Hello From the Children's Castle

Please come with us. We want to share a special place with you. Everyone calls it Yukari Bunka Kindergarten but it's really a Children's Castle. We love to come here everyday. Mr. Fujita and some of our teachers greet us every morning with a bright and hearty "Good Moming" and our name. They know all of us and make us feel so special. We can do so mauy different fun things. Well, follow us and we're sure you'll understand.

The Enrichment of Education

Matao Fujita had long wondered if conventional kindergarten structures, namely a row of rooms along a corridor, was really suitable for the education of children. He therefore began to wonder what type of structure would be most suitable to permit children to learn in a pleasant environrpent while at the same time acquiring sociality through group experiences. Finaly, he concluded: "Since early childhood education is of the utmost importance as it is the initial period of character building, the enviroument for such education should be satiated with all possibilities as well as rich in variety." Accordingly, when building a new kindergarten Dr. Kenzo Tange, an intenationally renown architect, was entrusted with the design as he shared Mr. Fujita's opinions about kindergarten education and philosophy. Dr. Tange observed the children's behavior and life thoroughly for more than one year and a half, and only then designed a unique building based on his findings.

The Yuhari Binka Kindergarten adopted a new creative system in regard to the method of education. That is, each class is in the joint charge of three or four teachers. This is a complete departure from the traditional system whereby each class is assigned to a single teacher and room all year. Yukari's system was designed to prevent the personality of a single adult from affecting chiidren too strongly and at the same time to let children come into contact with as many different people as often as possible so that they could freely develop their own unique personalities.

It is believed' that the adoption of creative concepts at Yukari Bunka Kindergarten in not only its building structure but also its teaching methods suggests a new direction for Japanese kindergarten education in the future.