preschool teachers, children, and office staff

Jeremy Seminoff: Mr. Jeremy is the preschool director and one of the teachers. He was born in California and graduated in 1994 from the University of California at Berkeley. He first came to Japan as a student in 1991 and became interested in Japanese education. In 1997, he moved to Japan long-term and learned about early childhood education while teaching at preschools in Nagasaki. He has also studied Japanese language and culture. He has been teaching children in Japan for  more than ten years. He and his wife Tomomi have three children: Timothy, Rina, and Daniel. His hobbies include reading, running and hiking.

Ellen Yamase: Mrs. Ellen is a preschool teacher and also runs our Mothers' English program. An American, she was born in Japan and has spent much of her life here. She graduated from the University of Hawaii and has more than twenty years of teaching experience. She is the mother of two teenage daughters. Mrs. Ellen enjoys baking (and eating) sweets.

Isaku Kato: Mr. Isaku is a preschool teacher and a pastor of New Hope Tokyo. He spent half of his life in the U.S. going to high school, getting a B.A. in linguistics at the University of Oregon and an M.A. in religion from International College and Graduate School. He met his wife Nozomi in Hawaii, got married there and returned to Japan five years ago. He became a father two years ago and is learning to be a better father every day. His passion is to see young people's dreams released and for them to be successful in whatever they do.

Eimi Shibata: Mrs. Eimi is a classroom assistant who studied broadcasting and communications at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, USA. She has over six years of experience teaching children. Her interests include drawing, acting, sports and being with children.

Aiko Onoda: Mrs. Aiko participated in gymnastics for several years, specializing in floor exercises, vault and balance beam. She graduated from Fukuoka University with a degree in English literature. She combines her English and gymnastics skills for us in a popular gymnastics class at the preschool. She enjoys baking bread.

Mika Katagiri: Mrs. Mika is a "Mommy & Me" teacher.  She graduated from Otani Women's Jr. College (in Osaka) and from Western Oregon State College. She taught for three years in an English language school in Wakayama.  She also has experiences studying Spanish in Ecuador, engaging herself in import transactions in a Japanese company, and working at bank in Canada.  She and her family (husband and two children) lived in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Nova Scotia (Canada) until moving to Japan in 2007.  She likes reading, teaching English, exercising with Yoga at home, reading bedtime stories to her children every night (and watching American TV dramas after they fall asleep!).