Truant Alternative School 'NIJIN Academy' Will Open the Hybrid Attendance 'Osaka Nagai Campus' on May 7, 2026.
NIJIN Inc. announced the opening of a new campus for its alternative school for truant children, featuring hybrid learning that combines metaverse education with real-life farming experiences.
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- 📰 Published: April 8, 2026 at 18:40
- 🔍 Collected: April 8, 2026 at 10:00
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The truant alternative school 'NIJIN Academy', operated by NIJIN Inc. (Headquarters: Koto-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Tatsuro Hoshino), will open a new location, 'NIJIN Academy Osaka Nagai Campus', in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, on Thursday, May 7, 2026.
Under the keyword "Farm as a classroom," this school aims to develop the ability to live one's life more richly while interacting with the local community and society through experiential learning of agriculture and food.
■ Characteristics of the Osaka Nagai Campus: Experiential learning staged on a farm
The newly opening Osaka Nagai Campus will deploy "hybrid learning" combining online and real-life experiences. Responding to the voices of children who say, "I don't want to (or won't) return to school, but I want to learn in a real place," we aim to create a place where they can attend with peace of mind.
The stage for the Osaka Nagai Campus is a farm called "Experience Farm Ajiwai," located about a 10-minute walk from JR Nagai Station and Subway Midosuji Line Nagai Station. It is a farm that adopts organic farming methods and does not use pesticides during cultivation. We are preparing an environment where children can spend their time in their own way while incorporating daily experiences of learning through touching the soil, touching life, and food.
What this school values is an environment where children feel "I can feel safe when I come here" and "I can be myself."
Rather than solely aiming for a return to school, we emphasize nurturing the power of children themselves to choose their future.
◾️ Class Content: "Learn about agriculture and food by doing everything ourselves, from growing seasonal vegetables to harvesting, cooking, and selling them."
● Let's decide what vegetables to grow (Learning about vegetables / Planning)
The children decide what vegetables to grow according to the season and make cultivation plans such as when to apply fertilizer and sow seeds.
● Let's work in the field (Interacting with nature / Moving our bodies)
We will do various tasks such as tilling the soil with a hoe, applying fertilizer, planting seeds and seedlings, watering, weeding, exterminating pests, pruning, and harvesting. Let's move our bodies while feeling the smell and texture of the soil and leaves, and the colors and sounds of nature.
● Let's eat vegetables (Food education)
We will bite into freshly harvested vegetables like tomatoes and corn, or cook and eat them.
We will experience the taste and aroma of fresh vegetables that can only be tasted by eating them freshly picked on the spot.
● Let's sell vegetables (Learning from production to sales / Community exchange)
● Let's observe the living creatures in the fields and rice paddies
● We also plan to conduct various other experiences (rice planting, harvesting, riding a tractor, etc.)
By crossing learning on the metaverse with real-life activities such as agriculture and nature experiences, we will realize a new form of learning that fosters children's self-esteem and social skills.
We also value learning within connections to the community and people, aiming for a society where truancy does not end as a "problem" but transforms into a "possibility." Fostering "zest for living" through the experience of touching soil, touching life, and thinking and acting for oneself. From the real field of agriculture, we will disseminate a new form of education.
■ Example of how a day is spent
- 10:00 Home Physical Education (Metaverse)
- 10:30 Class Meeting (Making today's work plan)
- 11:00 Work Starts (Farming, cooking, etc.)
- 12:30 Lunch
- 13:30 Self-paced learning (Farming, nature observation, vegetable sales, etc.)
Under the keyword "Farm as a classroom," this school aims to develop the ability to live one's life more richly while interacting with the local community and society through experiential learning of agriculture and food.
■ Characteristics of the Osaka Nagai Campus: Experiential learning staged on a farm
The newly opening Osaka Nagai Campus will deploy "hybrid learning" combining online and real-life experiences. Responding to the voices of children who say, "I don't want to (or won't) return to school, but I want to learn in a real place," we aim to create a place where they can attend with peace of mind.
The stage for the Osaka Nagai Campus is a farm called "Experience Farm Ajiwai," located about a 10-minute walk from JR Nagai Station and Subway Midosuji Line Nagai Station. It is a farm that adopts organic farming methods and does not use pesticides during cultivation. We are preparing an environment where children can spend their time in their own way while incorporating daily experiences of learning through touching the soil, touching life, and food.
What this school values is an environment where children feel "I can feel safe when I come here" and "I can be myself."
Rather than solely aiming for a return to school, we emphasize nurturing the power of children themselves to choose their future.
◾️ Class Content: "Learn about agriculture and food by doing everything ourselves, from growing seasonal vegetables to harvesting, cooking, and selling them."
● Let's decide what vegetables to grow (Learning about vegetables / Planning)
The children decide what vegetables to grow according to the season and make cultivation plans such as when to apply fertilizer and sow seeds.
● Let's work in the field (Interacting with nature / Moving our bodies)
We will do various tasks such as tilling the soil with a hoe, applying fertilizer, planting seeds and seedlings, watering, weeding, exterminating pests, pruning, and harvesting. Let's move our bodies while feeling the smell and texture of the soil and leaves, and the colors and sounds of nature.
● Let's eat vegetables (Food education)
We will bite into freshly harvested vegetables like tomatoes and corn, or cook and eat them.
We will experience the taste and aroma of fresh vegetables that can only be tasted by eating them freshly picked on the spot.
● Let's sell vegetables (Learning from production to sales / Community exchange)
● Let's observe the living creatures in the fields and rice paddies
● We also plan to conduct various other experiences (rice planting, harvesting, riding a tractor, etc.)
By crossing learning on the metaverse with real-life activities such as agriculture and nature experiences, we will realize a new form of learning that fosters children's self-esteem and social skills.
We also value learning within connections to the community and people, aiming for a society where truancy does not end as a "problem" but transforms into a "possibility." Fostering "zest for living" through the experience of touching soil, touching life, and thinking and acting for oneself. From the real field of agriculture, we will disseminate a new form of education.
■ Example of how a day is spent
- 10:00 Home Physical Education (Metaverse)
- 10:30 Class Meeting (Making today's work plan)
- 11:00 Work Starts (Farming, cooking, etc.)
- 12:30 Lunch
- 13:30 Self-paced learning (Farming, nature observation, vegetable sales, etc.)