If you are planning to study Japanese in Japan, ISI Language School（ISI日本语学校）is one of the largest and most visible options in the country. The school group was founded in 1977 in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture, and today runs nine Japanese-language campuses in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nagano, alongside two vocational colleges and one university under the ISI Group umbrella. This guide pulls together what an international applicant actually needs to know — the programmes on offer, who can apply, what the published fees look like, and how the student-visa application flows — using only the official website isi-education.com as the source, accessed on 5 August 2026.
ISI Language School: What Kind of School Is It?
ISI Language School is a private Japanese language school group, not a university: its core business is intensive Japanese instruction for international students, most of whom intend to move on to a Japanese university, vocational school or job. The official site describes the group as operating seven Japanese language schools, two vocational schools and one university, with the founding philosophy “Create Your Global Dreams with ISI” and a stated mission of developing globally minded human resources.
That structure matters for planning. The language courses themselves sit under the ISI Language School brand, while the vocational schools — Tokyo Business and Language College in Ikebukuro and Nagano Business and Language College in Ueda City — serve students who want to continue into a professional programme, and Beijing Language and Culture University Tokyo College offers Chinese-language programmes. In other words, ISI Language School is one layer of a larger education group, and some students deliberately use the language year as a stepping stone into the group’s own vocational or university pathways.
Academic and Career Japanese Courses
The main long-term offering at ISI Language School is the Academic/General Japanese Course, a student-visa programme of six months to two years. Classes are divided into eight levels from beginner to advanced, mapped against the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) bands N5 to N1 and CEFR levels A1 to C1, with roughly 200 class hours per 10-week level. The site quotes a class capacity of approximately 20 students per class, and a homeroom-teacher system in which each class has a designated teacher for academic and life-consultation matters.
From Intermediate II upwards, students can choose elective classes — twice a week, 90 minutes each — covering graduate-school preparation, EJU (Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students) preparation, JLPT preparation, practical conversation, and job hunting. A separate “Top University Preparation Class” for students aiming at top-level universities and graduate schools runs at the Shinjuku Main, Shinjuku Prime, Takadanobaba Academic Pathway, Osaka and Kyoto campuses, with entry by selection test after completing Beginner I.
The Career Japanese Course is the group’s employment-focused track. It teaches business-level Japanese from beginner level, including presentation, e-mail and workplace communication, and is offered at the Takadanobaba Career Pathway and ShibuyaHarajuku campuses, both of which the site describes as among the few Japanese language schools in Japan specialising in career support. The site claims that more than 300 international students find employment in Japan each year across the ISI Group — a self-reported figure that should be read as the school’s own claim rather than an independent statistic.
Short-Term, Evening and Other Programmes
For students who do not need a student visa, ISI Language School runs a Short-Term General Japanese Course with a minimum stay of two weeks, using the same level system as the long-term course. Enrollment for absolute beginners is at the start of the April, July, October and January terms; experienced learners can enter mid-term after a level check test. A Short-Term Career Japanese variant follows the career-track classes.
The Evening Course, offered at the ShibuyaHarajuku campus, runs three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) from 19:10 to 20:50 Japan Standard Time in a hybrid format that mixes in-person and online students in the same class. It targets roughly N5 to N3 level learners, caps classes at about 12 students, and requires a minimum of four weeks. The school also lists a Specified Skilled Workers’ Employment Support Program for students aiming at a Specified Skilled Worker visa type 1 — the site says qualification requires passing the skills evaluation test and JLPT N4 or higher in the relevant field — plus a private-lesson option. Its summer and winter programmes are seasonal extras; note that the site states the 2026 Summer Program has been cancelled.
Entry Requirements and the Student Visa Path
Entry requirements at ISI Language School are light on published hard numbers: the site does not state a minimum JLPT score for admission, and beginners with no Japanese are explicitly accepted — the FAQ advises learning hiragana before arrival to make classes easier. Instead of an exam, applicants take an online placement test before entry, and class assignment is announced around the day before classes begin.
The real gate is the visa. Student-visa enrollment opens four times a year — January, April, July and October — with the Nagano campus limited to April and October and the Osaka campus offering no January long-term intake. The site’s approximate application deadlines are early August of the previous year for the January intake, late October of the previous year for April, early February for July, and late April for October. Because the school applies for the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) at the Immigration Services Agency on the applicant’s behalf, and the site advises allowing roughly six months for the whole student-visa process, the practical rule is to start at least half a year ahead of the intended term.
