Formal exposure to the Latin alphabet once started in grade 4 by learning romaji. Since 2011, romaji is taught in grade 3.

Currently, English class starts in grade 5 with one hour of ungraded conversational class. In 2020, this is planned to be upgraded to two hours of graded class.

Many people find romaji a pain to read. This is because you can no longer just look at writing in romaji and understand it. You have to sound it out. Everything that could be visually conveyed with kanji is lost.