The History of Hamamatsu International School and Yokohama-Minami International School

We set up Hamamatsu International School as unincorporated non-profit school in 2015, Yokohama-Minami International School in 2016, respectively.

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The reason for setting up these schools is to serve the multicultural population in these cities.  Even though both Hamamatsu city and Yokohama city are culturally diverse cities with a large population from various ethnic groups, there are no schools shaped by the needs of the minority children and their families.

Japanese public schools are originally designed to assimilate children into Japanese society based on the myth of Japan's social homogeneity.

　Japan’s School Education Law (1947) states that all Japanese children must undergo compulsory education. However, non-Japanese citizens are exempt from compulsory education. While they are free to enter public schools if they wish to, they are also free to leave or not to enter in the first place. Therefore, Japanese public schools are not obligated to take into account their academicabilities or deficiencies and challenges with Japanese language. Minority children are treated like guests who are there temporarily. This in turn makes them feel isolated and alienated. 

 Given such a strong assimilative pressure at school with weak cultural influence of the family, the  value of the Japanese way for these children become stronger and stronger. Japanese cultural norms and adopting a Japanese ethnic identity are internalized at the expense of their own cultural norms and ethnic identities.