Imagine spending your summer sketching manga in Tokyo, exploring anime studios and museums, learning digital storytelling techniques, or collaborating with students from around the world while navigating one of the most visually dynamic countries on the planet. Film & animation internships in Japan for high school students can focus on animation and illustration, while others combine filmmaking, cultural immersion, language learning, or media production with broader travel experiences across Japan.

For high school students, these programmes can offer an early look into creative industries while also building independence, adaptability, and cross-cultural communication skills. Whether you’re interested in anime production, documentary filmmaking, screenwriting, or visual storytelling, Japan provides a setting that feels both academically engaging and creatively energizing.

What film and animation internships are available in Japan for high school students?

These programs range from structured summer academies and pre-college seminars to cultural immersion experiences and hands-on creative workshops. Some are hosted at universities or specialized institutions, while others are run through international education organizations focused on language learning, media studies, or artistic development.

You might spend your days developing storyboards, learning animation software, studying Japanese cinema, or visiting neighborhoods like Akihabara and Harajuku that have become global centers of pop culture and visual media. Other programs emphasize broader cultural immersion through homestays, collaborative projects, excursions, and interaction with local students and professionals.

To help narrow your search, we’ve put together a list of 15 film & animation internships in Japan for high school students. 

For adjacent opportunities, consider summer programs in Japan and the film studies program.

15 Film & Animation Internships in Japan for High School Students

1. TBS Summer Work Experience

Location: Japan; exact meeting place shared after course assignment; Course D meets at Aobadai Station
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: July 24th; July 28th; August 5th; August 12th; August 19th
Application Deadline: July 3rd
Eligibility: Students enrolled in high schools nationwide in Japan; application submitted only by a school teacher or education-institution representative; individual students and guardians cannot apply directly; not open to international students

In this program, you engage with screen production through TBS’s high-school career-experience courses, especially the video-entertainment technology and drama-production options. In the technology course, you work in groups at Tech Design X to make a music-program experience that combines real and virtual elements, with frontline development staff leading each group. In the drama course, you visit TBS Midoriyama Studio, hear from professionals, choose costumes for roles, and help complete a mock drama using real equipment and studio spaces.

The verified listing supports television, news, radio, drama, and announcing exposure, but it does not list an animation-production activity. You gain practical insight into camera work, directing, performing, production roles, broadcast workflows, and professional collaboration.

Why it stands out: It gives high school students free, hands-on access to professional TBS staff, real broadcast/studio settings, and multiple production-focused course choices rather than only a lecture-based company visit.

2. Immerse Education’s Tokyo Film & Animation Summer School

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Cost: Varies by format; summer school scholarship available through our bursary programme
Dates: 2 weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: Multiple summer cohorts with rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school students aged 15-18; open to international students

Immerse Education’s Tokyo Summer School is one of the most career-focused film & animation internships in Japan for high school students, giving you direct exposure to real-world Film & Animation workflows and professional environments. Participants 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, and receive a certificate you can include in your college applications and work profile.

3. YIDFF Youth – Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival high-school team

Location: Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: Year-round; concentrated involvement during the biennial festival held each October
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High-school student enrolled at a school in Yamagata City or its neighboring municipalities; Japanese-language ability needed for team communication and on-site festival duties; not open to international students

In this role, you support Asia’s longest-running documentary film festival in Yamagata City, a UNESCO Creative City of Film. You meet regularly with peers from local schools to discuss documentaries, plan public screenings at community centers and after-school venues, and design your own posters and flyers.

During the biennial festival each October, you take on hands-on roles such as putting up venue posters, collecting tickets, attending workshops, and moderating Q&A sessions with visiting international filmmakers. You curate film selections and host café gatherings for high-school audiences, engaging directly with directors whose work screens in the International Competition and New Asian Currents programs. 

Why it stands out: It embeds high-school students inside the operations of Asia’s most prominent biennial documentary film festival, giving them the unusual responsibility of curating and producing their own public screenings.

4. Kineko International Film Festival – 33rd Festival Planning Volunteer

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Cost/Stipend: No program cost / 1,000 JPY daily transportation stipend; 1,000 JPY lunch stipend provided for shifts over 6 hours
Dates: March 1st – August 31st
Application Deadline: Recruitment aligns continuously with the program timeline
Eligibility: High school students capable of basic PC operations including Microsoft Excel and Word; international student eligibility is not explicitly stated

As a planning volunteer for the 33rd Kineko International Film Festival, you engage directly in the operational and business side of Asia’s largest children’s film festival. You gain practical workplace experience by brainstorming industry outreach strategies, researching potential sponsor organizations, and building comprehensive contact lists. By utilizing software tools like Microsoft Excel and Word, you assist the production team in drafting specific sponsorship proposals that support cinematic programming, live voice-over sessions, and animation workshops.

