Yamabato Kindergarten

I took on the editing and writing for the website renewal of Yamabato Kindergarten: founded in 1974 and set on a sprawling 20,000-square-meter site in the nature-rich Handa district of Oita City. I spent time in conversation with the principal and teaching staff, who run the kindergarten with a clear and deeply held conviction: that they want to nurture in children a fundamental will to live and a natural curiosity about the world. From those conversations, I worked to find words for the school’s educational philosophy and the things that make it distinctive: nature experiences on “the mountain,” physical development, kanji education, and interaction across different age groups.

Throughout, I tried to write in a way that captured the school’s individual character and considered approach to education, while also conveying something of the teaching staff’s own perspective: the quiet, steady care with which they watch over children every day.