We spoke with Teruaki Furuya, Principal-elect of Dalton X Academy High School.
Transcript
ISTimes Global (00:01): Hi there. This is the International School Times Global at the International Education Expo 2026. I’m here at the Dalton Tokyo and Dalton X booth. Uh could you give us a brief self-introduction please?
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (00:17): Yeah, so my name is Teddy Furuya, and uh we are launching a new school in the next year. And this is the school is some sister school of Dalton Tokyo. So this, these schools are sharing the same concept and visions.
A Boundaryless High School
ISTimes Global (00:30): I see. Last year, we interviewed Dalton Tokyo and it sounds like a very interesting school. Could you tell us a bit about this new school and what makes it different?
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (00:38): Yeah, so uh we, our concept is the same, but uh our school is more like a boundaryless school. So we don’t have any boundary for the school buildings or cities, living cities. And uh we encourage the students to stay in other cities in the second year in the high school three-year journey. So they can choose like uh India, Okinawa, Kyoto, Iwate, Tokyo, or UK or whatever. So just uh they uh choose a school based on their own research topics. For example, like a students can choose Okinawa for ocean pollution problems or any global warming effect on the oceans. And or they can uh have some musical project in Tokushima. So we have the professional uh performers and dancers in Tokushima, and they teach our students and create their own stage from scratch. So this is more like a project-based learning in any city they can choose. So it’s more boundaryless. So they can choose any some research topics and the project, or yeah. So that is uh some very big uh features. But we share the same concept, like we prioritize student intrinsic motivations and the students’ uh like their own learning style. So it’s very similar schools.
Real-World Project Learning
ISTimes Global (01:58): Fascinating. So it’s almost like a study abroad, but not abroad, you just go to like another prefecture or another town and study there.
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (02:08): Yeah, yeah, that’s right. Yes. Not only study, so just we have some project with local people. So we can uh collaborate with uh like local the universities or high school or startups, NPOs, or government, local government. And uh we will have some more very real-world project. We focus on some project which we don’t have any some answer yet. So many adults are focused on this problems, like some population decline in Japan or some disaster prevention in the north side of Japan. So or like uh air pollution or ocean pollution in the in the south side of Asia. So it’s a very pragmatic and also since real, real world. So students focus on this project. Maybe some project uh end up with some failure, no result, no great answers, but it’s okay. So students can learn from failure and students can learn from uh challenging situations where they need to collaborate with local people with with different interests and different opinions. So it’s quite real-world experience for the students.
ISTimes Global (03:24): And outside the classroom.
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (03:25): Yeah, outside the classroom of course, yes.
ISTimes Global (03:27): Speaking of the classroom, I understand your school is opening.
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (03:31): Yeah.
ISTimes Global (03:31): Um, said in uh next, uh next, next year in April, right?
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (03:34): Yeah, yeah.
Global Curriculum & Planned Opening
ISTimes Global (03:36): Do you have any more details on what parents can expect as the opening of your school happens?
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (03:42): Uh in terms of international curriculum, so just we will have some A-level curriculum and also we call it Global Pathway Program. So Global Pathway Program is uh aimed for the some students who are not so good at the English at the entrance level, but uh we have uh English classes for science and social studies and mathematics from the first year. So the students can grow and improve English levels very quickly and drastically. And we hope the students will apply for the other universities outside of Japan. So this is Global Pathway means uh it’s like a local like a curriculum to more like a global curriculum. So easy way to, yes, smooth out this way. And we will have a, yeah, some some programs which focus on some online and offline, hybrid classes. So experience is quite uh interesting in a way like, so students are in the classroom and have some a lot of discussion and some presentation sessions, but the teachers can join online. So we hire, we are hiring the uh the teachers all over Japan and also other countries. So teachers can join online everywhere, like in from Singapore or Hokkaido or Okinawa. And uh but yeah, but the students can enjoy this kind of more, some uh very intimate distance in the school and in the classroom.
ISTimes Global (05:18): Fascinating. It sounds like a wonderful school. I wish you and your school all the best on your launch.
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (05:24): Yeah. Yeah. We are, we are in the process of uh uh getting uh some approval from local government. So it will be in September. Yeah.
ISTimes Global (05:33): Okay. Yeah. Very good. Thank you so much for your time today.
Dalton X High School (Furuya) (05:35): Yeah, thank you very much.
About Dalton X High School
- Planned to open 1 April 2027; recognition application in preparation
- New private, wide-area correspondence high school from the Kawaijuku Group
- Student-centred learning informed by the Dalton Plan
- Inquiry-based education connecting classrooms, communities and countries
- Domestic and overseas field sites as learning environments
- Hybrid online and in-person learning across multiple locations
- Years 1 and 3 split between Ichinoseki, Iwate and Tokyo NTT BASE
- Second-year regional inquiry projects and extended stays
- Boarding-based school life with shared rooms and resident support
- Real-world projects with local partners, organisations and communities
