K. International School Tokyo

Accreditation record

The International Baccalaureate lists K. International School Tokyo as an IB World School: a private, English-medium, coeducational day school, authorised for the Primary Years Programme on 21 January 2002 and the Diploma Programme on 30 June 2004.

The Council of International Schools (CIS) announced that KIST was re-accredited on 10 June 2024. CIS accreditation is an institutional quality-assurance process, not a comparative ranking of schools.

A ranking claim to read carefully

KIST's own school history records a #4 placement in the Global Top 100 IB Schools table published by IB-Schools.com, a private publisher, in December 2024 and December 2025. This figure comes from school-owned material, not an independent source, and it measures published exam performance only. It does not by itself speak to pastoral care, inclusion, facilities, or family fit.

What the school states about selection

According to KIST's own admissions material, the school receives many applications for limited places and screens all applications. Its stated criteria include English background from K2, prior fully English-medium schooling from Grade 2, sustained academic performance from Grade 2, references, personal statements from Grade 8, and evidence of family support.

The school's 2026–27 admissions handbook states that a waiting list exists only through Grade 10 for applicants who have passed admissions but have no immediate place, and that priority is not solely chronological: cultural background, gender and English level are named as balancing criteria. The school does not publish an acceptance rate or an annual applicant count.

Capacity on the Tokyo portal

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's international-schools portal lists KIST's total capacity as 720 and states that applicants must pass an entrance examination that includes an interview.

Size and nationalities as reported

KIST's 2025–26 School Profile reports 675 students and 39 nationalities, with 29% Japanese, and states that a very high percentage of students have dual nationality. The school's 2026–27 admissions handbook reports approximately 670 students representing around 40 cultural backgrounds, again noting a very high dual-nationality share. The current website instead cites approximately 700 students and over 50 nationalities, which indicates variation between reporting periods rather than a single fixed figure.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's international-schools portal (last updated 2025) lists the primary student nationalities as China, India, Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, and lists English and Japanese as instructional languages.

Reported IB Diploma results

KIST reports that its Class of 2026 achieved an IB Diploma Programme average of 42.7 out of 45, from 38 graduates, with 82% in the full DP and 100% attaining the diploma. It further states that seven students (23%) attained 45 points and 94% scored 40 or above.

These are the school's own figures; no independent source in the evidence corroborates them.

University destinations

The School Profile labels its university list 'University matriculations 2022–25' and states the list records final destinations rather than only offers. It names institutions but does not publish annual student counts per university, so the evidence cannot support any claim about how many students enrolled at a given named institution.

What a few public reviews say

Across two public review sites, three older parent reviews characterise KIST as academically oriented. Two framed that positively and one negatively, suggesting the academic emphasis is experienced as a matter of fit rather than a uniform positive or negative.

This signal is very limited: three reviews from a single theme, dated January 2022, with no update in the last 36 months. It should be treated as a weak indicator only, not as a settled picture of parent or student experience.

Recent changes

KIST's history records that its new Main Building opened in January 2024, its Enrichment Program commenced in April 2024, and its Intensive Support Program began in September 2024. These items come from the school's own history page.

Independently, the Council of International Schools re-accredited KIST on 10 June 2024.

Living arrangements

KIST states it is a day school and does not provide boarding or arrange host families. Applicants must make their own living arrangements, and students may not live alone. Families relocating from outside the area should confirm how they will meet this requirement before applying.

Learning-support limits

The school states that it does not employ a learning-needs specialist, cannot accept applicants with special learning needs, and may ask a family to find a more suitable school if a student's needs exceed the support it can provide. Families needing intensive specialist learning, behavioural or emotional support should confirm capacity directly before applying.

Fees to budget for

The 2026–27 tuition fee is ¥3,020,000 for K1–K3, ¥2,850,000 for Grades 1–9, and ¥2,970,000 for Grades 10–12. New-enrolment totals including listed enrollment, capital, building-maintenance and CA fees are ¥4,221,000, ¥4,051,000 and ¥4,171,000 respectively, and these figures exclude separately invoiced optional services and other stated items.