Academics

Students builing a molecule in chemistry

Japanese

Our students who take Japanese stand out in a crowd. They show prospective colleges and future employers that they possess determination, patience, and no fear of challenging themselves.

Harvey School Japanese Program

Our Japanese Language Program

Japanese class

The Japanese language program at Harvey started in 2002 and has developed through the years to extend well beyond the classroom. Between 10-15% of all Harvey students take Japanese each year. Students can begin their study of the language and culture of Japan in Grade 9 and take four years of the language.

visiting Japan

Learning the Japanese language is beneficial for many reasons. Japan is the third largest economy in the world and the second largest direct foreign investor in the U.S. American, and Japanese companies located in the U.S. are continually looking for job applicants who are proficient in Japanese and who understand the culture.

Students are intrigued to learn more about the Japanese language and the country that inspired such "cool" cultural exports as Anime, manga, martial arts, origami, karaoke, and video games.

Learning a New Culture

Visiting Keio Academy

Students look forward to the many opportunities that they have to interact with students from Japan. Every year Harvey and The Keio Academy, a Japanese school 20 minutes from Harvey in Purchase, N.Y., share a school-exchange program where we shadow and interact with students from Japan who are studying in America.

Visiting Keio Academy

Our students enjoy many opportunities to discover Japanese culture outside the classroom, including attending the Japanese Spring Festival at the United Nations School in New York, welcoming Taiko drummers and a Koto group to Harvey, visiting the Katonah Museum of Art for an exhibit on samurai armor, and dining out at local Japanese restaurants.

The Japanese language program seeks to make the study of the language and its culture relevant to our students and inspire them to continue with the study of the language beyond their time at Harvey.   

Visiting Japan

Trip to Japan 2023

Harvey has sister schools located in Tokyo and Hiroshima that we visit every two years in a home-stay program. These school trips abroad, open to students who study Japanese, offer an exciting opportunity to learn about the culture of Japan firsthand, practice their Japanese language skills, and develop long-lasting relationships with students in Japan.

Harvey School Students Visiting Japan

Our students visited Japan in June 2023 to experience a true cultural immersion into the Japanese way of life. Living with host families and attending one of our Japanese sister schools, Harvey students had a special opportunity to practice their Japanese language skills and take in the beauty of Japan and the culture.

Several of our students have gone on to study Japanese in college while many others have decided to study abroad in Japan.

Signature Program

Japanese writing on a globe.