PR TIMES Becomes Founding Partner of SAMURAI Foundation Aiming to Provide "Entre Club" Free of Charge to Elementary School Students Nationwide.

PR TIMES Inc. (Minato City, Tokyo, Representative Director: Takumi Yamaguchi, TSE Prime/Nagoya Premier: 3922), which operates the press release distribution service "PR TIMES" and other services, has entered into a partnership agreement with SAMURAI Foundation (Minato City, Tokyo, Representative Director: Kentaro Sakakibara), a general incorporated foundation that plans and operates entrepreneurship education programs for elementary school students, on July 7, 2026 (Tue).

In cooperation with the foundation, our company will develop "SAMURAI Entre Club for Kids," an extracurricular entrepreneurship education program for elementary school students, and work to create an environment where children can take their next step without fear of challenge by fostering their communication skills and connections with the community.

Background of the Partnership Agreement

SAMURAI Foundation, with its mission to "change the world by deciding whether to do it or not, rather than whether it can be done or not," aims to deliver experiences where children think for themselves and challenge themselves while collaborating with peers to elementary school students nationwide. While educational opportunities for academic ability and digital literacy are expanding for Japanese children, there is a growing need for further enrichment in opportunities to foster non-cognitive skills and entrepreneurial spirit, such as "thinking for oneself and challenging as a team." Furthermore, the gap in extracurricular activities is widening, a trend that is particularly pronounced in rural and small schools. Additionally, the scale of individual donations in Japan remains about one-thirtieth that of the United States (0.33% of GDP in Japan vs. 2.00% in the US) (*), and there is a shortage of "containers" for reliable and substantial donations. The foundation was established as a nationwide, free challenge education infrastructure specifically for the extracurricular time of upper elementary school students.

PR TIMES, with its mission "Towards an era where information from "doers" moves people's hearts," aims to create a society where the passion and struggles of "doers" who ask their own questions instead of waiting for the right answer, accept failure, and connect it to their next challenge, encourage the actions of others. By articulating actions into words and disseminating them, they reach collaborators nearby or people far away, fostering support and empathy that leads to the next step. We have created a platform where people can get closer to this feeling through information dissemination. Expanding this cycle to children who will carry the future is an extension of the society that PR TIMES aims for.

Challenges are accompanied by anxiety and hesitation, and it is even more frightening to voice them. That is why we hope that future generations will feel the positive energy that comes from expressing their thoughts and actions in words at an early stage. Through this partnership, we will support opportunities for children's challenges to connect with society.

(*) Source: Japan Fundraising Association "White Paper on Donations 2025"

About SAMURAI Entre Club for Kids

"SAMURAI Entre Club for Kids" is an extracurricular entrepreneurship education program primarily for 5th and 6th graders. Children take on roles within teams and work with their peers to identify problems, plan, execute, present, and reflect.

The program is not "a place to teach entrepreneurship." It aims to foster the ability to create one's own future, regardless of the path chosen later in life, by nurturing the attitude of thinking for oneself, collaborating with peers, and trying again even after failure.

The annual curriculum is structured in stages such as "Foundation for Challenge," "Acting for Someone," and "My Own Project," where children shape their ideas through repeated actions, reactions, and reflections. SAMURAI Foundation will provide the curriculum, teaching materials, certification, evaluation design, and systems for mentors and facilitators, and will deliver challenge opportunities to children nationwide in cooperation with schools, municipalities, boards of education, and partner companies.

Partnership Details

Partner Organization

SAMURAI Foundation

Target Activities

Extracurricular entrepreneurship education program for elementary school students, "SAMURAI Entre Club for Kids"

Primary Target Audience of the Program

5th and 6th graders

Collaboration Details

Creating opportunities for children to articulate their challenges, creating touchpoints with local businesses, supporting activity dissemination, and cooperating in community management through employees and mentors.

Comments on the Agreement

Project Manager, PR TIMES Business Unit, Second Sales Department, Kinari Sakai

PR TIMES has expanded platforms where people striving to achieve something can announce their actions, and where their passion and enthusiasm reach society, leading to someone's next step. Behind every announcement lies the trial and error of "doers" who think for themselves, act with others, and try to deliver something to society. We believe that the time children spend challenging themselves with peers and adults in the SAMURAI Entre Club will also provide them with opportunities to experience work and adulthood as a chance to expand what they can do and the world they can engage with. We will work with SAMURAI Foundation to make this collaboration a catalyst for children to experience the fun of taking action themselves and the sense of accomplishment when their actions reach someone.

