Yaruki Switch Group collaborates with Jikyu Jisoku College to host a study tour, offering parents and children a new way of life as "Quarter Farmers." (VISON, Taki-cho, Mie)

Nurturing children's life skills at VISON in Mie. Two English teachers from Yaruki Switch Group accompanied the tour, providing opportunities to experience "living English." Yaruki Switch Group's experiential educational travel "Study Tour" for parents and children, targeting preschoolers to junior high school students, offers learning through "authentic experiences."

Yaruki Switch Group's study tour, "Quarter Farmer," a new way of life for parents and children, in collaboration with Jikyu Jisoku College.

Yaruki Switch Group Co., Ltd. (Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Naoshi Takahashi), a comprehensive educational service company, held an educational travel program "Study Tour" at the commercial facility "VISON" in Taki-cho, Mie Prefecture, to deepen learning through "authentic experiences" outside the classroom.

Two days of learning about "food," "agriculture," and "forests" realized through collaboration with Jikyu Jisoku College.

This tour, in collaboration with Jikyu Jisoku College (Taki-gun, Taki-cho, Mie Prefecture; Representative: Masahiro Koshiba), is a program to learn about the cycle of "food," "agriculture," and "forests" through the experience of a "Quarter Farmer," which embraces agriculture as a familiar concept. By incorporating Yaruki Switch Group's unique "questioning and reflection" method, insights gained in nature are verbalized, improving children's initiative and communication skills. Many parents expressed that they felt their children had made definite growth beyond the classroom setting.

What is Jikyu Jisoku College? Yaruki Switch Group's unique educational design that connects experiences to learning.

Based in Taki-cho, Mie Prefecture, Jikyu Jisoku College is a collaborative partner for this study tour. It is a place to learn "the art of self-sufficiency," covering themes related to daily life such as agriculture, seeds, fermentation, forests, housing, and energy, through both lectures and practical training. It aims to convey the art of "self-sufficiency" and a sustainable lifestyle in harmony with nature, promoting community building where people learn the wisdom, techniques, and information for living in connection with natural cycles.

Furthermore, Jikyu Jisoku College advocates a way of life called "Quarter Farmer," which fosters the ability to create part of one's own life by hand, rather than depending on external sources for everything needed. This concept suggests that without becoming a full-time farmer, one can dedicate 1 to 2 days a week, or 1/4 of one's working hours, to interacting with the soil, aiming not for complete self-sufficiency but for creating a part of one's life by hand.

In this study tour, Yaruki Switch Group redesigned these insights from Jikyu Jisoku College into an educational program for parents and children.

Overview A program to learn about the cycle of "food," "agriculture," and "forests" through the experience of a "Quarter Farmer," which embraces agriculture as a familiar concept.

- **Dates**: March 21 (Sat) - 22 (Sun), 2026 - **Location**: Commercial facility "VISON" in Taki-cho, Mie Prefecture (672-1 VISON, Taki-cho, Taki-gun, Mie Prefecture) - **Content**: An experiential program conducted in collaboration with Jikyu Jisoku College, where parents and children learn about the connection between "food," "agriculture," "forests," and daily life.

Feature ① Two days of learning about "food," "agriculture," and "forests" realized through collaboration with Jikyu Jisoku College.

An experiential program for parents and children, themed "How is our daily life supported by nature?", was conducted in cooperation with Jikyu Jisoku College.

In the program, participants first experienced the fields of "food" and "agriculture" through harvesting at an organic farm and interacting with animals. Afterwards, the venue shifted to the forest of "Hayamizu Forestry" (*), one of Japan's most historic forestry companies. Walking through the forest and creating swags with materials gathered by hand provided children with an opportunity to feel the "forest," the source that supports food, firsthand. It was a two-day program to learn about the "cycle of life" that supports our daily lives by connecting "food," "agriculture," and "forests." * Hayamizu Forestry: A forestry business operating in Kihoku-cho, Mie Prefecture, since 1790 in the Edo period. They have been engaged in environmentally friendly forest management, focusing on cypress trees, for many years and were the first in Japan to acquire FSC certification in 2000.

Feature ② Yaruki Switch Group's unique educational design that connects experiences to learning.

In this program, based on Jikyu Jisoku College's philosophy of living in harmony with natural cycles, Yaruki Switch Group's unique questioning and reflection methods were incorporated.

A unique workbook was used to introduce the process of "thinking, verbalizing, and reflecting." Importance was placed on children organizing what they felt by touching the soil and trees and expressing their own opinions. Furthermore, English teachers accompanied the tour, providing an "authentic English experience" where everything they saw was expressed in English. Through these multifaceted approaches, children learned that food, agriculture, and forests are not independent entities, but rather interconnected components of a larger cycle.