Preschool exchange programme in Japan provides unique learning for Hong Kong children

Joyce Chen was scrolling on Instagram one day in early 2024 when an advertisement caught her eye. It was for a programme called Japanese Preschool Exchange where families could travel to a region in Japan and have their child attend a preschool there for one week to three months. Chen wondered if it might be a scam, and asked friends if they had ever heard of the programme before. None had – but she decided to take a shot in the dark and send an inquiry email anyway. After being reassured by the legitimacy of the information she received, she decided to enrol her three-year-old daughter, Evelyn, in the programme. In summer 2024, the pair – as well as Chen’s parents – travelled from Hong Kong to Sado Island, just off the coast of Niigata prefecture. The family stayed there for one week. On weekdays, just before 9am, Chen would drop her daughter off at Sawane Preschool; in the midafternoon, she would pick her up and drive back to their accommodation, which was 15 minutes away. Chen hoped the programme would expose Evelyn to a new and foreign learning experience. “She attends a Catholic [kindergarten] in Hong Kong, which is a little strict,” she says, adding that students tend to wait for instruction. “But for the Japanese kids, they will be looking for things to do, or they will be doing their own stuff instead of just sitting there,” she says. In fact, “every morning, all the students would come together, and then they discuss what they want to do for that day, and then the teacher will help them to accomplish that.” The result, Chen says, is that the kids have more self-motivation, a quality that she saw her daughter exhibiting as she adapted to the school environment. Similarly, Hong Kong educators Jacqueline Le and Nicolson Siu decided to take part in the Japanese Preschool Exchange programme because of the educational opportunities it presented for their son, Arthur. “We want him to experience exposure to different cultures, to meet different people and make him more brave,” Le says. The husband and wife learned about the programme via an advertisement on Facebook, and ended up going to Takehara in Hiroshima prefecture for a one-week programme in August 2024. Japanese Preschool Exchange was founded in 2021 by Masaya Yamamoto, who came up with the idea when he brought his two-year-old daughter from Yokohama, in Japan’s Kanagawa prefecture, to a preschool in the small town of Assabu, in Hiyama prefecture on Japan’s northern Hokkaido island. “In Yokohama, her play time was limited to a small concrete playground,” explains Chiyu Sho, the head of Japanese Preschool Exchange’s overseas programme. “In contrast, Hokkaido offered her the freedom to explore and grow in a spacious natural environment.” Witnessing how the experience positively affected his daughter, Yamamoto envisioned a service that could offer a similar opportunity to other children and their parents. Families could experience Japan in a way that extended beyond typical tourism, while children could gain exposure to culture and nature, Sho says. “Moreover, Japan faces a declining birth rate, which is particularly severe in rural areas,” she adds. “So by bringing more families to these communities, this programme not only enriches kids’ and parents’ lives, but also revitalises local economies, prevents preschool closures due to declining enrolment because of the low birth rate, and helps preserve Japan’s unique childcare culture.” The programme debuted domestically in Japan, and then launched a version targeting international visitors in 2023. As of today, families from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and the United States have taken part in the programme. Participants can choose from over 25 destinations in Japan, opting for short-term stays of one to three weeks, or long-term stays for one to three months. To date, over 2,000 families have taken part in the programme. Among them, 260 were international, with around 20 from Hong Kong. “Families from Hong Kong and Singapore tend to choose somewhere with a lot of nature,” Sho says, because they offer contrast to the bustling nature of both cities. Each Japanese destination offers something a little different; the preschool in Assabu, for example, might offer vegetable harvesting as an activity, while Sado Island in Niigata is surrounded by mountains and oceans. Chen and her family ended up going to the latter, mostly because it was the only location that had availability. “The location is quite remote. It’s not a place that I would consider to go for travelling,” she says. But at the same time, she thought, “Why don’t we give it a try? The price is not very high.” Pricing for the international programme varies, but an estimated price for one week is about 350,000 yen (US$2,350) for one parent and one child, and goes up to 3 million yen for three months for two parents and one child. The fee covers accommodation and preschool costs but not food, flights, transport or other expenses, and is higher than the domestic programme due to the additional language support and coordination done by planners. When Chen got to Sado Island, the experience exceeded her expectations. “I should have stayed there longer,” she says. Chen and her family – four of them in total – were impressed by the accommodation, which was a fully equipped two-storey house with a garden and little pond out front. It was “straight out of a comedy or drama”, Chen says. The preschool schedule was straightforward, mainly involving drop off and pick up. In the mornings, Chen saw children catching insects and climbing on trees – quite unlike at Hong Kong kindergartens – and having previously viewed videos of Japanese kindergartens, she knew to expect a different education style. “They let [the kids] run around in the garden with mud, water and everything, and … they let them fall, and they let them fail,” she says. “You don’t really get that in Hong Kong. Most of the parents in Hong Kong would be like, ‘That’s too dangerous.’” There are a whole host of benefits that come with nature-based play: research has shown that exploring outdoors can help foster children’s motor skills, creativity and cognitive development. One 2021 study published in the Early Childhood Education Journal also showed that children who played outdoors beforehand were more likely to be on task and less disruptive in indoor lessons. Upon arrival, Le and Siu were also impressed by the accommodation offered. They stayed in a two-storey building at a golf resort, and paid a total of around HK$25,000 (US$3,200). The preschool programme itself differed from Hong Kong in that it was a full-day format instead of half-day, they noted. There were also other differences: the preschool in Takehara, Chuou Preschool, did not have air conditioning, and kids tended to play with traditional toys, clay and handicrafts versus relying on digital stimulus. Arthur had trouble adapting on the first day, but soon became more comfortable as the days went on. Siu notes that preschool is the perfect age for children to take part in such a programme, as most are still using body language and gestures, and they can naturally learn some communication and survival skills. “Language barrier is not a huge thing,” Le adds. “They can develop their own way of communication.” By the end of the week, Le and Siu also observed that their son had picked up some Japanese and had grown more adventurous than before. “He thought that [it would] be our home for a long time, and I think he was adjusting himself, pushing himself to be adaptable,” Le says. “Before in Hong Kong, he just ate noodles, but we saw the teachers’ photos, and he ate rice, fish and veggies.” Though many teachers did not speak English, it was easy enough to communicate with them via translation machines, Le says. The Line group chats set up by Japanese Preschool Exchange, with the respective teachers and homeowners, also had inbuilt translation, Chen says. Both families say that they would readily recommend the programme, but that if they were to do it again, it would be for two weeks instead of just one so that their children would have more time to adapt and make new friends. “If they stay longer, they’ll have a more in-depth experience and they can remember it for longer,” Le says. Chen adds: “It’s a great experience even for parents, because you can go travelling, but without the 24/7 caring of your kids.”

Preschool exchange programme in Japan provides unique learning for Hong Kong children

A Japanese preschool exchange programme is attracting Hong Kong families who hope to expose their children to new cultural experiences