preschool teachers, children, and office staff

Jeremy Seminoff: Mr. Jeremy is the school director and head teacher of the elementary school. 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 the head preschool teacher. 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 has two daughters who are in college, one in America and one in Japan. Mrs. Ellen enjoys baking (and eating) sweets.

Eimi Shibata: Mrs. Eimi is a preschool assistant teacher and also helps with Afternoon Preschool. She 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.

Tomomi Seminoff: Mrs. Tomomi is a preschool assistant teacher. She studied early childhood education at Osaka Christian College and has experience living in the United States. She likes baking.

Isaku Kato: A Kids' English teacher and a pastor of New Hope Tokyo, Mr. Isaku received his B.A. in linguistics from the University of Oregon and M.A. in Religion from International College and Graduate School in Hawaii. He met his wife Nozomi in Hawaii, and returned to Japan in 2002.  He has two young children and is learning to be a better father every day.  His passion is to see children's character built up and their dreams released for great causes.

Dean Timmerman: Mr. Dean teaches Kids' English and Afternoon Preschool. He is originally from a small city near San Diego, California. Dean studied music at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and received a TESOL certificate from Anaheim University. Dean is experienced as a music teacher, elementary substitute teacher, youth Bible teacher, and learning center tutor.

Mika Katagiri: Mrs. Mika is our "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!).