Leadership

The moment I understood the transformative power of education was not in a classroom — it was when I stepped outside of Japan for the first time.

While studying mechanical engineering at Waseda University, I pursued language study in London, professional experience in India, and research in the United States. As a recipient of Japan's prestigious MEXT "Tobitate! Study Abroad Japan" scholarship — a nationally competitive programme selecting Japan's most promising young scholars — I joined Rice University as a visiting researcher on a NASA spacecraft project. The experience was formative, but not primarily because of the research itself. It was the realisation that there are entire worlds of opportunity that become accessible only when you cross the barriers of language and culture.

I went on to organise career fairs at Harvard University and Imperial College London, connecting Japanese companies with internationally educated talent. Through that work, I encountered a recurring challenge: the gap between Japan's growing demand for globally capable professionals and the educational pathways that produce them. In 2019, while still in graduate school at Waseda, I founded what would become ELT Education to bridge that gap.

Starting with online English education built on a strategic partnership with ELT School of English — a London-based language institution established in 1984 — we have since expanded into corporate global talent development, consulting for international and boarding schools, and supporting Japanese educational institutions in their internationalisation and digital transformation.

Working with schools across Japan and internationally, I have come to appreciate a simple truth: every great school is shaped by leaders with a clear vision. ELT Education exists to be a trusted partner to those leaders — not simply offering advice, but building, implementing, and embedding change alongside them. That is how we work, and why we do what we do.

These past few years have convinced me of something. For a family, international education is a series of one-shot decisions that cannot be taken back. Which school to choose, when to make the attempt, how to support learning once a child has enrolled. Information is everywhere, yet no one can tell you what is right for your own child. That is why I came to believe that education, like wealth management with its private bankers, needs a dedicated specialist standing on the family's side.

At ELT Education we call this being an education family office. From school selection and admissions to learning after enrolment and the path to university, this is not a relationship that ends with a single offer but one that accompanies a child through every stage of growth. Carrying both the authentic education we have inherited since 1984 and a scientific approach powered by data and AI, we will stay with families through their educational decisions for the long term.

World-class education for every challenger — and a society in which taking on the world is simply ordinary. Our whole team is in earnest about this mission.