If you’re a high school student interested in gaining international experience, exploring a new culture, and building real-world skills, summer internships in Japan can be a uniquely enriching opportunity. Beyond travel, internships allow you to step into professional environments and understand how work, culture, and collaboration come together in a global setting.

Imagine spending your summer in cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka, working with organizations, participating in structured programs, or engaging in project-based experiences. Picture contributing to real tasks, learning workplace etiquette in Japan, and collaborating with peers from around the world. Summer internships in Japan for high school students combine career exploration with cultural immersion, offering a perspective that goes far beyond the classroom.

How do you choose the right summer internships in Japan for high school students?

It’s important to know that traditional internships in Japan are often structured around university students, meaning high school–specific opportunities are usually offered through organized programs, short-term placements, or academic experiences with industry exposure rather than direct company internships.

These experiences often include workshops, site visits, collaborative projects, and mentorship. You might explore areas like robotics, business, media, or international relations while also developing cross-cultural communication skills and adaptability.

You’ll learn from experienced professionals and educators, collaborate with peers from around the world, and gain a deeper understanding of how industries function in Japan. Along the way, you’ll build confidence, broaden your global perspective, and strengthen your academic and career profile.

To help you get started, we’ve curated a list of 15 Summer Internships in Japan for High School Students. They’ve been selected for their hands-on learning opportunities, cultural immersion, and ability to provide meaningful early exposure to international careers.

For adjacent opportunities, you can consider summer programs in Japan.

15 Summer Internships in Japan for High School Students

1. Internship in Japan by SEKAIA Inc. – Summer Program

Location: Tokyo and other major Japanese cities (customizable)
Cost: Starting from ~$3,000
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; usually 10-20 students per seasonal session
Dates: Summer placements typically June – August (minimum 2 weeks)
Application Deadline: Rolling; apply at least 3-4 months before intended start
Eligibility: High school students (typically ages 15-18); open to international students

SEKAIA is one of Japan’s longest-running international internship placement organizations, operating since 1988. Their Summer Work & Study Program combines a customized internship placement at a Japanese company with Japanese language classes, accommodation in Tokyo, and structured cultural activities. Sectors available include IT, finance, journalism, event management, fashion, robotics, game design, and trade, with over 30 industry fields on offer.

You attend business manners training prior to their placement to prepare for Japan’s distinctive professional culture. The program includes 24-hour emergency support, health and accident insurance, and a certificate of completion. No Japanese language skills are required for most placements. A letter of recommendation is provided upon completion.

Why it stands out: It is one of the only Japan-based internship programs that explicitly accepts students from age 17, with genuine industry placements and a structured professional development curriculum built around Japanese business culture.

2. Immerse Education’s Tokyo Summer School

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Cost/Stipend: Varies; summer school scholarship available through our bursary programme
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; an average of 7 participants per class
Dates: 2 weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school students aged 15-18; open to international students

The Career Insights Programme is one of the more flexible summer internships in Japan for high school students, giving participants the chance to explore careers in major global industry hubs, including Tokyo. The Summer track is designed to give students direct exposure to real-world workflows and professional environments in one of the world’s most innovative cities.

You engage in project-based learning with established companies, attend interactive workshops, and visit offices, factories, and headquarters. The program also includes weekly 1:1 career coaching sessions and personalized feedback on your resume and overall profile. You’ll present your findings to industry experts at the end of the program. You can find more details about the application here.

Why it stands out: You’ll gain direct industry exposure, build a professional network across global markets, and receive a certificate you can include in your college applications and work profile.

3. Keio University Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB) – High School Student Intern

Location: Tsuruoka Town Campus (Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan)
Cost/Stipend: Paid, amount not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approximately 40 students per year
Dates: Year-round (typically starts in May and runs through the academic year, including the summer break)
Application Deadline: Typically late March to early April (for a May start)
Eligibility: High school and technical college students (typically grades 10-12); not open to international students

As a high school intern at the Keio University Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB), you step directly into a professional research environment focused on cutting-edge bioscience. You will explore complex topics like metabolomics, bioinformatics, and molecular biology alongside leading scientists.

During the program, you actively conduct hands-on laboratory experiments, analyze real metabolic datasets using specialized software, and present your scientific findings to researchers. The internship gives you access to state-of-the-art analytical equipment usually reserved only for graduate students and industry professionals.

Why it stands out: It treats teenagers as genuine research assistants contributing to authentic, high-level scientific discovery within a premier Japanese institute.

4. Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) – SEED Program

Location: OIST Campus, Onna-son, Okinawa, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; ~20 to 80 students per session
Dates: Year-round (Flexible; scheduled based on school requests; typically weekdays)
Application Deadline: At least 3 months prior to the desired visit date
Eligibility: Students from Super Science High Schools (SSH) and science-oriented schools in Japan; not open to international students

The OIST SEED Program invites you into an international research environment to explore advanced STEM topics like molecular biology, neuroscience, and geology. During your visit, you will attend career talks by active scientists, tour cutting-edge laboratories, conduct hands-on experiments like DNA separation, and deliver your own science presentations for expert feedback.

A defining feature of this initiative is its immersive English-only setting, which allows you to interact directly with global researchers. Through these diverse activities, you build essential skills in scientific observation, experimental inquiry, and cross-cultural academic communication. This experience gives you a realistic preview of a professional scientific career.

Why it stands out: It treats high school students as active global researchers rather than passive learners, successfully bridging the gap between standard secondary education and world-class scientific inquiry.

5. The University of Tokyo (UTokyo) – Global Science Campus (GSC)

Location: The University of Tokyo, Komaba Campus (Meguro-ku, Tokyo)
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; Stage 2 “Growth Course”: 70 students; Stage 3 “Development Course” roughly 15-20 students
Dates: Year-round; intensive workshops and research activities in August
Application Deadline: May 15th
Eligibility: Students in their 1st or 2nd year of high school (Grades 10-11), 4th or 5th year of secondary education, or 1st or 2nd year of technical college (Kosen) as of April; not open to international students

The University of Tokyo Global Science Campus (UTokyoGSC) is a competitive, two-stage STEAM program designed to create the next generation of global scientists. In this program, you will explore interdisciplinary topics spanning Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. During the first phase, you attend advanced academic workshops and draft an original research plan.

If selected for the second stage, your activities shift to conducting hands-on research in UTokyo laboratories and presenting your academic findings at scientific conferences. By the end, you will have mastered vital skills in research methodology, critical problem-solving, academic writing, and scientific communication.

Why it stands out: It empowers you to bypass standard high school curricula and actively contribute to real-world, cutting-edge academic research under the direct mentorship of top-tier university professors.

6. Sakura Science High School Program (SSHP)

Location: Tokyo, Japan (Ookayama Campus and Yushima Campus)
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; approximately 30-40 students per session
Dates: Typically 1 week in late July or early August
Application Deadline: Varies by country (usually March – April for the summer session)
Eligibility: High school students (Grades 10-12) with high academic achievement in STEM; open to international students from eligible countries in Asia, Africa, and others

The Sakura Science High School Program is a fully-funded, short-term exchange initiative by the Japanese government that invites you to explore Japan’s advanced scientific landscape. During the program, you will dive into STEM topics spanning cutting-edge science and technology, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biomedicine, aerospace engineering, and disaster resilience.

As part of your journey, you will attend exclusive masterclasses taught by Nobel laureates, conduct hands-on experiments in world-renowned laboratories like JAXA, and engage in cultural exchange activities with local Japanese students. The program’s truly unique feature is its unparalleled, cost-free access to Japan’s top-tier researchers and state-of-the-art government facilities.

Why it stands out: It gives teenagers the extraordinarily rare opportunity to receive direct mentorship from Nobel Prize-winning scientists while immersing themselves in Japan’s premier technological hubs.

7. CyberAgent – High School Visit Program

Location: Tokyo, Japan (Shibuya Scramble Square Office) or Online (Zoom/Google Meet)
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approximately 20 students per session for in-person; no specific limit for online
Dates: Year-round (Monday-Friday); flexible dates based on request
Application Deadline: Rolling; applications accepted 2 weeks to 3 months before the desired date
Eligibility: Junior high and high school students (Grades 7-12); online participation possible for international students

In this program, you step directly into the daily operations of a leading Japanese internet company. You will explore core tech topics like digital advertising, mobile gaming, and media broadcasting. During your visit, you will tour their modern Shibuya offices, listen to real employees discuss their career paths, and participate in interactive Q&A sessions about the industry.

The program gives you direct access to young IT professionals inside their actual workspace rather than a traditional classroom. Through this experience, you will learn practical career-planning skills, grasp basic digital business mechanics, and understand corporate tech culture.

Why it stands out: It bridges the gap between high school education and the real tech world by letting you see exactly how a massive digital ecosystem operates from the inside.

