American School in Japan ( ASIJ ; ) is an international private day school located in the city of Chōfu , Tokyo , Japan . The school consists of an elementary school , a middle school , and a high school , all located on the Chōfu campus . There is also an early learning center ( nursery-kindergarten ) for children aged 3 – 5 located in the Roppongi Hills complex in downtown Tokyo . Instruction is in English and follows an American-style curriculum . About two thirds of the school 's students are the children of citizens of a wide variety of countries who are on temporary assignment in Japan , and the remaining one third are Japanese students who speak English . The campus is fenced in , resulting from heightened security measures taken after the September 11 attacks , with campus surroundings including the Nogawa Park and the neighborhood of Tama . The '' Good Schools Guide International '' called ASIJ " an impressive school , not only for its size and facilities but also for its strong sense of where it is going . " < ! -- < ! -- Officially founded in 1902 , The American School in Japan was started by a group of women who recognized the need for a school among the growing foreign community . Beginning life in rented rooms in the Kanda YMCA , the Tokyo School for Foreign Children , as it was then known , quickly attracted a growing numbers of students from around the world and soon needed to move to a more permanent home in Tsukiji . In 1921 , the school moved to a new 3 story building in Shibaura . The building was deemed unsafe after the Great Kanto earthquake , and classes resumed on the Friends Mission compound in Shiba , in the former home of the Bowles family
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
American School in Japan