Working at the Tokyo headquarters, you collaborate with staff members to conceptualize events and organize inquiry forms for corporate partners. This role gives you an exclusive behind-the-scenes perspective on producing an international film and animation festival.

Why it stands out: It immerses volunteers in the pre-production workflow of Japan’s largest children’s film festival by treating them as vital members of the corporate sponsorship team.

5. KAWASAKI Shinyuri Film Festival – Citizen Staff / Volunteer

Location: Kawasaki City Art Center and around Shin-Yurigaoka Station, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: April – March; outdoor screening planned for early September; main festival planned for late October – early November; junior filmmaking workshop planned around November – December
Application Deadline: February 19th (in-person session); March 9th (online session)
Eligibility: High school students and older; minors need guardian consent; open to international students

In this program, you join a citizen-run film festival as a volunteer staff member supporting the planning and operations. You engage with film programming and event delivery through the festival’s main screenings, outdoor screenings, and junior filmmaking workshop activities.

The verified work context includes planning, operations, information-sharing through web tools, outreach through the official website and social media, and support for accessible screenings such as audio guide and Japanese subtitle initiatives. You gain practical exposure to how a local film festival connects filmmakers, audiences, guests, staff, and community partners.

Why it stands out: It offers high school–eligible students hands-on access to a citizen-led film festival where volunteers help build real public cinema events rather than only attending classes.

6. 26th Occupational Experience Seminar – Camera / Anime Voice / Film-Drama Acting Experiences

Location: Osaka Nanko ATC Hall, Osaka, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: December 15th
Application Deadline: November 16th for individual applicants; September 1st for school and group applicants
Eligibility: High school students; advance reservation required through either an individual or a school-group application; lottery selection applies when oversubscribed; conducted in Japanese at an Osaka venue, not explicitly open to international students

In this program, you will spend a single day at Osaka Nanko ATC Hall sampling film and animation professions through hands-on booths staffed by working professionals and senior students from partner vocational schools. In the cameraman booth, you handle professional-grade cameras of the type used in television and film, shooting people the way a working camera operator would on set.

At the voice actor station, you practice anime afureko (post-recording dubbing) using popular anime scripts, with instructors and upperclassmen coaching your delivery line by line. The actor station has you rehearse real film, drama, and stage scripts in character, and adjacent creative stations cover animation key-frame tracing, pen-tablet digital illustration, and VR creation.

Why it stands out: It bundles hands-on cameraman, anime dubbing, and screen-acting workshops with adjacent animator, illustrator, and VR creator stations into a single free day staffed by working film and animation professionals, all at one Osaka convention venue.

7. Hokkaido International Film Festival – Volunteer Staff

Location: Hokkaido, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: May – June
Application Deadline: Rolling until volunteer positions are filled
Eligibility: 16 years of age or older (high school students permitted with activity restrictions); residents of Niseko, Okhotsk, Tokachi, or Sapporo (residency requirement waived for subtitle creation role); available to adjust schedules during the festival period; not open to international students

As a volunteer for the Hokkaido International Film Festival, you support a multi-city cinematic event celebrating global film and animation. You engage directly with the festival’s operational workflow by assisting with venue preparation, managing screening logistics, and guiding international filmmakers. Through the media localization team, you use translation software and AI tools to create Japanese subtitles for foreign-language films.

For outreach, you shoot and edit promotional videos for social media platforms to expand the festival’s audience. Throughout the program, you develop practical skills in event management, digital marketing, and cross-cultural communication. This immersive role provides valuable behind-the-scenes exposure to the international film industry.

Why it stands out: It allows you to gain hands-on event operations experience while utilizing AI and translation tools to subtitle international films for a professional festival.

8. Cable TV Kani – Workplace Experience / Company Visit

Location: Kani, Gifu, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: Rolling year-round on weekdays
Application Deadline: At least one month before the preferred date
Eligibility: Elementary, junior high, and high school students for workplace experience; kindergartens, nurseries, schools, and groups for company visits; the application form asks for school/group details and participant count

In this program, you step into a community cable television station in Gifu Prefecture and engage with the everyday workflows of local video production at Cable Television Kani (CTK). The workplace experience places you alongside program production staff working on CTK’s original community programming, giving you a direct look at how a regional cable channel films, produces, and assembles its local on-screen content.

