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JAPAN POLARIS Co., Ltd.
TEAM

The people who walk with you.

Your study-abroad journey begins the moment you decide to go. We are here from that very first step.

Hikage Koji — photo 1 of 3
  1. Hikage Koji holding a welcome-to-Sydney dessert platter at a Sydney restaurant
  2. Hikage Koji with a graduating student in cap and gown outside UTS (University of Technology Sydney), holding a certificate
  3. Hikage Koji at the summit of Mt Fuji in hiking gear

Message from the team leader

Hikage Koji

Founder & Project Lead

Where there is no change, there is no progress. The willingness to challenge yourself is what makes a life rich.

When I graduated from university, I asked my parents if I could study in Taiwan. Their answer was no — they believed you should bloom where you are planted. By the time I had the freedom to decide for myself, marriage and fatherhood had arrived, and the dream of living abroad quietly faded into the background.

The turning point came when I was made responsible for setting up my company's China office. My Chinese was almost non-existent, but the colleagues and friends I made there carried me through — and within about six months I could hold a proper conversation. The language and experience I built in those years remain among the most valuable things I have.

Learning English is, in a very real sense, learning the world. Life is a journey, and there is always more to study. My hope — for my own children and for you, reading this now — is that you will take the challenge. It is how you build a life worth living.

We are here to listen carefully to your goals, offer straightforward pricing, and give you that gentle half-step forward. Nothing more, nothing less.

「Live each day as if your life had just begun.」— Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Hikage Koji日影 恒次

The team supporting you on the ground

From Sydney and from Japan, our team supports your study abroad in real time.

Yuki Hikage — photo 1 of 3
  1. Yuki Hikage skydiving
  2. Yuki Hikage at his graduation ceremony
  3. Yuki Hikage at a community event

Yuki Hikage

On-the-ground coordinator · based in Sydney

So your study abroad doesn't stay a dream.

I graduated from university in Sydney and have built my life here. I have worked as a waiter, a barista, and an interpreter's assistant at a hospital — which means I can talk through far more than just school life. Finding work, choosing a neighbourhood, plugging into a community: I have been through it, and I can help you think it through.

Looking back, so much of the loneliness and difficulty I felt could have been lighter if I had known from the start that someone was there. That is exactly why I do this now — I want to be the person you can call on for a fast start when you arrive. I will tell you what the brochures never mention.

Yuki Hikage日影 勇己
Sachi Otsuka — photo 1 of 3
  1. Sachi Otsuka in Singapore
  2. Sachi Otsuka abroad
  3. Sachi Otsuka at Red Square, Moscow

Sachi Otsuka

Study-abroad project lead · former teacher

Turning study abroad from something special into something you can choose.

I went to Alaska in junior high, to Australia at seventeen, and later stood at the front of a classroom at a Japanese school in Singapore. Ten years as a teacher, layered on top of those experiences, means I can help you work out the path that actually fits your situation — not just the path that sounds impressive.

I know what it is like to sit across from a consultant at a large agency and feel lost in the face of an expensive, one-size-fits-all package. That is not what we do. We look for the best option available to you right now. I am nearly forty, and I still think: if the right chance came along, I would go again.

Sachi Otsuka大塚 彩知
Talk to our team