Wonderfy Inc.

Our CEO, Kei & COO, Yuka would like to discuss 
the future focus of Wonderfy.

Kei Kawashima

Kei KawashimaCEO

Kei KawashimaCEO

Kei completed his master's degree in engineering at the University of Tokyo. His strong passion for arithmetic and mathematics led him to get involved with working on the bestselling puzzle book "Nazope." Since 2007, Kei has taught a wide variety of students ranging from four years old to university-level students at the Hanamaru Group. Additionally, he provides learning support to a large number of public elementary schools and orphanages located both in Japan and overseas.

Yuka Nakamura COO

Yuka NakamuraCOO

Yuka NakamuraCOO

Yuka graduated from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Law. After working at large consulting companies, like Corporate Direction and Bain & Company, Yuka joined Hanamaru Lab(now Wonderfy) in 2014 and became the COO. Concurrently, she worked as a classroom manager at the Hanamaru Group and gained valuable experience in early-stage childhood education.

Our company name is different, but our mission remains the same

Tell us a little about your company mission statement, ‘to cultivate a sense of wonder from children all around the world.’ Was there a particular experience that inspired you to set this as your mission?

Before I started my own business, I spent a lot of time as an educator with children in various settings. During one of those experiences, I spent some time at a children’s home for children who have difficulty attending school for one reason or another. This experience led me to create the foundation of our mission, a ‘sense of wonder.’
In the beginning, I had the idea of bringing the learning to children who couldn’t come to class. At the time, I was totally enthused and thought, “I’ll make these children independent!” However, that approach didn’t work at all.

When you say it “didn’t work at all,” what exactly happened?

Well, for example, with the best intentions at heart, I once gave older students teaching materials meant for much younger students. I thought, “even though the students are fifth graders, I’ll have to teach them arithmetic starting from around the second-grade level.” If you look from the children’s point of view, they thought, “I’m in the fifth grade but I’m being made to do second-grade level math, but I can’t even do that.” This scenario was hurtful to the children’s self-esteem. They thought, “I’m being forced to keep showing my inability to those who came a long way to see and teach me even though I’d really like to get along with them.”
Then, I gave the children a puzzle I made. They snapped it right up, faster than I thought and finished all the puzzles very quickly. “Wow! I surrender! There are no more puzzles left!” I exclaimed. A chain reaction was set off from the children where they all took the initiative to take a look at their homework.
Things definitely wouldn’t have gone well if the general attitude was to do their homework from the beginning. From my experiences, I strongly felt the importance of starting with having fun. Even as the company has expanded and the number of employees has increased, this feeling is something that we will always have and will always treasure.

This is what we hope to achieve by delivering a ‘sense of wonder.’

Is the ‘fun’ feeling you described earlier the same as having a ‘sense of wonder?’

Yes, if you’re asking me what exactly a ‘sense of wonder’ is, I think the easiest way to understand what we mean is to watch the video I created when I gave a class in the Philippines. The liveliness of the children when they shout “Whoa!” after solving a puzzle. The goosebumps they get as they finally see a way through the puzzle that they couldn’t see at first. The ability to feel a ‘sense of wonder’ is within all children. I have seen this within thousands of children that I have taught.
Think!Think!, our first product, is played by users from over 150 different countries. We believe and have experienced firsthand that wonderful content can transcend borders, languages, and cultures to engage and cultivate that ‘sense of wonder’ in children around the world.

What kind of vision do you have of the future where your mission, ‘to cultivate a sense of wonder from children around the world,’ has been realized?

Generally speaking, children’s education has the intention of molding students. We as adults think, “we want the children to become this kind of person.” While this is important, we care so much for children that, very often, we unknowingly impose adult ideals on them.
I really believe in the power that having a ‘sense of wonder’ has to change people and the world for the better. I think an interesting future lies ahead with unexpected developments.
Rather than having children be modeled on how adults want them to be, a truly rich world where children are driven by their ‘sense of wonder.’ A world where children are free to create without the constraints of ordinary ideals. By doing so, they can create things that we adults would never have thought possible.
That’s why we want to improve children’s learning around the world with our content and deliver it to as wide an audience as possible.

