Tokyo Kids Write
ABOUT TOKYO KIDS WRITE
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Kids are naturally creative, naturally inquisitive, and inherently qualified to search for meaning and write from the heart.
So what is missing?
Time. Set-aside time is what is missing. Time to dig into their ideas. Time to polish rough drafts before moving onto the next thing. Time to be mentored and encouraged for every smart decision they make, from a well-placed comma, a kickin’ summary sentence, or a whole essay or novella they have penned and crafted into a work of art.
We, as a community of Tokyo Kids Write, work to give this special time back.
Image by Jeff Rifkin Portraits
Every Sunday, kids in/around Tokyo, have the amazing opportunity to come together, read, write, and share their work in the warmest environment!
Our Schedule This Month, 2024
Every Sunday, we provide time for kids to collaborate—writing and thinking as a team, as well as work on their own, independent writing project. We provide practical, inspiring encouragement to raise up kids who use their strength, passion, and skill to change their world.
Writing success and reading skills=
more confidence and preparedness for anything a young person wishes to pursue!
Simply reach out to Melissa.
Tell us when you wish to come/RSVP, and experience the power of giving your young person time to write and get creative with their words!
Location: Tree of Life Language and Creative Arts Studio is a few steps from Komagome Station (JR Yamanote & Tokyo Metro Namboku Lines). There are numerous convenient ways to reach our studio, including easy car-drop-off.
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Stay tuned for creative writing camps taking place over holidays!
Every child deserves the gift of finding his/her own voice in their writing. It’s having so much FUN and creating something the kids BELIEVE IN is what really makes these programs a treasure.
Will you join the magic of our writing environment?
THE SUNDAY CLUB
MEETS EVERY SUNDAY!
The Sunday Club is a creative writing group for young people, ages 8-17! We gather in our BRAND NEW creative space, here, as part of Tree of Life entity—here, in northern Tokyo, just a couple of steps from Komagome Station East Exit (JR Yamanote)!
A young writer’s letter about The Sunday Club:
“Writing means sharing its human nature to want to share things. Thoughts, ideas…opinions.” Paulo Cheol
…Tokyo kids Write is a writing group targeted at young writers starting in the elementary grades on up into middle and high school, and in my opinion, it is wonderful place.
So, what is it about this group that’s so great? Starting when you walk in the door, you’re greeted by people that all share something in common with you; you instantly have a common point of interest. The people are friendly, and everyone there is dedicated to writing. The atmosphere is energetic and casual; you’re never quite sure what the day will bring but you are sure that it will be good.
Besides being a good social outlet, the group is a place where you can share ideas with others. everyone loves writing as a means of expression and having that many creative people in a room ensures a diverse set of opinions. Hearing other writers critique my thoughts is good for me personally. I grow more as a person and as a writer and for that I’m grateful. I’m inspired by the other people there and am proud to attend. I joined for accountability, and it’s worked. Not only am I obligated to get some progress done on whatever project I’m working on, but I also genuinely love getting people’s feedback.
I fully recommend this group if you want to meet people that love writing. It’s important as a writer to have someone to share your work with. This group is a great place to do that. Everyone, the people, the instructor, and the assistants are wonderful. Melissa-San, as a writer herself, knows the craft and is dedicated to helping you improve. She believes in the individual style of each person there, so no matter what your preferred style or genre, you are guaranteed a warm reception. The group is primarily English speaking, and fluency is necessary.
If that isn’t a problem, simply come as you are, the rest will come. I look forward to seeing you there. It’s one of the highlights of my week.
“The theatre camp was the highlight of my daughter’s summer! I’m just very grateful that you created such a dreamy and creative space for my child and all the other kids in Tokyo.”
“I am so thankful that you and your staff created such a place for not only for my child, but all other kids with different backgrounds who are so eager to learn writing.”
TKW Resident Actors & Writers
Suzanne Kamata
Suzanne Kamata is an award-winning American writer living in Tokushima, Japan.
