A new Japanese-English boarding school is opening in the Chūgoku Mountains

Imagine a boarding school stationed by tranquil waterfalls, peaceful rivers and alpine backdrops all year round.

Imagine a school that diminishes language barriers and surrounds students with a Japanese-English dual curriculum.

Imagine a school that provided children with a nutritional source of highland vegetables and seafood from the Seto Inland Sea.

Doesn’t it sound like an educational paradise?

If so, you’ll be pleased to know that by April 2020, a dream academic hub like this will become a reality, and it will be named Jinseki International School, established by NEED (Next Educational Environment Development).

The Seto Inland Sea, also known as Setouchi or often shortened to Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. Source: Shutterstock

Gaining global recognition for being Japan’s first Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-accredited international boarding school for primary school students, here, classes will be held in both English and Japanese.

Not only will there be the chance to learn the language and history of Japan, young international learners will also be taught by supportive educational experts who encourage curiosity and nurture talent in each pupil.

The five aims of Jinseki

To stand out from the thousands of international schools located all over the world, Jinseki inspires students to secure these five key abilities:

• The ability to use all five senses
• The ability to learn and explore what they want to know
• The ability to express and convey their own ideas
• The ability to accept and appreciate diversity
• The ability to believe in and respect people around them

Students will even get the chance to attend a Swiss Summer School in Hiroshima!

An elementary boarding school that prepares students for the real deal

You may be reading this and asking yourself: “What’s the appeal of a European-style boarding school in Japan? I don’t know if I could send my young child so far away.”

Minako Suematsu, creator of Next Educational Environment Development (NEED), understands these parental concerns.

“When my young son was growing up, I always asked myself if I was lessening his potential – along with the many, many other questions that all parents ask,” he explained.

“The truth is that there is no training for parenthood and we only learn to be parents through experience and as we engage with our children. But there are also specialists who can help us bring up our children.

“It was for this reason that I took the decision to send my only son to a boarding school overseas when he was eight years old. It was difficult then to live apart from my child, and it still is. But I learned many things as a parent as a result.”

Understanding the turmoil for parents in Japan, Suematsu established Jinseki so students could experience a Japanese-English dual-language, multicultural academic environment, all while offering a European-style boarding education that eliminates the need for parents to travel overseas.

Opening in 2020, a briefing will take place at the school’s construction site in Jinsekikōgen-chō, Hiroshima Prefecture, for families who are considering enrolling their child(ren) in Jinseki International School – an academic paradise in the Chūgoku Mountains.

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