RetireJapan

Isodora wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 3:21 am
The year abroad was almost for free, as it consisted of five months “Baito” in my home country, (and that came with a room), travel throughout Europe, followed by another job while staying at a friend’s place. Very good - though not always pleasant - experience.

Having a job and a free place to stay goes a long way toward covering costs.
Plus a job keeps one busy and there is less time for shopping and entertainment.

I should add one son went to the USA on a high school exchange program.
That was at a public US school and the 'non-profit' program cost us about ¥1,500,000 and included a homestay.

https://study.yfu.org/

FYI: I did a lot of shopping around, and a lot of public schools charge non-citizens (or even citizens whose parents are non-residents) these days (Oz, NZ, Canada, and some US).