School and group visits offer an alternative route combining a guided studio tour with a hands-on announcer experience in front of the camera. You build practical familiarity with broadcast video workflows, studio environments, and on-air presentation inside a working local-media operation. Sessions are flexibly scheduled on weekdays in coordination with the CTK team.

Why it stands out: It gives high school students verified access to a real local cable TV workplace where program production, studio observation, and announcer-style media experience are officially offered.

9. Toho Gakuen Film School – Film Production Experience

Location: TOHO GAKUEN College of Film, Anime, and CG, Tokyo, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: Sunday sessions on May 24th, May 31st, June 7th, June 14th, June 21st, July 5th, July 12th, July 19th, and July 26th
Application Deadline: Rolling per session date
Eligibility: High school 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students; university students, working adults, and parents may also attend; open to international students

In this program, you spend a half-day Sunday session joining a hands-on film production workshop alongside current Film Production Department students. You work as a crew operating professional-grade cameras, lighting rigs, and sound recording equipment used in actual coursework, rotating through director, cinematography, lighting, and sound roles built around a prepared script. Sessions include guided tours of the school’s studios and equipment rooms while faculty explain the department’s two-year curriculum and the wider Japanese film industry.

On selected dates, you also use DaVinci Resolve for color grading or Adobe Premiere for editing, led by visiting professionals such as cinematographer Masanobu Takahashi and editor Fumiko Kikuchi. The day closes with individual consultations on admissions, student life, and post-graduation career paths.

Why it stands out: It places you directly on a working film shoot inside the school’s actual production facilities using the same professional cameras, lighting, and audio gear the two-year Film Production Department trains on, with current students and visiting industry cinematographers or editors guiding each crew role.

10. Toho Gakuen Film Techniques Training College – Animation / CG Production Experience

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: Select dates from May 24th to August 16th
Application Deadline: Rolling registration prior to each session
Eligibility: High school students; prospective college students; interest in animation and CG production; open to international students

In this program, you will explore one of the more technically focused film & animation internships in Japan for high school students through hands-on workshops in animation and CG production. Guided by active industry professionals, you will move through the animation pipeline from initial drawing to digital post-production. During the sessions, you will create digital models using industry-standard tools like Blender and practise hand-drawn style 3D character design.

You will also experience the cinematography side of animation by compositing special effects and working with actual production materials from theatrical and broadcast anime. Through these focused practical exercises, you will gain foundational technical skills in 3D modeling, rendering, and visual effects integration.

Why it stands out: It provides hands-on exposure to the entire animation pipeline by allowing students to practice compositing and 3D modeling using actual production materials from professionally released Japanese anime.

11. Tokyo Animation College – Open Campus Guest Day / Trial Class

Location: Tokyo Animation College, Tokyo, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: May 31st, June 28th, July 19th, and July 25th
Application Deadline: No fixed deadline; advance reservation is required
Eligibility: High school students only for Guest Day; advance reservation required; event intended for people considering admission, not guest-event-only attendance; open to international students

In this program, you participate as a prospective student in Tokyo Animation College’s reserved open-campus format. On Guest Day, you attend a guest talk, a school-features explanation, and then choose a course trial class or explanation/tour. For animation, verified trial options include beginner drawing work, learning what animators do, animation production-process guidance, computer work, digital drawing with a pen display and industry-used software, digital paint, 3DCG software, and MAPPA/A-1 Pictures special animation sessions.

The practical emphasis is anime/animation production, not live-action film. You gain introductory exposure to drawing workflow, CG/digital tools, and professional expectations.

Why it stands out: It combines a high-school-only reserved Guest Day format with an animation trial class that lets prospective students sample drawing, production, and digital/CG workflows tied to anime careers.

12. Cinecore High-School Short-Film Production Staff / Extras

Location: Tokyo and the Chiba area
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: Rolling participation in an in-progress youth short-film production; sessions run primarily on weekends; participation can be as infrequent as once every few months, with a one-month minimum commitment
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school students only; no prior film experience required; able to attend filming sessions in the Tokyo and Chiba area; interest in film production; not open to international students

In this program, you join an entirely high-school-run independent short film project organized by the student group Cine core, contributing either as an extra in classroom and walk-home scenes or as on-set production staff. Filming runs across the Tokyo and Chiba area, with the group based near Hinode Gakuen High School.

