Staff interviews

THE NIJIN TEAM

Staff & team members

Team NIJIN: we don’t blame anyone for the problems in education.
We solve them by building systems.

Interviews

Dedicated one-to-one support
Hitomi Sato (Hitonee)

“School isn’t the only place to learn”: turning strengths into learning and widening the options for the future

Head of the Togane classroom

Dedicated one-to-one support

Hitomi Sato (Hitonee)

30s

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Sachi Shigeno (Sacchi)

Standing beside every “I don’t want to go to school”: a teacher who came through school non-attendance

NIJIN High School teacher

Dedicated one-to-one support

Sachi Shigeno (Sacchi)

30s

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Juri Kuniyoshi (Juritaro)

Because I struggled too, I want to pass on “being yourself” | From teaching to working from home

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse

YouTube channel management

Juri Kuniyoshi (Juritaro)

30s

Volunteer
Micchi (prefers not to appear in photos, so an illustration from Micchi's published book is shown)

“By passing on children’s honest voices, I want to say that you can choose your own path through life”

Volunteer staff

Interview articles

Micchi

40s

Intern
Karin Hara (Karin)

It wasn’t that I “couldn’t try hard”. I had simply “tried too hard”. | A university student turning past experience into strength and taking on the future of education

Local-government and corporate partnerships team

PR and future-pathways team

Karin Hara (Karin)

20s

Dedicated one-to-one support
Ayako Kaneda (Yakotan)

I want more colleagues who can say “Wow!” at the real strengths of children living in isolation

Head of the Aomori Namioka classroom / dedicated one-to-one support

Ayako Kaneda (Yakotan)

30s

Head of a physical classroom
Ayu Sonoki (Aachan)

From the small shoot of “I want to try!”, I want to widen children’s futures

Head of the NIJIN Academy Jiyugaoka classroom

Ayu Sonoki (Aachan)

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Yoshihiko Ichikawa (Yotchan)

To support my son’s snowboarding ambitions: the job in metaverse education that a former teacher chose

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse / certification exams

Mentor for the Pokémon club

Yoshihiko Ichikawa (Yotchan)

30s

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Seren Kikuchi (Serety)

A teacher who doesn’t take on challenges is no educator. Taking education outside school by being both homeroom teacher and businessperson.

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse / corporate partnerships

Seren Kikuchi (Serety)

30s

Teacher Career Coach
Riku Morikawa (Riku)

To break down the “wall” between school and society, I chose NIJIN, where it can be done in the shortest time and at the greatest speed.

Venture head, Teacher Career Coach / corporate partnerships

Riku Morikawa (Riku)

20s

After-school Project School
Risa Aota (Aotari)

To change education, I take on challenges myself first. The work and the possibilities that opened up at NIJIN.

After-school Project School / homeroom teacher in the metaverse / local-government partnerships

Risa Aota (Aotari)

30s

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Yuko Hiroi (Nike)

[Homeroom teacher in the metaverse] My own possibilities, widened by remote work. The education I believe in, given shape at NIJIN.

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse / corporate co-creation

Yuko Hiroi (Nike)

20s

Intern
Maho Watanabe (Maho)

[Intern] I grew up in a strict family, a world away from “school non-attendance”. Why I started working at NIJIN.

Sponsor acquisition / intern recruitment

Maho Watanabe (Maho)

Teens

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Ai Tanaka (Aiai)

[Launching a correspondence high school] Not support for school non-attendance, but “a place where you build your own life” | A former high school teacher takes on the challenge

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse / head of the Nagoya Nakamura classroom

Ai Tanaka (Aiai)

30s

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Takashi Isa

[Private company x NIJIN] Working in my own way and growing my career through a second job

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse / head of the Lab School at Tokyo Gakugei University

Corporate partnerships / international partnerships

Takashi Isa (Issa)

20s

Engineer
Torikki

[Engineer] Using IT to bring the education gap down to zero. I want to take on “the world’s education problems” and give my all for the happiness of children everywhere.

Engineer

Torikki

20s

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Haruka Kobayashi

[A mum who won’t give up teaching] Raising three children while working as a homeroom teacher in the metaverse: a passion for education made real through a new way of working

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse

Local-government partnerships

Haruka Kobayashi (Kobaharu)

30s

Chugakko Terrace
Yoshito Aono (Ao)

[A community for teachers] Heading “Chugakko Terrace” and bringing a fresh wind called “initiative” into Japanese education

Head of Chugakko Terrace

Yoshito Aono (Ao)

40s

Volunteer
Koji (volunteer writer)

[Volunteer writer] Joined after a son stopped attending school. | Towards a future where the term “school non-attendance” no longer exists. A companion who turns personal struggles into someone else’s hope

Volunteer

Koji

40s

Head of a physical classroom
Hitomi Nakamura (Hitomin)

[A free school built with a son who is not attending school] “I want to rid society of the idea that not being able to go to school means being unhappy!” A classroom head with 10 years’ experience as a nursery teacher

Head of the Koshigaya classroom

Hitomi Nakamura (Hitomin)

40s

Jugyo Terrace
Tatsuya Yokoyama

[A former teacher takes on lesson reform] What does “making the best possible lessons” look like when you do it from outside school? With Jugyo Terrace, the challenge of turning children into “fans” of learning, together with teachers all over Japan

Head of Jugyo Terrace

Tatsuya Yokoyama (Fan)

20s

Head of a physical classroom
Shimejun

[Mother of children who are not attending school] A mother of two sons who chose to head a classroom at an alternative school | Towards a society that respects “not attending school” as a choice

Head of the Setagaya Shimotakaido 8D classroom

Junko Ohashi (Shimejun)

40s

Head of a metaverse campus
Mami Matsumoto (Haiji)

[A career change from teaching] Taking on challenges in the world I found after giving up the security of teaching. “I believe it leads straight to the happiness of children all over Japan.”

Head of a metaverse campus / homeroom teacher

PR / planning

Mami Matsumoto (Haiji)

30s

Intern
Yuna

[Student intern] I graduated from a correspondence high school, and now I’m on the side that changes education. Turning my old sense of “having nowhere to belong” into hope for someone else.

Intern

NIJIN High School / corporate partnerships

Yuna Furuya (Yuna)

20s

Head of a physical classroom
Kyoko Sato (Kyoko)

[A career change from elementary school teaching] Education that “takes time over what each child is interested in”, which I couldn’t achieve in school, now in a “physical classroom”.

Head of the Yokohama Izumi classroom

Recruitment

Kyoko Sato (Kyoko)

40s

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse
Mizuho Arakawa (Ponmizu)

[Working from home while raising children] I have no teaching experience. Even so, as an “education professional”, I want to change education for real.

Homeroom teacher in the metaverse

Working from home

Mizuho Arakawa (Ponmizu)

30s

Interviews in this category are on their way. They will be published soon, so please bear with us.