From cicadas to stroopwafels: The Ohisama Project creates Japanese textbooks perfect for children growing up overseas

October 9, 2025

Interview and text by Naoko Yamamoto

“There just aren’t any good Japanese textbooks for kids living abroad!” That’s how the Ohisama Project, a team based in the Netherlands, began developing Ohisama, a Japanese language textbook designed specifically for heritage language learners. Since its release in 2018, the series — which now includes the Ohisama Workbook — has sold over 20,000 copies worldwide and become a trusted resource for families and schools raising multilingual children. The project’s creators — Junko Ueno, Emi Yamamoto, and Yoshie Mera — talk about how they built this groundbreaking textbook series from scratch.

Profile: The Ohisama Project

The Ohisama Project promotes high-quality Japanese language education for multilingual children worldwide. Led by Emi Yamamoto, Junko Ueno, and Yoshie Mera, authors of the Ohisama textbook, the project develops creative, inclusive approaches to language learning. Working with partners such as the Embassy of the Netherlands and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the project offers workshops and lectures supporting educators, parents, and learners. Through “Dutch Education Plus,” the Ohisama Project connects Japanese language learning with Dutch child-centered methods, fostering global citizenship and cultural understanding.

“Catching cicadas” in a country without cicadas

How did the Ohisama Project begin?

Ueno: I am the headteacher of Terakoya@Amsterdam, a weekend Japanese class for children living in the Netherlands. It’s a community space for kids who grow up outside Japan to learn Japanese once a week. When I started teaching, I realized that there was simply no suitable material for these children — nothing that fit their language environment or daily lives.

Yamamoto: There are plenty of Japanese-as-a-foreign-language books available in Japan, but they don’t quite fit the needs of families abroad or multicultural households. There were no easy-to-find materials for children learning Japanese as a heritage language.

Mera: Exactly. When we used textbooks from Japan, we’d find words like “engawa” (wooden veranda that runs along the outside of a traditional Japanese house) or ”semi-tori” (catching cicadas) — things our students in the Netherlands had never seen! There aren’t any cicadas here, so we’d have to start by explaining what they even are. So, the three of us decided to create our own simple materials for our students. That was the start.

I see, it’s true that those settings are quite different from the environment children in the Netherlands grow up in.

Mera: At first, we made everything specifically for children in the Netherlands, including Dutch holidays and foods. One day, I wrote on my blog that we were developing a Japanese textbook for kids living in the Netherlands — and to our surprise, it went viral worldwide! We started receiving messages from families everywhere saying, “We’d love to use that textbook!”

Yamamoto: Around that time, I attended the annual Association of Japanese Language Teachers in Europe conference, where I met the CEO of Kuroshio Publishers — one of Japan’s publishers specialized in linguistics and Japanese education. When I told him about our project, he immediately said, “Let’s publish this.” Things moved incredibly fast after that.

Mera: Our blog had already gained attention, and we had received a grant from the Japan Foundation, so the timing was perfect. We also emphasized that we were a strong, well-balanced author team:Yamamoto as a teacher at a university, Ueno is the head teacher at a Japanese language school, and I work as a professional interpreter. I also grew up in the UK from age 8 to 15, which gave me firsthand experience of identity struggles as a Japanese child abroad. That insight — understanding how language shapes identity — became a core part of our approach.

-Junko Ueno

From free prototype to bestseller

How did the production process unfold?

Mera: We first made a prototype with support from the Japan Foundation. Although our initial version was based in the Netherlands, once publication became a reality, we decided to create something global and began gathering feedback from all over the world.

Yamamoto: Between 2016 and 2018, we went through several trial editions. All three of us had full-time jobs, and two of us were raising children at that time, so we often met in the evenings — starting around 7 p.m. and working until 11.

Ueno: We distributed about 300 trial copies for free to teachers and parents worldwide, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. That’s when the publisher realized how strong the demand really was.

Mera: We also collaborated with numerous experts. For example, Professor Shinji Sato at Princeton University supported us throughout the project. Each thematic chapter — from animals and flowers to kimonos and the universe — was reviewed by specialists, such as scientists at the University of Tokyo and Kobe University, as well as kimono designer Mamechiyo, the first Japanese female artist to collaborate with the Van Gogh Museum. The book became a true team effort.

In 2018, Ohisama was finally published! What was the response?

Mera: It was amazing. The textbook and its companion workbook sold over 20,000 copies combined. Even before release, we hit No. 1 in several Amazon Japan categories, and a reprint was decided just six weeks after launch. The book is now in its sixth printing.

Yamamoto: It was also designated as a recommended textbook by the Overseas Educational Services Foundation (JOES), a major organization supporting the education of Japanese children abroad. Thanks to that, some Japanese schools overseas — especially in the U.S. — began adopting it. Seven years later, Ohisama continues to be used by families and schools around the world.

The next chapter: Mastering kanji, “Star Wars" style

We hear that there’s a new book on the way.

Mera: Yes! We’re publishing Ohisama: Japanese for Children – Elementary Intermediate (working title) around late 2025 to early 2026. It’s designed for 3-4 Nensei (Grade in Japanese primary schools: 9-10 years old) and covers 402 kanji characters — roughly equivalent to Level 7 of the Kanji Kentei.

Ueno: In Japan, children start learning kanji in 1 Nensei, so most kanji textbooks begin at that level. But we decided to start with an intermediate edition instead. The reason is that for children living overseas, 3 Nensei is often a turning point — what we call the “3 Nensei’s wall.” Around this age, schoolwork and extracurricular activities get more demanding, and many students start finding kanji study difficult. Sadly, that’s also when many children drop out of Japanese heritage language programs.

Mera: Because we know this reality so well, we persuaded our publisher to let us start the Ohisama kanji series from the intermediate level.

Yamamoto: Mera said, “Let’s do it the Star Wars way!” (laughs)

Mera: Exactly — like Star Wars, where the story doesn’t start from Episode I. It’s okay to begin in the middle if the content is strong. What matters most is that children find learning kanji fun and engaging.

- Emi Yamamoto

Sounds exciting! Will it mainly focus on reading and writing kanji?

Mera: It goes beyond that. The book balances reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It includes stories, creative writing tasks, and language exercises designed to interest multilingual children. We feature topics that 3–4 Nensei students love — from Studio Ghibli and Hello Kitty to Nintendo — while also covering Japanese history, classical literature, and inspiring figures.

Yamamoto: We also wanted to address children’s sense of identity. Around 9-10 years old, kids start noticing how they might be a little different from those around them. We wanted to help them see that being connected to Japan while growing up in different languages and cultures is something to be proud of. So we interviewed Japanese people who were raised abroad and are now active on the global stage — such as musicians and women working at the United Nations — and included those stories as reading material.

Mera: We hope this new Ohisama book will help children overcome the “3 Nensei’s wall” and take pride in their multicultural, multilingual identities as they grow up overseas.

Interview and text by Naoko Yamamoto