January 25, 2021
I remember looking under the television set for the legs of the colorful, English-speaking monsters from Sesame Street. Back then, our TV set had four legs on a wooden box and stood in the middle of the tatami living room at my home by the Sea of Japan. I dreamed about going to America one day to meet those furry monsters and seeing their
whole bodies.
Sesame Street began broadcasting in Japan in 1971. Many in my generation learned English from the show. Today, as the General Manager for Sesame Street Japan, I am reimagining the brand and building it. We’re going back to the program’s roots in education, combining it with technology to scale and gathering evidence to teach. Our goal is to introduce the “