About JCIS

JCIS exists to promote, support and sustain quality English medium schools serving the international community in Japan through an educational framework which is international in both style and substance.

The Japan Council of International Schools (JCIS) is a not-for-profit General Incorporated Association (ippan shadan hōjin) that currently includes thirty international schools operating in Japan. Although our member schools collaborate and share common values, each school operates completely independently of the others.

 We organize a variety of professional learning opportunities for member school heads and other staff throughout the school year, including the annual JCIS Leadership Conference for senior and middle leaders, as well as targeted online and in-person workshops with outside consultants in focus areas such as child protection/safeguarding, inclusion, and legal and regulatory issues. Some of these events are also open to non-members.

On a day-to-day basis, heads and other staff at JCIS schools communicate with each other regarding a wide array of issues of common interest, such as changes in Japanese employment regulations, development of school policies, appropriate precautions to take against health emergencies, experience (good and bad) of service providers, and so on. JCIS has also proved to be an invaluable network during times of crisis, such as the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 and the COVID 19 pandemic.

Schools applying for membership to JCIS must meet a number of important criteria including stability, continuity, professionalism and an explicit commitment to internationalism. See our Membership section for details.

Above all, JCIS is a collegial and collaborative organization that exists for the betterment of its members and all international schools in Japan and to the benefit of the parents who choose them and the children who attend them.