齋藤 亮次/ Ryoji Saito
Head of Academic Management and full-time social studies lecturer at Kamiyama Marugoto National Institute of Technology (KOSEN). Nationally certified career consultant (MHLW). Affiliated researcher at the Waseda University Institute for Education Research. With fieldwork experience spanning over 50 countries, he specializes in career education, inquiry-based learning, and geography education.
Affiliations
Institute for Social Vision Design (ISVD)
Editorial Team
Links
Publications
Career Counseling for High School Students: Supporting Self-Determined Pathways
In an era of diversifying pathways to higher education and the pursuit of well-being, this book explains the individualized career guidance that teachers are called upon to provide. Drawing on 20 common pitfalls, it offers concrete approaches and methods to help students make self-determined decisions about their futures.
SCHOOL SHIFT: You Embody the Future of Education
Ten practitioners present both theory and practice for the future of school education in an era of 100-year lifespans, covering school DX, inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, career education, school organizational reform, and teacher career design.
Media Coverage
What We Should Tell People Who Think 'Retirement Means Sipping Tea on the Porch'
The Hidden Problem with Schools That Teach 'Push Forward and Try Harder'
Supporting Children's Self-Determination (10-part series)
Related Articles (6)
Who Pays for "Free" Advice? — Three Japanese Regimes for Job Placement, Language Schools, and Study Abroad
Every advice desk a Japanese student can turn to is free at the point of use. What differs is who funds it, and whether that funding carries any safeguard. Job placement is barred by statute from charging the jobseeker, domestic language schools come with a statutory right to withdraw, and study-abroad agencies — which handle the most expensive decision of the three — sit outside any sector-specific law.
Japan Lost 215 Primary Schools in a Year, and the Average School Still Got Smaller — From 315.7 Pupils to 312.4
Final figures from Japan's FY2025 School Basic Survey put primary schools at 18,607, down 215 on the year, with 5,812,375 pupils, a fall of 129,358 and the lowest on record. Closing 215 schools still left the average school smaller, down from 315.7 pupils to 312.4. The four-kilometre commuting standard used to judge mergers sits in a 1958 ordinance; a 2015 ministry guide laid a one-hour travel-time benchmark on top of it.
Of 84,759 Pupils in Japan Needing Japanese Language Support, 9,699 Receive None — Both the Number and the Share Are Up on the Last Survey
In the education ministry's fiscal 2025 survey, 84,759 pupils in Japanese public schools needed Japanese language support, the highest on record, with the largest increase on record. Meanwhile 9,699 of them, 11.4%, receive no instruction based on special consideration, up from 7,069 and 10.2% in the previous survey. This piece reads how a widening target group leaves more people unreached, and where the gap in progression opens.
Weekend School Clubs Move to the Community by FY2031, While Weekdays Carry Neither Target Nor Deadline — What the Shift From Transfer to Delivery Left Behind
Under guidelines issued in December 2025, Japan's school club reform enters its implementation period in fiscal 2026. For weekends, the text states that community delivery is to be achieved, as a rule, for every school club within that period. For weekdays it says only that reform will be advanced while issues are resolved, with no scope and no deadline. Municipalities are named as responsible. This piece reads what the rewording and the split left behind.
Young Carers Fall to 4.1% by Year 11 and Return to 6.2% in Their Third University Year — The Person Cared For Shifts From a Sibling to a Parent With Mental Illness
In figures from Japan's Children and Families Agency, the share reporting a family member they care for runs 6.5% in year 6, 5.7% in year 8, 4.1% in year 11, then returns to 6.2% in the third year of university. Over the same span the person cared for shifts from a sibling to a mother, and the most common condition given for that mother is mental illness. This piece reads the point where care that ends is replaced by care that does not, arriving alongside the search for work.
Before Restricting Children's Social Media by Age — How to Establish Age Is Still Sitting in the Open-Questions Column
In a paper issued in April 2026 by Japan's Children and Families Agency, whether to require age verification from social media operators still appears as a question. The methods listed are age data supplied by mobile carriers and estimation by AI, both at the stage of assessing feasibility. A rule that draws a line at an age needs, before the line is drawn, a means of telling which side someone is on. This piece reads the debate through where duties sit and how identity is established.
Other Members
Researcher 02 / Director
塩見 尚大/ Naohiro Shiomi
Project designer. He facilitates communication within organizations and projects, overseeing management and direction. Known as a hub who connects people, he draws colleagues and partners into collaborative problem-solving.
Researcher 01 / Representative Director
ヨコタナオヤ（横田直也）/ Naoya Yokota
Creative producer and strategic designer. With an integrated approach spanning concept development, strategy, and design, he leads projects from structural analysis of social issues through to solution design. He drives research projects in areas such as traffic noise and urban environments, combining data analysis with design-driven methodologies.