Kentaro Sakakibara, Representative Director, SAMURAI Foundation

We are deeply honored to be able to collaborate with PR TIMES. SAMURAI Foundation's mission is to provide the entrepreneurship education program "Entre Club" free of charge to elementary school students nationwide, fostering their ability to carve out their own lives and the world through the principle of "doing or not doing." PR TIMES, as one of Japan's largest information dissemination platforms, is an invaluable partner in broadly conveying our aspirations to society. In addition to public relations support for the foundation's activities, we are also receiving assistance with the "April Dream" initiative, which allows companies, organizations, and individuals to share their "dreams to fulfill" starting April 1st. We sincerely hope to work together on this initiative, which deeply resonates with our belief that children should dream and challenge those dreams. We hope that more and more people will learn about this endeavor and that allies who will build the future of children together will spread across the country. We are truly grateful to PR TIMES for joining us in this significant step of fostering challenges through education and bringing peace to the world through action, and we will dedicate our full efforts to it.

About SAMURAI Foundation

Name: SAMURAI Foundation English Name: SAMURAI Foundation Established: April 14, 2026 Location: 4F, Garden Plaza B, Toranomon 5-9-1, Minato City, Tokyo, Azabudai Hills Representative Director: Kentaro Sakakibara Business Activities: Planning and operation of entrepreneurship education programs for elementary school students, collaborative projects with educational institutions and municipalities, educational research and information dissemination. URL: https://samurai-foundation.org/

About PR TIMES Inc.

PR TIMES, with its mission "Towards an era where information from "doers" moves people's hearts," strives to realize a society where positive information from "doers" becomes the center of news, encouraging individuals and fostering a positive outlook. We believe that press releases are the crystallization of people's actions and efforts, and we aim for the democratization of PR, where "doers" of any scale can disseminate information themselves. The number of companies using the press release distribution service "PR TIMES" exceeds 124,000, with over 65% of listed Japanese companies utilizing it. The number of media reporters who register for information gathering exceeds 29,000, with approximately 90 million monthly site accesses, over 46,000 press releases per month, and a cumulative total of over 2 million. Content is published on over 260 partner media outlets, including national newspaper websites (as of February 2026).

In addition, we support information dissemination and its spread through services such as "PR TIMES STORY" for storytelling, "PR TIMES TV" for video communication, PR partner services that provide support from PR planning to execution, the art-focused PR platform "MARPH," and news media operations like "STRAIGHT PRESS." We also operate businesses that provide comprehensive support to "doers," including the task and project management tool "Jooto" to help advance ideas from conception to announcement, and the customer support tool "Tayori" to facilitate customer response and information organization after announcements.

Our subsidiaries include THE BRIDGE Inc., which operates the startup media "BRIDGE," Glucose Inc., which provides custom software development, and NAVICUS Inc., which supports SNS marketing.

PR TIMES Inc. Company Overview

Mission: Towards an era where information from "doers" moves people's hearts. Company Name: PR TIMES Inc. (TSE Prime, Nagoya Premier Securities Code: 3922) Location: Akasaka Intercity 8F, 1-11-44 Akasaka, Minato City, Tokyo Established: December 2005 Representative Director: Takumi Yamaguchi Business Activities: - Operation of press release distribution service "PR TIMES" (https://prtimes.jp/) - Operation of story distribution service "PR TIMES STORY" (https://prtimes.jp/story/) - Provision of PR support as a partner between clients and media. - Operation of video PR service "PR TIMES TV" (https://prtimes.jp/tv/) - Operation of art-focused online PR platform "MARPH" (https://marph.com/) - Operation of customer support tool "Tayori" (https://tayori.com/) - Operation of task and project management tool "Jooto" (https://www.jooto.com/) - Operation of media "PR TIMES MAGAZINE" (https://prtimes.jp/magazine/) delivering PR knowledge. - Operation of press release dedicated editor "PR Editor" (https://preditor.prtimes.com/) - Operation of web news media such as "STRAIGHT PRESS" (https://straightpress.jp/), etc.

URL: https://prtimes.co.jp/