Hakuba International SchoolTuition, Admissions & Curriculum
William Michihiko Akiyama
William Prep
Nagano, Japan
Located in Hakuba Valley near the 1998 Winter Olympics site, this boarding school only launched full-time operations in 2022, running its own "Human Flourishing Curriculum. "
Last reviewed by William Prep: 2026-09-24
HIS launched full-time operations in August 2022 after summer programmes beginning in 2015. Located in Hakuba Valley, Nagano Prefecture, it runs its own "Human Flourishing Curriculum," combining project-based learning with social-emotional learning (SEL). It serves Grades 7-11 as of 2025-26, expanding to Grade 12 by 2026-27.
At a Glance
| Full Operations Launched | August 2022as of: 2026-09-24 |
| Accreditation Status | WASC accreditation "in process" (candidate stage)as of: 2026-09-24 |
| IB Reference | Not found in any source consulted in currently available public information not publicly confirmedas of: 2026-09-24 |
| Grade Range | Grade 7-11 (expanding to Grade 12 by 2026-27) (not independently confirmed)as of: 2026-09-24 |
01Tuition & Fees
Fees: A Reported First-Year Total of About ¥7. 30M (High School, Boarding, Overseas Family)
Third-party sources report 2025-26 fees of a ¥25,000 application fee, and a registration fee of ¥500,000 (overseas families) or ¥300,000 (domestic families). Tuition is reported at ¥3,740,000/yr (Middle School) or ¥4,230,000/yr (High School), with boarding adding ¥2,040,000/yr plus a ¥500,000/yr maintenance & equipment fee. Boarding is reportedly the primary model here — using overseas-family, High School, boarding figures gives a first-year total of roughly ¥7,295,000. No dedicated fee page matching these figures was located on the school's own site in currently available public information.
academic year: 2025-26
| Application Fee | ¥25,000 |
| Registration Fee (overseas families) | ¥500,000 |
| Registration Fee (domestic families) | ¥300,000 |
| Tuition (Middle School)MS | ¥3,740,000 |
| Tuition (High School)HS | ¥4,230,000 |
| Boarding Fee (annual, optional) | ¥2,040,000 |
| Maintenance & Equipment Fee (annual, boarding students only) | ¥500,000 |
| Estimated First-Year Total | ¥7,295,000 |
Includes: application, registration, tuition, other — Excludes: Excludes boarding fees for day students. This uses overseas-family, High School, boarding-student figures as the base, since boarding is reportedly the primary model here.
02Admissions
| Cycle | 未確認 not publicly confirmed |
University Entrance Eligibility in Japan
| School-accreditation route | No not publicly confirmedWASC accreditation is still at candidate stage — formal accreditation hasn't been granted yet. |
| Student-qualification route (IB, etc.) | No not publicly confirmedThe school does not appear to offer the IB or another curriculum that would trigger the individual-credential eligibility route. |
WASC accreditation is still at candidate stage, not yet formally granted. The IB is not offered. Families with specific Japanese-university plans should confirm the actual eligibility route directly with the school — and factor in that the school itself is only a few years old.
What Japanese Families Should Know
Questions to Ask the School
1.When is WASC accreditation expected to become formal?
Why this matters: Public information does not establish this clearly; confirm it directly with the school.
2.Where have graduates of the "Human Flourishing Curriculum" gone on to university?
Why this matters: Public information does not establish this clearly; confirm it directly with the school.
03Curriculum
WASC Candidacy, Not IB Candidacy
" Checking the school's own site directly, what's actually stated is that WASC accreditation is "in process" (candidate stage) — no mention of the IB appears anywhere. The "candidate" status itself was real, just for the wrong framework: WASC, not the IB.
Key Point
WASC accreditation and IB authorisation both have an intermediate "candidate" stage, but they're entirely separate frameworks. WASC evaluates a school's overall educational quality and feeds into the school-accreditation eligibility route; IB authorisation is permission to run a specific curriculum (PYP/MYP/DP). Reading "candidate" and assuming it refers to whichever framework you expected can genuinely mislead a family's planning.
04School Features
What Makes This School Distinctive
Its own "Human Flourishing Curriculum"
Neither IB nor A-Level — a school-original project-based curriculum
The school's own page describes this original curriculum directly.
A distinctly non-standard option, hard to compare directly against established curriculum frameworks.
Who Might Find This School a Good Fit
Might suit — Families open to a new educational model outside established curriculum frameworks
Might not suit — Families planning around the IB Diploma or another established university-eligibility route
Explore Other Schools
- UWC ISAK Japan (ISAK)Karuizawa
- American School in Japan (ASIJ)Chōfu
- Tokyo Metropolitan Kokusai High School (Kokusai-kō)Meguro-ku
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