Each year in January, the first-year students at Bunka Gakuin High School present a weeklong exhibition of their original picture books in English. "My students themselves plan, write and draw the picture books. Their English is simple, but their stories are full of imagination and fantasy. Trying to express themselves through art and English, the students achieve charming effects," said Makiko Tachibana.
She is their English teacher. Bunka Gakuin, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, was founded in 1921 by her great-grandfather, Isaku Nishimura. Tachibana said: "My great-grandfather could not find a school to please him for his daughter, my grandmother. He wanted her to learn art and language and history, not just sewing and cooking. My grandmother at 12 published a book in English on Pinocchio. She was the first to introduce Pinocchio into Japan."
From its founding Bunka Gakuin stayed a family enterprise. "My mother, Tone Tachibana, is the head of Bunka Gakuin College. Some of her relatives teach at the school. Now as well as teaching English in the high school, I teach psychology in the college," Tachibana said. Bunka Gakuin is know for its championing of free spirit and liberal ideals. "Our students take pride in developing and showing their individualities, and the teachers support them in doing so," she added.