The published flow runs: submit application documents and pay the application fee (by bank transfer, Flywire or WeChat Pay), the school applies for the COE, an invoice for tuition and fees follows once the COE is issued, the applicant pays, then takes the online placement test, receives the COE and Letter of Admission, and finally applies for the visa at a Japanese embassy or consulate before travelling. Student-visa holders may work part-time up to 28 hours per week with the standard permission. Applicants on temporary visitor or working-holiday visas follow a simpler path with a 30-day-before-start deadline and a shorter document list (application form, health declaration, passport copy and photo, plus a residence card copy if already in Japan).
Costs: Published Fees, 2026/27 and 2027/28
ISI Language School publishes full fee tables on its site, and the figures differ by campus, so the honest summary is a range rather than a single number. For the first year of the long-term Academic/General course in JPY, the site’s April 2026 – March 2027 table shows a visa application fee of 33,000, an entrance fee of 77,000 and a material fee of 44,000 at every campus. Tuition runs from 620,000 at Nagano, through 708,000 at Ikebukuro, Takadanobaba Academic Pathway, Osaka and Kyoto, to 740,000 at Shinjuku Main and Shinjuku Prime and 750,000 at the Takadanobaba Career Pathway and ShibuyaHarajuku campuses. Facility operation and management fees — which the site notes include student insurance — add between 60,000 (Nagano) and 150,000 (Shinjuku Prime). The resulting first-year totals are 994,000 at Shinjuku Main, 1,044,000 at Shinjuku Prime, 942,000 at Ikebukuro, Takadanobaba Academic Pathway, Osaka and Kyoto, 984,000 at the two career campuses, and 834,000 at Nagano.
The site’s April 2027 – March 2028 table shows increases across the board: the visa application fee rises to 40,000, the entrance fee to 100,000, the material fee to 55,000, and first-year totals range from 905,000 (Nagano) to 1,115,000 (Shinjuku Prime), with the other campuses between 1,015,000 and 1,065,000. The short-term course (one term, ten weeks) for 2026/27 has an initial total of 228,000 to 253,500 in Tokyo, 201,000 at Nagano and 238,500 at the career campuses; the Evening Course initial total is 111,000. Note that tuition for a following year may increase during enrollment, so treat these as the school’s current published bands, valid per the dated tables, rather than a locked price.
Accommodation and Living Costs
For ISI Language School students, accommodation is arranged through the school’s partner network, and the fee page publishes separate price lists. For long stays (one term), a student-house single room in Tokyo ranges from 315,000 to 417,000 JPY depending on room type, with a Kyoto single at 327,000 and Nagano at 255,000; twin rooms run 245,000–249,000 in Tokyo and Kyoto and 189,000 in Nagano. For short stays (four weeks), the site lists student-house singles from 154,800 in Tokyo and 135,200 in Kyoto, homestay singles at 210,900 for 2026/27 (219,000 for 2027/28), guest-house singles from 154,800 in Tokyo and 146,400 in Osaka, and weekly-mansion singles from 213,600. Homestay includes two meals and has a maximum standard stay of 12 weeks; student houses have shared kitchens and bathrooms and exclude meals; the weekly mansion rooms come with their own kitchen and bath.
The school’s FAQ gives its own monthly living-cost guidance in JPY: roughly 110,000 to 180,000 a month in Tokyo (rent, food and utilities), 100,000 to 160,000 in Osaka, and 55,000 to 130,000 in Kyoto and Nagano. It also advises arriving with at least 200,000 yen in cash, since opening a Japanese bank account can take up to six months.
Scholarships and the Application Timeline in Practice
ISI Language School lists several scholarships, all of which carry requirements. Its own ISI Principal’s Award is 50,000 JPY for students enrolled a year or more with excellent grades and attendance; the Perfect Attendance Award is 30,000 JPY for a year without absence. External awards administered via the school include JASSO scholarships of 30,000 JPY per month (48,000 at the Nagano campus), the Kyoritsu Maintenance Scholarship at 60,000 JPY per month, LSH Asia at 20,000 JPY per month, the Nitori International Scholarship Foundation at 50,000 JPY per month, and an international human-resource network award of 10,000–30,000 JPY per month depending on part-time work hours. The site notes the programme is subject to change without notice.
In practical terms, a prospective applicant to ISI Language School should: pick a campus and term, start the paperwork at least six months before the target intake (earlier for January and April terms, whose deadlines fall the previous autumn), expect to pay the visa application fee at submission and the balance after the COE is issued, book accommodation through the school at the same time as the school application, and take the online placement test before arrival. All figures in this guide come from isi-education.com as accessed on 5 August 2026; fees, deadlines and availability change, so the current official pages remain the authoritative check. If you would like help matching your Japanese level, goals and budget against ISI Language School’s campuses and the wider Japanese language school landscape, our advisers can talk through the options with you.