Earth Travel Mito Exceeds 13,100 Students in Educational Trips, a 3x Increase in 2 Years. Ibaraki-Based 'Inquiry Learning' Expands to Private Schools in Tokyo
Earth Travel Mito's educational trip participants tripled to 13,100. Their Ibaraki-based 'inquiry-learning' programs connecting students with real industries are gaining popularity among Tokyo private schools seeking alternatives to traditional sightseeing.
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- 📰 Published: April 14, 2026 at 18:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 14, 2026 at 09:31
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Earth Travel Mito Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture; Representative Director: Kiyohiko Ozaki) is pleased to announce that a total of 13,100 students participated in its educational travel business in FY2025. The number of participating students has approximately tripled over the past two years.
In addition to schools in Ibaraki Prefecture, introduction in schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area is also progressing, and continuous implementation and new introductions are expanding. In the background is an increasing need for experience-based learning connected to the real world in the context of exploratory learning and career education.
Our company re-edits industrial sites unique to Ibaraki, from people working in the region and primary industries such as agriculture and forestry to research institutions and advanced fields, as learning opportunities, and designs and provides programs tailored to the educational policies and purposes of each school.
■ Results Overview (FY2025)
Earth Travel Mito's educational travel business provides programs designed according to the targeted direction of learning while repeatedly dialoguing with schools in cooperation with municipalities and businesses in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Number of participants: Total 13,100 (elementary to high school students)
Number of introducing schools: 55 schools in Ibaraki Prefecture, 6 schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area
Collaborating regions: 34 municipalities (out of 44 in the prefecture)
Number of collaborating businesses: 173 businesses
In schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area, it is continuously used by Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin Primary School and Kamakura Gakuen Junior and Senior High School, with a repeat rate of almost 100%. In addition, new introductions such as Kanto Gakuin Junior and Senior High School are also progressing.
■ Background of Growth: Rising Need for Experience-Based Learning and Program Design Utilizing the Region
In recent years, the educational field has been shifting toward education that goes beyond acquiring knowledge, fostering students' ability to set their own issues and learn through engagement with society. With the revision of the Course of Study emphasizing 'proactive, interactive, and deep learning' and 'Period for Inquiry-Based Cross-Disciplinary Study,' there is a growing need for learning connected to the real world from the perspective of career education and entrepreneurship education.
In particular, experiences that directly touch working people and industrial sites are positioned as opportunities for students to specifically consider their own futures and values.
Our company has focused on regional characteristics where diverse industries exist in close proximity, such as research institutions in the Tsukuba area and companies working in advanced fields, in addition to primary industries like agriculture and forestry spread across Ibaraki Prefecture, and has re-edited these as learning fields. The fact that everything from production to research and social implementation can be comprehensively understood within a single region is a feature unique to Ibaraki, providing a learning environment where students can realize social connections.
Furthermore, depending on the educational policy and learning theme of each school, the purpose of learning and questions are organized through prior dialogue, and destinations and experience contents are individually designed accordingly. Even if the theme is not clear, we determine the direction of learning and translate it into a program connected to on-site experiences.
Through such design, educational travel is provided not merely as an event, but as a learning opportunity tied to the interests and futures of individual students.
■ Provided Programs
Our company mainly provides the following two educational travel programs.
◎ Workplace Experience Program 'Shigo-trip'
Within the same schedule, students are divided and travel to various parts of the prefecture according to the destinations they have chosen, experiencing the actual sites. It is characterized by completing experiences in different regions within a single day and returning to school on the same day.
Destinations and experience contents are individually designed according to the purpose of each school, and by handling everything from coordinating experience sites to managing the day of the event, we support the reduction of teachers' burdens and students' independent learning.
It has been introduced mainly in junior high schools in Ibaraki Prefecture, and at Kasama Municipal Iwama Junior High School, it was implemented by dividing into 3 regions and 9 courses in Daigo Town, Tsukuba City, and Naka City.
▼ Please see here for the state of the experience.
◎ Custom-Made Educational Travel Program
An educational travel program that individually designs learning content according to the theme and educational policy of each school. In recent years, there has been a movement in the educational field to consider shifting from 'sightseeing-focused trips' to 'inquiry-based trips connected to society.'
