Pre-school education includes kindergartens (幼稚園 yochien), day care centres (保育所 hoikusho), and “centres for early childhood education and care” (認定こども園 nintei-kodomo-en).

In relation to elementary and secondary education, typical institutions include elementary schools (小学校 shogakko) for elementary education and lower secondary schools (中学校 chugakko) and upper secondary schools (高等学校 kotogakko) for secondary education.

There are also schools for special needs education (特別支援学校 tokubetsu-shien-gakko) (departments of kindergarten, elementary, lower secondary, and upper secondary) for children and students with disabilities.

In addition, in 1998, it became possible to establish six-year Secondary Education Schools (中等教育学校 chuto-kyoiku-gakko) which combine lower and upper secondary education, and in 2016, it became possible to establish Compulsory Education Schools (義務教育学校 gimu-kyoiku-gakko) which combine elementary and lower secondary education.

For the upper division of Secondary Education Schools and upper secondary schools, there are also schools that offer part-time courses (定時制 teiji-sei) in the evening or at other specific times, correspondence courses (通信制 tsushin-sei) that offer distance education, and 高等専修学校 koto-senshu-gakko which is Upper Secondary Courses of Specialized Training Colleges (専修学校高等課程 senshu-gakko-koto-katei).

More information is available at the National Information Center for Academic Recognition Japan(NIC Japan) website.