I'm considering taking a position and relocating to Japan. I will be taking my family with me. If we do move, we want our kids to integrate. I've friends who went to international schools abroad and they regret not integrating with the culture.
My oldest son is 7 years old. Do Japanese schools have a JSL program for kids?
As a rule, no, they do not, although there are a few select exceptions, mostly in foreigner-heavy areas.
Beware that even if your children learn Japanese, you as parents will have an even tougher time, since all communication from the school will be exclusively in Japanese. I thus would not recommend this unless at least one parent is a native speaker, and preferably has already been speaking Japanese with the children at home. And this is why nearly all expat families opt for international schools.
