2026 Japan Student Exchange

International Student Exchange to Omura, Japan

The nonprofit San Carlos Sister City Association (SCSCA) offers a homestay exchange experience in July with a Japanese family in Omura（大村市） where one or more family members speak English. Students live as extended family members and participate in normal family activities but are not required to speak Japanese. A home-hosted international exchange is a completely unique experience for most young people and exposure to new foods and different styles of family life is a cultural awakening that opens the mind, transforms perceptions, develops new thinking, and makes a lasting impression. 

SCSCA makes no charge for this exchange program but parents pay the cost of air travel of their student and a portion of the chaperones' airfare. The exchange dates are set well ahead of time. We'll advise all parents of the designated dates, flights, and times so they can book their students on the flights. All students must be on the designated flights and booking a different day, flight, or time without prior written SCSCA authorization (except if joining the family at the end of the exchange) disqualifies the student for exchange.

Each family is given contact information for other San Carlos students and their parents as well as for their child's Japanese host family and the City of Omura International Department. We encourage communication between parents as well as between students prior to meeting.  Students are expected to bring a gift for their host family. Additionally, students must have their own spending money for the trip ($250 recommended).

Students first experience city life in Tokyo, the country's capital, for a couple of days. After, they will head to Nagasaki to be met by bilingual Omura City employees and taken to their host family. Most weekdays bilingual Omura City employees take our students on interesting day trips to historical sites or for cultural activities. NOTE: It is possible for a student to join family at the end of the program as opposed to flying back to San Francisco.

In reciprocity, we require that each family sending a student to Japan host an English-speaking Japanese student for a similar period during July/August and there must be an adult, age 21 or older, in the household when the exchange student is there. If parents have a preference we try to match the gender; it’s not necessary for the Japanese exchange students to have their own bedroom unless the gender is different. It is necessary that the exchange student have his/her own bed.

Candidates must be in high school. The student must also be mature enough to benefit from and contribute to the exchange experience. The online application is due by December 1st and students must submit a single-page essay on why they wish to go, what they anticipate getting from the experience, and what they feel they would contribute. Every applicant is interviewed (moms and dads welcome) and selectees are advised in mid-January.

Upon selection, both students and parents must sign documents covering student deportment, medical aid, and a liability release. As original signatures are required, the original documents, NOT COPIES, must be mailed or hand-delivered, NOT EMAILED. Selectees are also required to attend a cultural orientation, usually a Sunday afternoon session.

Finally, each student is required to complete a questionnaire regarding their homestay as we seek to improve the experience.