She is the author of Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible, which was named the APALA YA Honor Book and a Book of Outstanding Merit by Bank Street College; Screaming Divas, which was named to the ALA Rainbow List and featured on MTV.com; Indigo Girl, which was an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner; and Pop Flies, Robo-pets and Other Disasters, which was a recent Sakura Medal contender, and a Skipping Stones Honor Book. Her shorter stories have appeared in Cricket Magazine, Ladybug, the Asahi Weekly, and numerous anthologies. She currently teaches at Naruto University of Education.
Kristen Watts, Actor, Narrator, Singer, Voice Actor, & Resident Tokyo Kids Write Coach!
Kristen will again be working with our writers in the Power of Drama & Writing Camp this August!
Born and raised in the United States, Kristen works as an actor, narrator, singer, and voice actor here in Tokyo. Her resume includes on-screen work for Benesse, TV Asahi, and Yotsuya Otsuka, and voice work for companies like SEGA and Fujitsu. She can also be seen onstage with Tokyo International Players and as an MC in the 2022 NHK television program Koukou Kouza: English Communication I. In addition to performing, she sometimes works as a translator and reviewer, specializing in scripts and story texts.
Instagram: @kristenwattsjapan Twitter: @kristenwattsjp
Hannah Grace, Singer, Actress, Voice Artist, & Resident Tokyo Kids Write Coach!
This American actor and artist is best known for her role in the NHK drama Hanako to Anne. She has worked extensively in TV, film, radio, live theatre, and streamed media! Hannah joins us this August!
Other notable works include Segodon, Nagai Owakare, Sushi Town, Ei Ei Go, The Benza (Amazon Prime), Ultraman - Ultra Galaxy Fight (English version), and the Hollywood film Equals. She can be heard every week on the NHK radio program Koukousei kara Hajimeru Gendai Eigo. Singing credits include “Genjitsu” for the video game Fate/Grand Order. She has been active in the Tokyo English Theatre community since 2012. Some of her on-stage credits include: “The Witch” Into the Woods, “The Baroness” Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, “Jo” Little Women, and “Abigail” The Crucible. Expressing stories through the English language has driven her career, and she is thrilled to share her passion for words in this year’s Tokyo Kids Write with Drama camp!
Twitter: @red_cinderella & Instagram: @redheaded_cinderella
Melissa Uchiyama, Founder & Teacher of TKW, image by Sam Spicer Photography
Mosaic details in the Tokyo Kids Write Studio! Captured by Sam Spicer Photography
“I was very much looking forward to it, but I wasn’t expecting anything; I was just going to see how it went. After going, now if I look around the room, I get 46,864 new ideas (per second). I think it helped me choose better adjectives and be able to describe things with more details. ”
“Because of this camp, I am starting to like writing much more than before! One of the reasons why I didn’t write so often was because I wasn’t so confident with it. But after sharing pieces of my work, and then getting lots of positive feedback, I started to gain confidence and started liking it more.”
“Having children experience a different way of writing, by focusing on food as well as utilizing all the senses to help write better descriptions and capture the imagination.”
“I see that my daughter is using much more detail in her work, particularly with sensory components. ”
“It was a pleasure to work with you and the kids. I was taken aback by how well-spoken they were, and by how they did their assignments like pros.”
Creative Space at the Tokyo Kids Write Headquarters for Session 2! Image by Sam Spicer Photography
“I’m so happy that I don’t have to tell my child they need to write. My daughter just starts writing! She has never written more!”
—Parent of private writing student
“For us, as parents, we did not really have any specific expectations going in, but seeing how our son responded, (both before and after) it clearly exceeded all expectations.
He had been wanting to do something like this for a long time, and he wanted to keep going. The encouragement and direction he received in his writing was great. When he was writing on his own, he would just write (and write and write), but learning focused techniques really inspired him.”
—-Parent of Camp Participant
“Without Melissa’s guidance, lessons, and encouragement, my daughter would never have never embarked on her journey of writing! I can’t thank you enough!”
