notably international schools. These institutions function as spaces of intensive cultural contact and as sites where tensions within bicultural families become visible—tensions related to children’s identity formation, the values conveyed through education, the challenges and limitations of alternative schooling compared to the Japanese model, and the potential impact of these choices on children’s future trajectories.

Drawing on a case study of a small international school in Kyoto that caters primarily to children from Franco-Japanese families, this paper examines the implications of Japan’s cultural diversification in the field of education. Focusing on parents’ perspectives, it analyses their views on international education, the choices they face, the tensions these choices create within families, and the strategies they develop to support their children’s ability to navigate and succeed within two cultures.

Key words: Japan, migration, international school, secondary education, biculturalism