How to become a foreign exchange student in Japan?
I think it’s great that you are thinking about this. Being an exchange student is an experience unlike any other! I am a 5-time host mom and volunteer with Youth For Understanding (YFU). Please forgive my bias towards YFU – when I have asked other exchange students why they chose YFU, they said they did some research and YFU (basically) gave them more bang for their buck. I’ll say more about YFU later. The first step to becoming an exchange student is giving it some good thought – which you have apparently done. Hopefully you have spoken with your parents and teachers as well. A universal (as far as I know) requirement for being an exchange student is that you are between the ages of 15 and 18.5 at the time of the exchange. YFU (and possibly other organizations) offers a “gap” or 13th-year program for newly-graduated students in addition to the standard programs. I would advise the next step to be researching and choosing an organization with which to travel. My biggest piece of advice