“I serve young writers from early-stages into high-school who need the help and support to grow into skillful, excited writers who publish, create essays that wow, and communicate with power and clarity.”
Award-Winning Authors and Partners
in Tokyo Kids Write Camps
Suzanne Kamata
Award-winning, prolific author and editor.
She is the author of Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible, which was named the APALA YA Honor Book and a Book of Outstanding Merit by Bank Street College; Screaming Divas, which was named to the ALA Rainbow List and featured on MTV.com; Indigo Girl, which was an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner; and Pop Flies, Robo-pets and Other Disasters, which was a recent Sakura Medal contender, and a Skipping Stones Honor Book. Her shorter stories have appeared in Cricket Magazine, Ladybug, the Asahi Weekly, and numerous anthologies. She currently teaches at Naruto University of Education.
Website, Instagram ,and Twitter
Dianne Jacob
Multiple award-winning writer and author. Her book, Will Write for Food, is in its fourth edition and has won three international awards. She has co-authored two cookbooks: Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas and Piadinas and The United States of Pizza. Her essay, The Meaning of Mangoes, won an annual award from the Association of Food Journalists. Previously a newspaper, magazine and publishing company editor, Dianne coaches on getting published, whether with a book, article or blog. Her blog is aimed at food writers at www.diannej.com/b. Follower her on Twitter @diannej, Instagram at @diannemjacob, and on Facebook at facebook.com/foodwriting/.
Kristen Watts
Born and raised in the United States, Kristen works as an actor, narrator, singer, and voice actor here in Tokyo. Her resume includes on-screen work for Benesse, TV Asahi, and Yotsuya Otsuka, and voice work for companies like SEGA and Fujitsu. She can also be seen onstage with Tokyo International Players and as an MC in the 2022 NHK television program Koukou Kouza: English Communication I.
In addition to performing, she sometimes works as a translator and reviewer, specializing in scripts and story texts.
Instagram: @kristenwattsjapan Twitter: @kristenwattsjp
Hannah Grace
an American singer, actress, and voice artist best known for her role in the NHK drama Hanako to Anne. She has worked extensively in TV, film, radio, live theatre, and streamed media. Notable works include Segodon, Nagai Owakare, Sushi Town, Ei Ei Go, The Benza (Amazon Prime), Ultraman - Ultra Galaxy Fight (English version), and the Hollywood film Equals. She can be heard every week on the NHK radio program Koukousei kara Hajimeru Gendai Eigo. Singing credits include “Genjitsu” for the video game Fate/Grand Order. She has been active in the Tokyo English Theatre community since 2012. Some of her on-stage credits include: “The Witch” Into the Woods, “The Baroness” Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, “Jo” Little Women, and “Abigail” The Crucible. Expressing stories through the English language has driven her career, and she is thrilled to share her passion for words in this year’s Tokyo Kids Write with Drama camp!
Follow her on Twitter: @red_cinderella and Instagram: @redheaded_cinderella
Holly Thompson
Prolific, award-winning author, Holly Thompson, came in and spent time with us! We met via Skype, talking about her book, Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth, and learning her personal process! We learned more of the truth behind her characters and setting, and held onto her every word! Holly’s work delves into sensitive, important subjects such as bullying, bicultural families, grief, displacement, loss, nature, and more. Holly teaches college courses and writing workshops for children’s authors, and she is Co-Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators of Japan.
Leza Lowitz
During our camp with Leza, we studied her deftly-written tribute to the March 11th Tohoku Earthquake and communities, in Up From the Sea. More of Leza’s accolades for her poetry, essays, stories, and YA novels are here. This camp star-author brought us into the process of how she was affected by the March 11 events, how real people inspired her main characters, and how sensitive, beautifully-written writing can honor and inspire whole countries and communities.
Leza Lowitz is a best-selling writer of over 20 books. She’s received the PEN Josephine Miles Poetry Award, a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, NEA, NEH, California Arts Council and SCBWI Work-in-Progress grants, the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Award, and the Asian/Pacific American Literature Award for Jet Black and the Ninja Wind (Tuttle), with Shogo Oketani. Recently, she published a YA novel, Up from the Sea (Crown), and a memoir about adopting and adapting in Japan, called In Search of the Sun (Wandering Mind Books). She’s written for The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Japan Times, Art in America, Yoga Journal, Shambhala Sun, and Best Buddhist Writing.
