Woman spreads Japanese-style child care at nursery in Egypt

Maki Suto’s background made her seem destined to teach children in Japan. But her aspirations always took her mind to faraway destinations.

Last year, her dreams came together as one.

Suto, 54, grew up in a family that operated a prestigious nursery school.

During her childhood, she became interested in the pyramids of Giza and Tutankhamen, and she dreamed of becoming an archaeologist in Egypt.

Her career aspirations shifted as a 20 year old, when she participated in volunteer activities in Thailand to support children living in slums.

She saw the impoverished children’s faces light up as they enjoyed themselves to the fullest with what little they had around them.

“Someday, I want to work for the children of the world,” she said she thought at the time.

While raising two children as a single mother, Suto worked as a teacher at six different nursery schools. She also served as a nursery school director, and taught at a technical school for child care.

The turning point came in 2019, after she met an Egyptian on a trip to Malaysia and developed a desire to operate a nursery school in Egypt.

She later fulfilled her childhood dream of traveling to the Middle East country, where she was overwhelmed by the ruins and the views.

Upon returning to Japan, she began taking Arabic language lessons. And on her second trip to Egypt, she attended a local language school for two months.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

In Japan, she became extremely busy dealing with children and guardians at the nursery. She only went home to sleep.

But she could never forget her dreams of helping children around the world.

She resigned from her job and went to Egypt by herself in 2023, when the pandemic was declared over.

She visited more than 20 nursery schools in the country and was shocked at the differences from schools in Japan.

Picture book reading and hand games are commonplace in Japanese child care settings, but they were almost nonexistent in Egypt.

In Egyptian nurseries with lower fees, many children spent most of their time in bed. Those who did play were not given toys to use.

On the other hand, at nurseries with higher fees, children were taught languages and were rarely seen playing.

In Japan, it is believed that reading picture books to children and providing finger-activated activities can help stimulate their development through movements of their eyes and hands.

Such activities may also lead to their independence to do something on their own, she said.

“Japanese child care emphasizes learning from play,” she said.

In Egypt, nursery school teaching is not a profession that requires qualifications, and expertise is not necessarily considered important in caring for children, Suto said.

She thought she wanted to spread Japanese child care in Egypt.

With cooperation from Egyptian students studying Japanese, she translated picture books, picture plays and songs into Arabic.

She renovated the living room of her home and opened a “nursery room” in 2024.

She hosted workshops on Japanese-style child care, which became popular, and parents and visitors asked her to create a nursery school.

In October, she opened a nursery school named Tsumugi.

Six children have attended the school, and two more are expected to join from April.

Sometimes, Japanese university students volunteer at the nursery school. On other occasions, tourists from Japan bring origami, toys and other items, she said.

Suto had been running the nursery school from her own savings, but with crowdfunding, she hopes to build a mobile library using a converted bus and make picture books and picture story shows more accessible to the children.

She said her goal is not to run a “Japanese nursery school run by Japanese people.” Rather, she hopes Egyptian people who have learned Japanese-style child care will pass it on to other Egyptians.