As an extra, you help build the realistic high-school atmosphere that anchors the coming-of-age story; as staff, you support on-set filming work alongside fellow teenage crew members. No prior experience is required, and you commit to a flexible schedule for one month, with sessions running mainly on weekends. The cast and crew are entirely high school students, giving you peer-led exposure to short-form live-action filmmaking.

Why it stands out: It places you on a fully teenage-run independent film set in Japan, where every cast and crew role on a coming-of-age short is filled by fellow high school students rather than industry professionals or adult mentors.

13. Anime Tokyo Station – Origami Animation Workshop

Location: Anime Tokyo Station, Tokyo, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: May 23rd
Application Deadline: No advance application required
Eligibility: High school students; limited to one session per participant; open to international students

As a participant in this hands-on workshop at Anime Tokyo Station, you step directly into the foundational principles of film and animation. You create brief animations by manually moving your own origami figures, exploring the mechanics of frame-by-frame movement. This focused training session teaches you how physical objects translate into dynamic on-screen motion.

Beyond the immediate workshop activities, you observe actual animation workflows by examining the facility’s vast archive, which houses nearly 50,000 production materials, including cels, intermediate drawings, and master tapes. You engage with interactive screens detailing the step-by-step production process from planning to final output. These practical experiences equip you with a concrete understanding of traditional animation techniques and creative visual storytelling.

Why it stands out: It provides an interactive environment to learn foundational frame-by-frame movement inside a cultural facility that archives tens of thousands of authentic anime production materials.

14. Tokyo International Film Festival: Teens Meet Cinema Workshop

Location: Tokyo Women’s Plaza, Tokyo, Japan
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: Eight-day workshop held August 4-7 and August 9-12, with the world premiere screening during the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, October 27th – November 5th
Application Deadline: No fixed deadline; interested families were directed to contact teens_meet_cinema@tiff-jp.net ahead of the August workshop
Eligibility: Junior high school students; able to attend all eight in-person workshop days at Tokyo Women’s Plaza in Shibuya; participation in the world premiere screening event held during the 38th TIFF; not open to international students

As a participant in TIFF 2025: Teens Meet Cinema, you join a cohort of up to 18 junior high school students at Tokyo Women’s Plaza for an eight-day filmmaking workshop led by documentary director Oda Kaori, whose work has screened at Berlinale, Rotterdam, and MoMA’s Doc Fortnight. Working alongside a professional film crew, you take a short film from concept to completed cut, gaining hands-on experience with cameras and the full live-action production process.

You think, communicate, and make creative decisions collaboratively with peers, shaping the story without adult interference. Through this immersive process, you build skills in visual storytelling, on-set teamwork, and media literacy.

Why it stands out: It pairs junior high school filmmakers with internationally recognized documentary director Oda Kaori and a professional film crew for an eight-day production cycle that culminates in a world premiere screening on the official lineup of the Tokyo International Film Festival.

15. Spil Video – Film Production Staff Volunteer 

Location: Japan; activity locations vary per shoot
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: Rolling participation; you set your own schedule around each shoot, with a minimum involvement of about one month and the option to join as infrequently as once every few months
Application Deadline: Rolling applications
Eligibility: High school or university student; interest in filmmaking; no prior experience required; able to attend in-person shoots in Japan and communicate in Japanese; not open to international students

In this program, you help crew with vertical short videos, short films, and longer-form projects. You can request a specific role across nearly the entire production pipeline, camera, microphone, lighting, assistant, producer, production coordination, makeup, location manager, screenplay, art, or promotion, with most preferences honored aside from the director position.

You gain hands-on exposure to on-set workflows, shoot logistics, and collaborative filmmaking alongside same-age peers in a beginner-friendly environment. You sharpen practical skills in video shooting and editing, design, photo editing, writing, and SNS marketing. Shoots take place at varying locations, and you can trial a session before formally joining.

Why it stands out: It places high schoolers directly into working film crew roles inside a peer-led student production company, letting you pick your own specialty across nearly every below-the-line department while building a real filmography from vertical shorts through feature-length work.

From Studio Visits to Creative Career Clarity

Studio visits, production workshops, and festival roles can show you how creative ideas become finished work through planning, teamwork, feedback, and technical skill.

The 15 film & animation internships in Japan for high school students listed here can help you explore anime, filmmaking, media production, and storytelling careers.

Use each experience to notice what excites you most: storyboarding, directing, editing, voice acting, cinematography, festival programming, or animation production.

Could one creative project point you toward a future career? Explore our Career Exploration blogs for guidance on skills, pathways, and possibilities.