8. Tsukuba University GFEST Program

Location: Tsukuba University and local research institutions, Ibaraki, Japan (with online components) 
Cost/Stipend: Free (Participants pay for their own transportation, meals, and overnight accommodation if required) 
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: July to March (9 months) 
Application Deadline: Mid-June 
Eligibility: High school students and highly motivated 9th graders residing in Japan; international students living outside the country are ineligible because the program requires regular physical attendance at facilities in Tsukuba City and operates entirely in Japanese

Tsukuba University mentors teenagers to cultivate advanced science and technology skills through an intensive 9-month curriculum. You select between 2 distinct tracks based on their academic goals: conducting independent research or deeply exploring specific scientific fields. You attend interactive lectures and collaborative group work sessions focusing on entrepreneurship, societal problem-solving, and cross-cultural communication.

You visit respected research institutions around Tsukuba City to observe professional scientific operations directly. You conclude the experience by presenting their accumulated research data during a formal presentation session. Applications will start from May this year. 

Why it stands out: Teenagers interact with international college students and run personalized science experiments under the direct supervision of university professors.

9. Google Japan – Mind the Gap Initiative

Location: Google Japan GK, Shibuya Office (Shibuya Stream) and Virtual (Google Meet)
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; approximately 15-50 students per session
Dates: Summer sessions typically occur during school holidays (late July to August). Standard sessions are held Tuesdays-Thursdays throughout the year, excluding the Obon season
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school students who identify as women/girls; open to international students

Google’s Mind the Gap program in Japan is an initiative designed to encourage female high school students to explore computer science and STEM careers. You will dive into topics like software engineering, current technology trends, and the realities of working in the tech industry. During your visit, you will participate in hands-on computational workshops, take guided tours of the Google Tokyo office, and engage in panel discussions with female software engineers.

The program core mission is to close the gender gap in tech by directly connecting you with successful female role models in a corporate environment. Through these experiences, you will build essential problem-solving skills, career planning strategies, and the confidence to pursue a future in technology.

Why it stands out: It goes beyond standard classroom coding to provide an immersive, behind-the-scenes look at daily life inside one of the world’s most innovative tech companies.

10. Hands On Tokyo – Teen Volunteer Program

Location: Tokyo, Japan (Minato-ku and various project sites)
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 10-20 (Teen Advisory Board); 30-50 (Youth Summit participants)
Dates: Year-round (Specific summer service projects occur in July and August)
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school students (typically ages 15-18); open to international students

The Hands On Tokyo Teen Volunteer Program empowers you to actively support diverse, underrepresented communities across the city. You will engage with vital topics ranging from social welfare and special needs advocacy to environmental conservation and poverty relief. As a participant, you might find yourself assisting with local beach cleanups, teaching practical skills to visually impaired individuals, interacting with seniors at nursing homes, or organizing arts and crafts for children in orphanages.

What makes this initiative unique is its highly bilingual, youth-led structure, allowing you to pitch, design, and manage your own community impact projects. Through these hands-on experiences, you will build essential real-world skills in project management, cross-cultural communication, and leadership.

Why it stands out: It bridges the gap between international and local students in Japan, giving teenagers the rare autonomy to actually lead and execute impactful social initiatives rather than just serving as background helpers.

11. Second Harvest Japan – High School Volunteers

Location: Tokyo (Chiyoda-ku warehouse) and Saitama base
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; typically 5-15 volunteers per activity shift
Dates: Year-round
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High School students (Minors may need parental consent; age 15+ generally accepted); open to international students

Second Harvest Japan offers an excellent volunteer program where you can actively help fight food insecurity while building your community service experience. In this program, you will learn about the realities of food waste and poverty in Japan.

Your main activities will include checking expiration dates to sort donated food, packing emergency food boxes for families in need, and helping prepare meals for the Harvest Lunch in Ueno Park. One of the program’s unique features is its highly diverse, bilingual environment that welcomes English speakers. By participating, you will develop strong teamwork, basic logistics, and communication skills while making a tangible difference.

Why it stands out: It allows you to directly tackle the hidden issue of food poverty in Japan through immediate, hands-on action rather than just observation.

