I am a senior of Toho High School which is regarded as one of the top ten private schools among Tokyo. I chose to go to Toho High School from Junior high school rather than my local public one because I felt a connection to Toho’s mottos which is to support their students’ independency and allow them to wield both pen and sword, whereas most Japanese junior and high schools are more focused on preparing students for university entrance examinations. In addition, the water polo club at Toho helped me to pursue my sports career simultaneously. Toho also provides each of its students with an opportunity to conduct a research study on any topic of their choice throughout their entire high school career. Those were crucial elements for me as I wanted to develop myself both academically as well as in sports.

Some of my mantras include:

1. Do not have biases or be affected by rumors, and try to explore the truth on my own.

2. Authentic leadership can change the world for better.

3. Find the good sides of people through communication.

4. Have a positive attitude towards unknown fields and learn about them instead of fearing it.

5. Always try to apply what I have learned and experienced to help others.

6. Keep learning and moving forward.

Here is a brief summary of my history with English and water polo, which are two huge aspects of my life; I started learning English when I was 4 years old and went to an after school English academy three days a week. I did homestay in the US 3 times and Canada once and went to summer school there from the age of 7 to 10. Through that, I was able to see and experience a different world. At the age of four, I also started taking lessons of swimming and passed the test to enter an advanced class which was for children to become Olympic swimmers. At the age of nine, a water polo class was established in the swimming school and was only available to those who belonged in the advanced class. I decided to take this challenge. This was a turning point in my life as water polo was eye opening for me. Since then, I focused on both academic achievement and becoming a better a water polo player.

Thus, in April of 2016, after passing the entrance exam, I was able to become a student of Toho Junior High School. I joined the water polo club in 7th grade and was chosen to become the captain of the team in senior year of Junior high school (9th grade in the US) and Junior through Senior year of high school. When I was captain, my team produced remarkable records. As an individual player, I was selected to be a representative player of Tokyo water polo team in 2019 and 2021 in the National league. Also, I was commended by the Association of Tokyo High School Athletes (koutairen-suiei-tokyo.net) as “Top Scorer” in the final Tokyo league competition in 2021.

As for academic achievement, my research paper on the summer research and development competition within junior high school received first prizes for three years in a row. My first research paper was about a scientific analysis of water polo games on Japan Men’s Water Polo Team at Rio De Janeiro Olympic, and my second and third research papers were about Research and Development of a real time and scouting analysis program for water polo games. I was the second person who received consecutive first prize since the summer competition started in Toho school. I was told that it was a remarkable deed in the history of our school. (Please click the tab of “Research Paper” on the home page to see the papers. All research papers have been translated into English while my school was closed due to the pandemic). Those research papers are about over 200 pages all together, but I decided to translate them because I wanted people from all around world who are interested in the development of the analysis of water polo games to access them.

In high school, my life became busier than ever due to the amount of energy, I wanted to commit to water polo. I practiced almost every day and devoted my weekends to competitions. I took on a lot of responsibility as team captain and additionally, had to go to special training as a representative player of Tokyo team in different school. Throughout this, I managed to execute all of my academic subjects in advanced courses; AP math course, advanced English course and advanced Japanese course (traditional Japanese).

In the process of continuing to develop myself further while exploring and learning more about the world, I am hoping to find my own a career in which I can contribute to society and to the world.