All Grade 10 students study Japanese language and culture as part of the core curriculum, and it is available as an IB language option in the Diploma Programme. Grade 10 also includes an annual collaboration with the Ainu of Nibutani, Hokkaido, exploring their language, culture, and practices — a reminder that Japan’s cultural story is deeper and more diverse than most students expect.
One of the school’s most active student-led clubs, the Japanese Excursion Club organises multiple day trips each month to destinations across Shinshu, from local festivals and historic districts to cultural sites across the region.
Thanks to the Discover Shinshu Fund, students participate in deeper educational journeys throughout Nagano Prefecture. The fund has supported annual trips aboard the Rokumon train, overnight stays at Buddhist temples, and hikes along the Nakasendo, the ancient highway that once connected Kyoto and Edo.
Each November, students exhibit their work at the Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa. It is a public exhibition, open to the wider community, and for many students their first experience of presenting creative work to an audience beyond the school.
Students compete in the Shinshu Junior Curling League, run workshops open to local residents, and welcome organisations such as Picchio, a local wildlife research and conservation group, to share their work on campus. The Tea Ceremony Club, one of the school’s longest-running clubs, meets regularly with a local teacher and has hosted community events attended by Karuizawa residents and the town mayor.
Wabi, an appreciation of simplicity, and sabi, an appreciation of imperfection and the passage of time, sit at the heart of Japanese aesthetics. At UWC ISAK Japan they have taken on a particular life. Wabi-kun the kamoshika (the Japanese serow) and Sabi-chan the musasabi (Japanese giant flying squirrel), both native to the Karuizawa forests, are the school’s beloved mascots. The philosophy they represent shows up daily, from Stop & Clean, the school-wide practice where everyone pauses to tidy the campus together, to the mindfulness of a tea ceremony.
Hi, I'm Sabi-chan.
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