The Consortium for Research on Early Childhood Development and Education (CORE) hosted five academics from Japan from March 16 to March 17, 2026.
On March 16, Professor Chiharu Uchida from Toyo University, Professor Nozomi Kato from Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences, Professor Takeshi Hida from Ichinomiya Kenshin College, and Ms Reiko Okamoto and Ms Mio Nishimoto from Atelier Rei Nursery School visited two early childhood settings in Hong Kong, accompanied by CORE’s Deputy Director, Dr Diana Lee and PhD student Mr Jichen Liu. As a fluent Japanese speaker, Dr Lee interpreted for the Japanese academics and presented the early childhood contexts to the visitors. During their visit, the scholars had insightful discussions with the school staff and CORE members.
On March 17, the academics visited the HKU campus and met the HKU ECE team members and postdoctoral fellows at the Faculty. The CORE members introduced the ECE programmes and ongoing research projects to the visitors, and discussed future collaborations.
Later that evening, the scholars gave an inspirational seminar in English to HKU Master of Education (Early Childhood Education) students and faculty members on why children in Japan take on toban (classroom duties), sparking enthusiastic discussions among attendees about images of children in Japan and Hong Kong.