Lowitz is also a long-time teacher of yoga, mindfulness and meditation, and owns Tokyo’s beloved Sun and Moon Yoga studio (est. 2003). She has trained thousands of yoga teachers in Restorative Yoga across Japan and internationally.
Find her at www.lezalowitz.com and www.sunandmoon.jp.
Two excited, focused writers from 2020 Camp!
Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu
Annie joined our kids in nature-writing, but she shared poetry and the power of observation. She shared how her journaling later become the seed-idea and inspiration for her breakout novel-in-verse, Somewhere Among. Since being a wow-factor of camp, Somewhere Among garnered awards such as Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year among others.
She has since published the second novel-in-verse, Beyond Me, which won New York Public Library Best Books of 2020, Freeman Book Award Honor 2020, and more.
Cooking With Kiara
Kiara, Teen Chef, joined our Tokyo Kids Write Food Writing Camp, connecting with the vision of empowering young people! We discussed the power of words within the food world, from her videos on social media to creating original content and recipes!
This focused, fiery force is just twelve-years-old, but she has been cooking forever, and has captured the attention of her heroes in the industry. Since the pandemic, Kiara has been offering cooking lessons to children around the world. She is a brand ambassador for the global company, Otafuku Sauce, also represents the Step Stool Chef - a kid run business empowering children in the kitchen, is Miss Chestnut for International Chestnut Farmers, and is set to showcase her cooking talents on an up and coming TV show in the USA! If that’s not enough to wholly inspire, Kiara sent us a rush-delivered, iced cake of her own creation.
Find Kiara doing what she loves on her You Tube channel, Instagram, and on Facebook.
Stay-tuned for more exciting collaborations with special guests!
WHO IS TOKYO KIDS WRITE FOR?
TKW is geared (generally) for 7-14 year-olds, as well as teen writers! Each camper receives individual attention and coaching for the best, most tailored experience!
TKW is a camp for anyone who is not already in love with words. It is definitely a summer activity for those who enjoy reading and can express themselves in writing. Read what last year’s writers said!
Not every young person is excited to hear about writing. To many, the word “writing” can signal pangs of boredom and groans of defeat. Too many kids and young adults equate writing with the tedium of scripted five-paragraph essays with no time for creativity.This camp is a chance to reset and find a LOVE for WRITING.
Every part of the overall process can become fun again! Tokyo Kids Write is a sure-fire way to gear up for the upcoming school year. Young people benefit greatly from carved-out time specifically set aside to cultivate ideas, mull over thoughts, and investigate their natural, intrinsic curiosity.
We will move your young writer forward in the best possible way—through writing workshop-style learning and hands-on activities that challenge, inspire, and encourage every camper!
This is a unique offering, and one that will ripple through a young person’s life.
Writing is used in every scenario of life. It can give voice to feelings and help order thoughts. It may be the single-most useful skill for any career, dream, or relationship.
Tokyo Kids Write Camps welcome award-winning, international and Japan-based authors and editors who share personal tips and offer real-life, specific feedback for our young authors!
We partner with supercool, local writers, chefs, and creators who encourage and inspire us with specific feedback!
We take mini-outings for rich experiences to help our writing. Botanical gardens, a busy bus station to record observations, a trip to the local ice cream shop to beat the heat, the famous convenience stores of Japan, or even to the ballet to see and feel vivid verbs. We get out there and practice our sensory writing while drafting a quick restaurant review! Tokyo Kids Write Camps can also mean quiet walks to record every swoosh, ripple of leaves, or city sound we encounter for a story we’re working on.
Reluctant readers and writers take bigger risks and dare to engage when it doesn’t feel like an assignment, but investigating and enjoying our world.
We work in an atmosphere where every child is fully engaged.