※Wonderfy comes by attaching “-fy” (verbifying) the word “wonder”

Do you think the company name change from ‘WonderLab’ to ‘Wonderfy’ is an expression of your eagerness to “deliver to as wide an audience as possible?”

Absolutely, we arrived at our new company name of ‘Wonderfy’ as a step-up from a place that creates wonder to a place that delivers wonder. Previously, as the name ‘Lab’ suggests, we were focused on the ‘pursuit’ of quality content, much like a laboratory. From now on, we will accelerate our challenge of ‘delivering’ our content to the world.

Expansion opportunities with changes in the Education Market.

You say that you’re accelerating this challenge, but why now? Please tell us about your specific intentions.

Now is an extremely important time for us.
This is due to changes surrounding the educational market environment and educational objectives, which have led to a material demand for content that cultivates a ‘sense of wonder.’ This is a huge market, worth 2.7 trillion (around 20 billion USD) yen domestically and 600 trillion yen (around 4.5 trillion USD) globally.

 

世界における教育業界のデジタル市場の成長

First, please tell us about the changes surrounding the educational market environment.

The educational industry is becoming digitized at an unprecedented rate. The industry has traditionally been quite slow to digitize. However, due to COVID, children, parents, and teachers alike have been forced to adapt and get used to technology. Therefore, now it is commonplace to deal with technology in some shape or form. There are, of course, differences between age and region, but the change is irreversible.
The educational industry’s digital market is expected to grow 1.8 times from 30 trillion yen (around 230 billion USD) in 2020 to close to 56 trillion yen (around 430 billion USD) in 2025, which only accounts for 5.5% of the total market. In other words, there is still a significant growth opportunity. *
As we seek growth in the digital content area, it’s a major boost for us that investment in the digital world and familiarity with digital devices and technology is becoming normalized.
*From a report published by Holon IQ, a research firm specializing in the EdTech industry.

世界における教育業界のデジタル市場の成長

What kind of changes are happening in educational objectives?

In recent times, there has been a global demand to develop foundation knowledge and competencies in dealing with complex, real-world problems. This includes thinking and creativity along with the development of soft skills (noncognitive skills) such as curiosity and persistence. We call these abilities ‘new skills.’
With the rise of AI, it’s said that nearly half of all jobs that exist today will cease to exist in the future. With that in mind, there’s a demand for an education style that fosters creativity in one’s own ideas and learning cross-discipline, rather than learning basic knowledge in an exhaustive manner.
Japan’s educational reforms are also amid this trend, as is evident in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports Science and Technology’s framework for thinking, judgment, and expression, as published in the Ministry’s “Aims Of The New Educational Curriculum.”

How do you think you can respond to the rapidly changing needs of the educational market?

Stimulating and cultivating a ‘sense of wonder’ that inspires self-directed learning is the best approach to acquire ‘New skills.’ Thinking and creativity can’t be fostered if somebody else forces you to learn. In other words, the very areas that make up the fundamental core of our content are now being sought after in education.
For more than eight years, we at Wonderfy have been creating content that focuses on fostering thinking and creativity. During that process, we are steadily acquiring evidence of their educational effectiveness.
As one of the pioneering companies in the field of ‘new skills,‘ we will continue to deliver the highest quality content to children all around the world using a realistic approach.

Finally, please tell us what you’d like to achieve going forward?

We will lead the way for companies and adults around the world alike to bring out and cultivate our children’s ‘sense of wonder.’ In truth, we want to create a society where it is considered normal for adults to dedicate themselves to helping children develop their motivation and creativity, not just us at Wonderfy.
An exciting experience during childhood can change the course of a child’s life and make their life more wonderful. We would like to deliver such experiences to hundreds of millions of people around the world.