Why a “Super High School Girl” Who Twice Won an Honorable Mention in an Essay Contest for Princess Eugene, Won an Honorable Mention, and Started Her Own Business

I started my own business! I’ve started my own business!” says a smiling high school student. It is 16-year-old Akino Zama, a senior high school student at Aoyama Gakuin High School in Tokyo.

In June of this year, Zama launched AZ-Bande, a non-profit general incorporated association, as a writing community to nurture the power of words.

His talent for writing has been recognized since he was in elementary school, and he has been the recipient of numerous illustrious awards in writing contests. She is also a winner of the Children’s Nonfiction Literature Award, which has attracted much attention because Prince Hisahito of Akishino received an honorable mention, and she won the grand prize twice, once in the 6th grade and again in the 3rd grade. What is the driving force behind Ms. Zama’s success in starting her own business as a high school student? We found out the secret.

Transformation from a “super” shy person?

Zama is a shy person who can give speeches in front of adults and teach writing classes with aplomb, but in fact, until elementary school, she was “super” shy and would hide behind her parents.

I was shy around people, and I was also shy around places,” she says. I was always last in the sprint race, and my essays never made it into the school book.

What changed Zama was her experience as a reporter for the Asahi Shogakusei Shinbun (Asahi Shogakusei Shimbun, or “Asahi Elementary School Student Newspaper”).

I wanted to express myself freely in my own words without being bound by the perspectives of school teachers or adults, so I registered as a morning elementary school reporter. The work of the Morning Elementary Reporter includes submitting reports and accompanying reporters on interviews. I enjoyed those out-of-school activities and became actively involved.”

Zama registered as a Morning Elementary Reporter when she was in the third grade of elementary school. She wrote reports and sent them in every week, but they were continually rejected. He felt like giving up many times, but he never gave up and kept on writing. After six months, his report was finally published for the first time.

I still remember how happy I was at that moment.

He began to contribute to all the sections of the morning school and to propose projects, and he studied under Mr. Yoshiaki Hitta, the author of the morning school column “To You Among the Masses,” to hone his writing skills. Continuation gave him confidence, and confidence fostered a spirit of challenge.

In 2020, the world was hit by a new type of coronavirus, and people were frightened by the unknown virus and their behavior was suppressed. In the blink of an eye, lifestyles and values changed dramatically. The daily life of Mr. Zama, a junior high school student, also changed drastically. Schools were closed all together to prevent the spread of the infection. After that, online classes were held using computers so that students did not have to come to school, and digital technology became more accessible. Various school events were cancelled, and in March, just before moving up to the second grade, she experienced a major surgery amid the COVID-19 crisis.

In the summer of his third year of junior high school in 2009, a major incident occurred. Ichiro, his beloved father, fell ill. Zama thought that the best way to cheer his father up was to show him his own success, so he entered all kinds of essay contests and achieved many results.

Thoughts behind the company name “Bande

In the fall of 2010, Mr. Zama saw an article about the University of Tokyo’s “Metaverse Engineering Department” in the Asahi Chugakusei Shimbun (newspaper for junior high and high school students) and took the course without hesitation. It was an online course for junior high and high school students called “Introduction to Entrepreneurship.

I joined the course because I was interested in the word “entrepreneurship. Right around that time, I had a desire to build a platform, and my desire to materialize it grew stronger,” he says.

Entering the year of ’23, when my father informed me that he had no time left, I decided to start a business “while he was still conscious,” he said. He began preparing to start his own business at a furious pace. As he was preparing all the documents, a troubling problem arose. Since he was a minor, he needed his parents’ signatures for permission. He had to wait for days for the opportunity to sign, looking at his father’s unconscious face. One day, he suddenly had a chance to get up and miraculously, the signature came true.

On June 2, AZ-Bande began. The main reason for starting a business that went beyond the composition classes among my friends was to gain social credibility for future activities. He also said that a portion of the membership fees generated from the writing classes and other activities will be donated to Chance for Children (CFC) and SDGs-related organizations in the name of the company.

A few days after starting his business, he sent his father off on his eternal voyage. He stood in greeting at the funeral on behalf of his mother, thanking his father and pledging his future to him.

I know I sound like a crunchy high schooler when I tell you what I do, but I’m still a crybaby and I’m still a bashful person,” he says smiling.

The name of our company is I.G. Bande, which means “bond” in German.

The company name incorporates his initials and the name of a ship owned by his father.

In recent years, Mr. Zama has felt close to events that remind him of the loss of “language” among young people themselves, such as the decline in communication skills among young people and the increase in suicides due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Nowadays,” he said, “smartphones are everything. Perhaps the omission of communication such as stamps and abbreviations has led to the loss of what was once necessary… In an age where social networking and online communication are irreversible, I feel that words that can be conveyed are important.”

What is your goal in starting a business?

In order to survive in such an era, Mr. Zama realized that he needed to enhance his own “power of words. Not by himself alone, but with others who live in the same era. He then thought about what he could do. The answer he came up with was to promote the “power of words.

My wish is to create a community where students can become people who believe in the power of their own words, rather than a composition class where students aim for awards based on technique.”

Soon after starting the company, he received an offer from a parent who attended a private elementary school to conduct a “400-word composition class” for fifth graders. The class, which was limited to five students, soon filled up.

Mr. Zama says that his motto is “no red” in the submitted essays.

In the composition class, the teacher corrects the essays with a red pen, but for me, being corrected with a red pen is very hurtful, because it feels like I am being told that I am not doing well here. That’s why I don’t correct with a red pen. I try to respect the five senses of the participants and above all, I try not to destroy their individuality. I am surprised by the participants’ perspectives through their works, and am impressed by words that I would never have thought of, and it is also a learning opportunity for me.

Next, a collaboration with Associate Professor Rui Yoshida of the University of Tokyo’s Metaverse Engineering Department was realized. On July 17, 10 junior and senior high school students from Suma Gakuen (Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture) participated, and on July 20, about 20 people from children to adults took part.

During the summer vacation, they plan to offer tutoring in book reports and writing classes at a start-up support company within the Hakuhodo Group. The company plans to develop real classes.

AZ-Bande’s corporate philosophy is to contribute to society through the power of words. I hope that my composition classes will increase the number of children who come to love writing and have confidence in their own words. I also want to promote yachting, which I have been doing for some time now.

I would like to break through the current situation where there is little support for yachting despite the fact that we are a maritime nation. Words have power. I believe that dreams can come true by putting them into words.

Even high school students have their own challenges, think about what they can do to meet them, and take action. If you have the will, you can do it,” Zama says enthusiastically. Mr. Zama’s voyage has just begun.

◆Profile

Akinaga Zama is a second-year student at Aoyama Gakuin High School. Representative of AZ-Bande, a non-profit general incorporated association. He holds a level 2 Practical English Proficiency Test (Eiken), ISPA (Canada-based sailing organization) Day Skipper certification, and a level 2 small boat license.

https://www.az-bande.com/