On January 20, 2026, an online music exchange event was held between Johoku Elementary School in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, and Divine Child International School (DCIS), a private school in Ahmedabad, state of Gujarat, India. In December 2024, Shizuoka Prefecture and Gujarat State signed a friendship agreement, followed by the signing of a similar agreement between Hamamatsu City and Ahmedabad City in August 2025. This exchange event was made possible by Yamaha Corporation (headquartered in Hamamatsu), the implementing organization for the EDU-Port Japan open call project, in collaboration with the prefectural and city governments.
“School Project” in India
Yamaha has been implementing its “School Project” initiative with the aim of popularizing activities using music and musical instruments in public education, so that children around the world can play and experience the joy of music and playing musical instruments. This initiative was selected as a Supported Project in 2022 and 2024. To date, in collaboration with the Delhi Board of School Education, Yamaha has introduced music lessons using recorders in regular classes for fifth grade students at 10 pilot public elementary schools. Starting in 2024, Yamaha has also been measuring whether Japanese-style music classes foster non-cognitive skills, an area that has recently been gaining global attention, and is using the results to explore expanding the program to state education boards beyond Delhi.
Intercultural Understanding Program in Hamamatsu
In March 2025, Yamaha proposed to Hamamatsu City Board of Education that a music exchange event be held between an elementary school in Hamamatsu and one in Ahmedabad. The Board of Education recommended Johoku Elementary School as the participating school, recognizing its proactive efforts in international exchange activities. DCIS, meanwhile, is one of the schools in India taking part in the “School Project”. Since 2021, it has been implementing Yamaha’s music education program using recorders as an extracurricular activity.
To ensure meaningful interaction between the elementary school students and contribute to improving the quality of education in both countries, Yamaha, in consultation with Johoku Elementary School, adopted a student-led inquiry-based learning approach. This became the Intercultural Understanding Program, which was launched seven months prior to the exchange event. Starting in June 2025, using the integrated studies period, the students spent one hour once a month learning about Indian life and culture, as well as the characteristic features of Ahmedabad. While enjoying discovering cultural differences from their own culture, they learned the importance of coexistence.
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Intercultural Understanding Program Schedule
Online Music Exchange Event
On the afternoon of January 20, 2026, the day of the online music exchange event, approximately 60 fifth grade students gathered in the gymnasium of Johoku Elementary School in front of a large screen connecting them with India. Yamaha School Project staff helped organize the event at both schools. 30 first, second and fifth grade DCIS students, who had gathered in one of the school’s classrooms, appeared on the screen, and the online music exchange event began with opening remarks delivered by students from both schools.
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Introducing Johoku Elementary School in English -
Listening to an introduction of Ahmedabad and DCIS in English
The Indian and Japanese students used slides to introduce their schools and hometowns in English, and performed songs and dances from their respective countries. They also deepened their mutual understanding by asking and answering questions about each other’s school life and culture, such as “What subjects do you study?”, “What kind of school lunch do you eat?”, “What is your favorite Pokémon?”, and “What kind of festivals do you have?”
Performing Indian songs
(a medley of famous movie hits)
Performing Japanese songs and reenacting kite-flying at the Hamamatsu Festival
Mutual Q&A time in English
Next, the DCIS students played music and performed a dance (parade) inspired by the Hamamatsu Festival. In return, the Johoku Elementary School students used the entire gymnasium floor to perform a “garba” dance, a folk dance performed as part of the Indian festival of Navaratri (or “Nine Nights”), which they had been practicing a lot, to the accompaniment of recorders, an electronic organ and other instruments. The students in both countries had spent a long time preparing their respective programs as part of their inquiry-based learning activities. The one-hour exchange passed in no time at all. After closing remarks from both sides, the event concluded with a group photo taken with the partner school students on the screen.
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Reenacting the Indian festival of Navaratri with a performance that they had practiced a lot -
Group photo with the partner school students on the screen
Feedback from the Students and Teachers
After the exchange event, the participating students shared their impressions.
“Learning about India changed my impression of the country. Whereas until then the only thing I associated with India was curry, I discovered that there are many similarities with Hamamatsu, like flying kites and playing music at festivals.”
“I learned that India has an interesting culture and foods. I want to learn more about the country.”
“I was surprised when the Indian students performed a scene from the Hamamatsu Festival for us, and I was happy to see how much respect they showed us. I want to find out more about India.”
“I would like to visit India someday and see the festival for myself.”
Feedback from the teachers, who watched the students grow through the six-month Intercultural Understanding Program, showed how appreciative they were too.
“Through real-time communication with the students in India, the Johoku students truly felt connected to the world.”
“The students also came to appreciate how wonderful Hamamatsu is, which they had not been aware of before.”
“The students became more aware of how many Indian people live in Hamamatsu and started paying more attention to information about India.”
“Interacting with so many different people through this initiative was a valuable experience for the students. We are grateful for Yamaha’s support.”
Way Forward/Future Outlook
Through this program, which was conducted over several months, Johoku Elementary School students’ interest in other cultures increased and they proactively deepened their understanding. Furthermore, in the process of practicing local music and dance and performing for the overseas students, they also rediscovered the appeal of Japanese and local culture.
These accumulated efforts culminated in the final music exchange event, where the students in Japan and India demonstrated mutual respect and a desire to build friendships across national borders. The Indian school stakeholders also commented that their interest in Japanese education had increased.
Through these grassroots initiatives, Yamaha will continue to contribute to the global dissemination and quality enhancement of Japanese education, while strengthening ties between Japan and India.
