LABO INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE FOUNDATIONOver 50 years of Student Exchange Programs
Interested in being a Labo Intern?
Applications for the 2024-2025 Labo Internship are now open! Check out the pamphlet here or visit the Intern page for more information!
Labo is a family-based Japanese youth organization
Children in Japan between the ages of 3 and 18 join Labo in order to improve their English-language ability as well as to learn about other cultures and expand their personal horizons. Using international bilingual songs, stories and plays from around the world, members learn about the world and about working with one another. At weekly Labo Party meetings, children of all ages work together to bring these stories and plays to life. At seasonal camps, Labo members also enjoy practicing and performing their plays in addition to hiking, games, and other outdoor activities. Labo is volunteer-driven. The thousand of Labo Tutors, trained by local Labo offices, recruit young people from their neighborhood to join their Labo Party club. Tutors often remain an important part of their members’ lives into adulthood.
Labo International Exchange Foundation
A non-profit part of Labo, has been organizing homestay and academic exchange programs since 1973 (see our history), primarily for young people between the ages of 12 and 18, but also for young adults.
The exchange of students between Japan, North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and China, provide children and their families opportunities to experience a new culture, learn a new language and become international citizens. Labo families welcome a foreign child into their family in order to make friends, learn about a new culture, introduce their own customs and practice a new language. During the summer, Labo staff, Canadian and US university Interns, and bilingual Labo Tutors are available to assist both the families and the exchangee with problems, question or concerns. (current list of Labo board of directors) Labo International Exchange Foundation sponsors several language programs in Japan for both international visitors and Japanese students.