If anyone that has had this experience can tell me, I'd much appreciate it.
Long story short: Do school in Japan that teach Japanese require student to have High School Diplomas? I know you obviously need one to apply to college, but looking on the internet I noticed most (if all?) simple schools of Japanese have the 12 years of education bla bla bla diploma as a requirement for admission. I thought it was kind of a weird thing.
Thanks!

I'm only guessing here, but I suspect that this requirement is closely related to the visa issue. If the school assits you in getting a visa, it will usually be a college visa (despite it being 'just' a language school). And for that, requiring 12 years of education does seem adequate.

If you don't need visa assistance (i.e. you plan to stay only short term, or can get a working holiday visa) I see little reason for the school to strictly adhere to the 12 years requirement. But Japan can sometimes be quite frustrating with respect to seemingly illogical and silly requirements..

Hey thanks for the answer! The thing is though, I did see somewhere that there is a "college visa" (requires 12 years of prior study) but also a "precollege visa". There even are preparatory school that say they don't require 12 years of study (and that you will be eligible for college in japan upon finishing those programs) thought I haven't figured out if they are only for those that have a high school of 10/11 years or if they are ok with people flat out not having a diploma.
That would mean you could get a visa (the precollege one maybe?) without a diploma, but there are no schools to go to?
Boy this is confusing.

If you skipped a grade or dropped out and got a GED (or the like) then that will qualify as the 12-year requirement. If in you country they count your schooling as "12 years" then it'll be fine in Japan, you'll just need some documentation to explain it away.

Vostranoid Wrote:Long story short: Do school in Japan that teach Japanese require student to have High School Diplomas? I know you obviously need one to apply to college, but looking on the internet I noticed most (if all?) simple schools of Japanese have the 12 years of education bla bla bla diploma as a requirement for admission. I thought it was kind of a weird thing.

It's a requirement of the Certificate of Eligibility application process. If you aren't going to go to a four-year university then you fall under the pre-college student visa. (The name is based on coming to study Japanese for a year or two before applying to a Japanese university.)

The Application for a Certificate of Eligability requires:

1. Application Form (here is the study one)
2. Photo
3. Return mail envelope
4. Supporting documents

The supporting documents for a pre-college student are:

1. Certification of admission from the language school in Japan.
2. A diploma and documentation certifying the [educational] career of the person concerned.
3. Documents certifying that the person concerned can defray all the expenses incurred during the stay in Japan.

So basically documentation proving that you've completed secondary education is a requirement of immigration and necessary to get your CoE. If you have questions on what is acceptable you should contact the nearest Japanese embassy.

all right people that clears it up. thanks a lot