12. United Planet – Remote Internship Japan Track

Location: Remote (Japan-based projects)
Cost/Stipend: Between $800-$2,300 depending on duration; merit-based and need-based scholarships are available; NSHSS members receive a 10% discount and are eligible for specific $250 scholarships
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; typically individualized placements or small groups
Dates: Flexible/Year-round; Summer tracks generally run for 4-8 weeks between June and August
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school students (minimum age 16), university students, and professionals; open to international students

United Planet offers one of the few remote options within summer internships in Japan for high school students, connecting participants with project-based work in education, community development, public health, and environmental sustainability. The Japan Track links students with initiatives addressing social challenges in Japanese communities through structured work led by a local coordinator.

Although the internship is remote, participants collaborate with local professionals on projects that yield tangible, Japan-based outcomes. This program is ideal for students who cannot travel but seek substantive engagement within a Japanese professional environment.

Why it stands out: It is one of the few remote programs that delivers actual community-level results in Japan, allowing students to contribute meaningfully without the need for international travel.

13. Habitat for Humanity Japan – Campus Chapters

Location: Local school campuses (Japan-wide)
Cost/Stipend: Approximately $500-$630 program donation for regional builds; plus airfare/personal expenses
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; ~40 chapters nationwide (~3,000 members); Build teams typically consist of 12-30 students
Dates: Late July – August
Application Deadline: Rolling for chapter membership; typically 3-5 months prior for summer Global Village builds
Eligibility: High school or university students (minimum age 15/16 with parental consent for builds); open to international students

In this program, you tackle topics like housing inequality, poverty alleviation, and disaster recovery. The program’s unique feature is its entirely student-led structure, empowering you to take ownership of real-world humanitarian initiatives rather than just following adult instructions.

Throughout the school year, you will organize local fundraising events, run community awareness campaigns, and physically participate in local disaster relief efforts or overseas house-building projects. By managing these projects from the ground up, you develop practical skills in leadership, cross-cultural communication, and project management. Ultimately, you gain a strong sense of civic responsibility while actively helping vulnerable communities.

Why it stands out: It uniquely bridges the gap between local classroom advocacy and direct, hands-on physical volunteering both in Japan and abroad.

14. EnergyMag – Remote Research Internship

Location: Remote
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; cohort size not specified
Dates: Flexible terms; Quarter-time from 1-9 months; half-time from 2-8 weeks
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors and seniors; 3.25+ GPA; international students are welcome to apply

EnergyMag offers flexible remote internship placements to high school students interested in energy storage, sustainability, and environmental technology areas in which Japan is a global leader, particularly in battery technology, hydrogen fuel cells, and nuclear energy policy.

You are assigned a company, technology, market, or activity related to Japan’s energy ecosystem, guided by a mentor, and produce an analysis report that may be published on the EnergyMag platform. The quarter-time academic year internship runs 1–9 months; the half-time summer version runs 2–8 weeks. The program is structured to develop research and professional communication skills in a low-overhead, flexible format.

Why it stands out: It is one of the few remote internships with a specific focus on energy storage, a sector where Japan holds significant global relevance, combined with a mentored research and publication process that produces a tangible deliverable.

15. RIKEN BDR Hands-On Life Science Workshop

Location: RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR), Kobe Campus, Kobe, Japan 
Cost/Stipend: Free (Participants pay for their own transportation) 
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: 1 day during the summer (usually in August) 
Application Deadline: Details not available on the official website
Eligibility: High school students residing in Japan; international students living outside the country are ineligible because the administration requires physical attendance and conducts all activities strictly in Japanese

The RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research invites teenagers to spend a full day exploring professional life science concepts inside official government laboratories. You extract and analyze your own DNA to decide specific genetic traits, such as your body’s ability to break down alcohol.

You operate complex laboratory equipment like polymerase chain reaction machines and microscopes under the direct supervision of professional biologists. Everyone concludes the workshop by chatting directly with the scientists to evaluate future college majors and potential careers in biology. No details are available on the official website for the application form.

Why it stands out: Local teenagers spend a full day conducting real genetic tests on their own DNA inside an official government biology laboratory.

Let Your Summer in Japan Shape What Comes Next

A summer in Japan can do more than strengthen your profile, because it can reshape how you think about learning, ambition, and your place in the world.

That is what makes summer internships in Japan for high school students so valuable, blending professional exposure, cultural immersion, and personal growth in one memorable experience.

As you adapt to new workplaces, social customs, and ways of thinking, you build confidence, resilience, and a broader perspective for the future.

Ready to turn one unforgettable summer into bigger global possibilities? Explore our Study Abroad blogs for ideas, inspiration, and guidance on what comes next.