📝 Blog

Primary-source writing on sign language, disability rights and welfare, and universal design — from the perspective of the education and welfare field.

Disability Rights

“Nothing About Us Without Us” — Tracing the History of Sign Language and Disability Rights

Following one of the disability movement's most famous slogans: from the Black civil rights movement, through the U.S. Section 504 sit-in and the ADA, Deaf President Now, and the UN CRPD, to Japan's disability-discrimination and sign-language laws.

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Sign Language

How Sign-Language Interpreting Works in the U.S. — Modalities, Credentials, Law, and 20 Years of Change

A primary-source picture of the U.S. system: diverse modalities (ASL, English-based signing, oral and cued-speech, deaf interpreters), RID/NIC credentials, the ADA and IDEA duties, VRS/VRI, and campus access.

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Sign Language

Where Is Sign-Language Interpreter Pay Highest in Japan? A Nationwide Ranking of “Two-Hour Pay”

A nationwide survey of what interpreters personally receive for a two-hour assignment. The highest is Misawa (Aomori) at ¥10,000. The institutional design shared by the municipalities at the top, shown as a ranking.

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Sign Language

Sign-Language Interpreter Pay in Japan: “Only 13% Is Visible”

We checked, one municipality at a time, how much a sign-language interpreter is paid for a two-hour assignment across Japan — using each local government's own rules. A confirmed amount was public for only 13%.

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Free Tools

Free PDF Tools: Password, Merge & Split — No Upload, All in Your Browser

Set passwords, merge, and split PDFs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded, so your files never leave your device. No sign-up.

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Classroom Tools

How to Use Oekaki Studio — a Free Browser Drawing App

A walkthrough of Oekaki Studio: focus lines, layers, transparent PNG and SVG export — a free drawing app that runs in the browser, with no sign-up.

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Classroom Tools

How to Use the Mitoshi Clock — a Free See-Ahead Timer

A clock that shows at a glance how many minutes are left — how to use the free Mitoshi Clock to help children see the flow of a lesson.

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Deaf Education

Simple, Compound & Complex Sentences in Japanese — Why Sentence Structure Matters in Deaf Education

The three sentence types in Japanese — simple, compound, and complex — sorted out with examples, and why mastering complex sentences matters in deaf education, in light of the “nine-year-old wall” and Japanese Sign Language.

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Sign Language

5-Year Comparison: Why Japan’s National Sign-Language Interpreter Exam Got Harder in 2025

A data-driven look at five years (2021–2025) of the written paper: the surge in social-work questions, the shift toward conceptual and applied items, and the growing abstraction of the reading passages that made 2025 harder.

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Teaching

Where Kids Stumble in Long Division, and How to Teach It

The three places children get stuck in the column method for long division — divide, multiply, subtract, bring down — and how to match the teaching to where each child stumbles.

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IT Passport

Japan’s IT Engineer Exams Overhauled for FY2027: 8 Categories and a New Data Management Exam

A rundown of the 2027 reform of the Information Technology Engineers Examination — the reorganization into 8 categories and the newly created Data Management exam, with sources from IPA.

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Sign Language

Japan’s National Sign-Language Interpreter Exam (2026): Pass Rates, Content, and Study Methods

What the national sign-language interpreter certification exam in Japan actually is — pass rates, the written and practical papers, and how to study, including the impact of the 2025 Sign Language Policy Promotion Act.

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Sign Language

Japan’s Sign-Language Interpreter Exam: Written-Test Trend Analysis — the TOP 10 Most-Tested Themes

An original analysis of the written (basic-knowledge) section: the TOP 10 most-tested themes — the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities, social work, honorific language and more — and the balance of questions by category.

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Sign Language

Japan’s Sign-Language Interpreter Exam: 7 Staple Themes and 106 New-Trend Terms (4-Year Analysis)

A four-year analysis (2021–2024) of the written exam: the 7 staple themes tested every year, 28 near-staples, and 106 new-trend terms that never appeared a decade earlier — laid out to sharpen study priorities.

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IT Passport

FY2026 (Reiwa 8) IT Passport Public Sample Questions: A Deep Analysis

An analysis of the FY2026 public sample questions for the IT Passport exam — generative AI and prompt engineering appear as tested topics for the first time.

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Classroom Tools

How to Decide Classroom Seating — a Free Seating-Chart Tool

Ways to decide seating, plus a free seating-chart tool that lays out rows, U-shape, and horseshoe arrangements in seconds.

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AAC

What Is AAC? The Basics of Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and Using It in the Classroom

A clear guide to AAC: its core idea, the four categories from unaided to high-tech, three steps to start in the classroom, and the free AAC app Koe Palette — drawn from hands-on experience at a school for children with disabilities.

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IT Passport

IT Passport Security Domain: Most-Tested Terms Ranking — a Key-Term Checklist

A ranking of the security-domain terms tested most often on the IT Passport exam, as a checklist — each term with its standard English name and the Japanese in parentheses.

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IT Passport

The Complete Guide to Calculation Problems on the IT Passport Exam

Solution patterns for the 23 calculation topics on the IT Passport exam — from binary numbers and availability rates to expected value, worked through step by step.

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IT Passport

IT Passport: A Deep Analysis of 29 Past Exams — Rankings by Field and by Term

Twenty-nine past IT Passport exams analyzed by the data — the balance across the Strategy, Management, and Technology fields, and the terms that come up most often.

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IT Passport

IT Passport Syllabus Ver.6.5: A Thorough Analysis of the New Terms (2026)

The new terms added in IT Passport Syllabus Ver.6.5 — generative AI, zero trust, prompt engineering and more — what changed from older versions, and how to study efficiently.

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Classroom Tools

10 Classroom Ideas for a Roulette & Gacha Picker

Ten ways to use a roulette / gacha random-picker in class — for calling on students, making groups, warming up, and more.

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Teaching

Where Kids Stumble in Column Subtraction with Borrowing, and How to Teach It

The places children get stuck when subtracting with borrowing in the column method, and an 8-step small-steps approach to teaching it clearly.

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Classroom Tools

A Scoreboard Guide to Liven Up Team & Group Activities

How a simple scoreboard makes team and group activities more exciting, with practical ways to use the free tool in class.

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Universal Design

Teaching Kids About Color-Vision Diversity — Universal Design Through “The World of Color”

How to help children understand that people see colors differently, and what universal design means — using the free “World of Color” tool.

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Classroom Tools

Ways to Use a Free Timer in the Classroom

Practical ways to use a free classroom timer — for transitions, focus time, and keeping activities on track.

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