Enjoy this short video snippet about Sunshine Kids Academy from our 2025 Tokyo Expo.
Transcript
We spoke with Eden.
ISTimes Global: (00:00) Hello, I’m here with Eden at Sunshine Kids Academy and Shuren International School. Welcome to the Expo.
Sunshine Kids Academy (Eden): (00:06) Thank you. Happy to be here.
School History
ISTimes Global: (00:09) Can you tell us a little bit about your school’s background and history?
Sunshine Kids Academy (Eden): (00:13) Okay, so uh SKA or Sunshine Kids Academy has been around for almost 10 years now. Um, we are based in the Sakiji Shintomicho area. Um, we started out as a preschool. So we go from ages six months all the way up to 5 years old. Um, we do Montessori teaching, but we’re also trying to incorporate Cambridge as well. Um, so we also have students that are from different parts of the world. Uh so yes, we have Japanese students, but we have students that are from Russia, from Belarus, from, I don’t know, New Zealand, like all over. Yeah.
ISTimes Global: (00:49) Nice, sounds great.
Sunshine Kids Academy (Eden): (00:49) Yeah.
Academic Life
ISTimes Global: (00:50) Can you tell me a bit about the academics of your school? What’s learning like?
Sunshine Kids Academy (Eden): (00:54) Yeah, so a lot of our academics are hands-on learning because most of our students are in Sunshine Kids Academy. Um and being so young, obviously they can’t write or whatnot. Uh so we do a lot of Montessori based teaching. So they’re hands-on, they’re doing different activities and through those activities they’re learning the basics. So, yeah.
ISTimes Global: (01:14) Awesome. Sounds great.
Sunshine Kids Academy (Eden): (01:15) Yeah.
Extracurricular Activities
ISTimes Global: (01:16) What about extracurricular activities? Um how do the kids get involved in the community outside of the classroom?
Sunshine Kids Academy (Eden): (01:21) Yes. So our extracurricular activities are usually uh karate, ballet, uh basketball because we are near a park. Um and then we have our after school programs. So our after school we do a lot of STEM classes. So they do science, they do tech, uh engineering, art, math. Um and then we also have English classes for the students that need to work on their English. But it’s fun-based English classes, so we don’t do uh Aken or Teffle, Tesl, Tesl. Tesl. Um but yeah. And then outside of school, we have a lot of activities that we do with the community itself. So like when they have Matsuris, we go out and we participate in the Matsuris. Uh when they have like uh community events where we go to um uh old folks home or care home and we volunteer there and the kids help. So yeah.
Lasting Memories at Sunshine Kids Academy
ISTimes Global: (02:18) Awesome. How about the students who graduate from your school? What are some of the memories that your students typically they have of their time at your school?
Sunshine Kids Academy (Eden): (02:27) Um, so a lot of our teaching also involves SDGs from the UN. And we instill those as we’re teaching and we hope that the kids when they graduate, they continue with that teaching. They continue with like helping the community with making sure the environment is nice, with just generally being good, good all around people.
ISTimes Global: (02:49) Sounds great. Thank you so much for your time, Eden.
Sunshine Kids Academy (Eden): (02:50) Thank you.
About Sunshine Kids Academy
- Preschool serving children from 6 months to 5 years old
- Located in the Sakiji Shintomicho area of Tokyo
- Montessori-based curriculum with Cambridge elements
- International student body from Japan, Russia, Belarus, New Zealand, and more
- Hands-on, experiential learning approach
- Extracurricular activities: karate, ballet, basketball, STEM classes
- Community involvement: local Matsuri festivals, care home visits
- After-school English programs (fun-based learning)
- Integrated UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the curriculum
- Focus on developing well-rounded, community-minded children