As a specific example, Kanto Gakuin Junior and Senior High School abolished its traditional school trip to Kyoto and Nara. Reconsidering issues such as securing transportation due to the impact of overtourism and the insufficient connection with exploratory learning in a tourism-centered itinerary, a new exploratory program centered on 'on-site experience x research x social implementation' set in Tsukuba City has been implemented since 2025.
Focusing on the 'density of learning'...
In addition to schools in Ibaraki Prefecture, introduction in schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area is also progressing, and continuous implementation and new introductions are expanding. In the background is an increasing need for experience-based learning connected to the real world in the context of exploratory learning and career education.
Our company re-edits industrial sites unique to Ibaraki, from people working in the region and primary industries such as agriculture and forestry to research institutions and advanced fields, as learning opportunities, and designs and provides programs tailored to the educational policies and purposes of each school.
■ Results Overview (FY2025)
Earth Travel Mito's educational travel business provides programs designed according to the targeted direction of learning while repeatedly dialoguing with schools in cooperation with municipalities and businesses in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Number of participants: Total 13,100 (elementary to high school students)
Number of introducing schools: 55 schools in Ibaraki Prefecture, 6 schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area
Collaborating regions: 34 municipalities (out of 44 in the prefecture)
Number of collaborating businesses: 173 businesses
In schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area, it is continuously used by Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin Primary School and Kamakura Gakuen Junior and Senior High School, with a repeat rate of almost 100%. In addition, new introductions such as Kanto Gakuin Junior and Senior High School are also progressing.
■ Background of Growth: Rising Need for Experience-Based Learning and Program Design Utilizing the Region
In recent years, the educational field has been shifting toward education that goes beyond acquiring knowledge, fostering students' ability to set their own issues and learn through engagement with society. With the revision of the Course of Study emphasizing 'proactive, interactive, and deep learning' and 'Period for Inquiry-Based Cross-Disciplinary Study,' there is a growing need for learning connected to the real world from the perspective of career education and entrepreneurship education.
In particular, experiences that directly touch working people and industrial sites are positioned as opportunities for students to specifically consider their own futures and values.
Our company has focused on regional characteristics where diverse industries exist in close proximity, such as research institutions in the Tsukuba area and companies working in advanced fields, in addition to primary industries like agriculture and forestry spread across Ibaraki Prefecture, and has re-edited these as learning fields. The fact that everything from production to research and social implementation can be comprehensively understood within a single region is a feature unique to Ibaraki, providing a learning environment where students can realize social connections.
Furthermore, depending on the educational policy and learning theme of each school, the purpose of learning and questions are organized through prior dialogue, and destinations and experience contents are individually designed accordingly. Even if the theme is not clear, we determine the direction of learning and translate it into a program connected to on-site experiences.
Through such design, educational travel is provided not merely as an event, but as a learning opportunity tied to the interests and futures of individual students.
■ Provided Programs
Our company mainly provides the following two educational travel programs.
◎ Workplace Experience Program 'Shigo-trip'
Within the same schedule, students are divided and travel to various parts of the prefecture according to the destinations they have chosen, experiencing the actual sites. It is characterized by completing experiences in different regions within a single day and returning to school on the same day.
Destinations and experience contents are individually designed according to the purpose of each school, and by handling everything from coordinating experience sites to managing the day of the event, we support the reduction of teachers' burdens and students' independent learning.
It has been introduced mainly in junior high schools in Ibaraki Prefecture, and at Kasama Municipal Iwama Junior High School, it was implemented by dividing into 3 regions and 9 courses in Daigo Town, Tsukuba City, and Naka City.
▼ Please see here for the state of the experience.
◎ Custom-Made Educational Travel Program
An educational travel program that individually designs learning content according to the theme and educational policy of each school. In recent years, there has been a movement in the educational field to consider shifting from 'sightseeing-focused trips' to 'inquiry-based trips connected to society.'
As a specific example, Kanto Gakuin Junior and Senior High School abolished its traditional school trip to Kyoto and Nara. Reconsidering issues such as securing transportation due to the impact of overtourism and the insufficient connection with exploratory learning in a tourism-centered itinerary, a new exploratory program centered on 'on-site experience x research x social implementation' set in Tsukuba City has been implemented since 2025.
Focusing on the 'density of learning'...