Christian Academy in Japan

On June 22, our CAJ alumni community gathered in Lynnwood, Washington, for a wonderful time of lunch and catching up with each other. It was great to have so many familiar faces from our school together!

Thank you to everyone who attended and made this alumni gathering so special!

We have had a great last two weeks of summer school, filled with learning and fun. Here are some highlights from our elementary school.

Summer break has officially started. Great job to all our students and teachers for an amazing school year! Thank you to the student council for making the last day of school extra special.

Today, we celebrated our 5th graders finishing elementary school at our last ceremony of the school year. Congratulations to all of our 5th graders!

Today is the 8th Grade Celebration! Join us live at 6:30 PM to watch the ceremony by visiting caj.ac.jp/live.

Making a hand-embroidered pillowcase remains a tradition of 6th grade Home Ec class at CAJ! Led by Ximena Cisneros, students learn how to cut fabric, thread the sewing machine, topstitch, turn corners, and more as they complete their projects.

We are so proud of the CAJ graduating Class of 2024! If you would like to see the graduation ceremony, program, speeches, and pictures, please visit our website at caj.ac.jp/divisions/hsgraduation/

Today is graduation day at CAJ for the Class of 2024! Join us live at 7:00 PM JST to celebrate our seniors by visiting https://caj.ac.jp/divisions/hsgraduation/. Congratulations to all our graduates!

Our elementary school is having an art competition featuring the students' artwork! Check it out and comment below with your favorite piece.

We are hiring! Interested in being an elementary school counselor at CAJ? Check out our website at caj.ac.jp/employment and apply today!

The yearbooks are here! Let the signing begin! Thank you to the yearbook committee for all your hard work in creating this year's Matsu.

Congratulations, Class of 2024! A big thank you to the students who decorated the atrium bulletin board. Only one week left till graduation!

Our 8th graders showcased their talents at the 8th Grade Extravaganza (E2) yesterday and today! Students presented impressive displays and live performances, demonstrating their hard work and creativity.

It's that time of year again! The CAJ lanterns are up, and students are busy getting ready for the High School Spring Banquet, Orchestra Spring Concert, and graduation!

The CAJ orchestra ensemble will be performing its final concert of the school year on Friday, May 24 at 6 p.m. in the auditorium. The students are working hard with director Ayumi Tsuruta to rehearse a variety of pieces, including the Spanish Capriccio Espagnol, Disney pieces, and compositions intended to pray for global peace. All members of the CAJ community are welcome to attend!

Today's elementary school chapel was extra special! Our middle school Japanese class performed a bilingual skit about the Good Samaritan, sharing the important message of helping one another and loving your neighbor. Our 5th grade Japanese class led worship, singing in Japanese.

The CAJ spring athletics season was a success in many areas for the Knights! We had teams representing middle school girls' basketball, high school and middle school track and field, high school boys' and girls' soccer, and robotics. For the first time, the Knights also had a middle school boys' volleyball club that played against a few other Kanto Plains schools.

You may have seen our update on the high school boys' soccer team winning its fifth straight Division II Far East Championship. The Knights finished the season with an excellent overall record of 14-4-1 that included several dominating victories.

But other teams put forth many strong performances, as well. The MS girls' basketball A, B, and C Teams all had winning records, including a 4-0 record for the C Team. The young high school girls' soccer team improved significantly throughout the season, winning five games in the second half of its season after a winless first half. The robotics team put forth a strong showing at the 2024 VEX World Championship, and the track and field teams featured many standout athletes despite having relatively low numbers compared to their competition.

The year of sports competition is now complete for CAJ, as returning athletes look to start preparing for the fall season. As always, the Knights will be competing in volleyball, tennis, cross country, and soccer when they return to campus in August.
For frequent CAJ sports updates, we encourage you to follow us on Instagram at or by liking and following our CAJ Knights page!

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Photo credit: Victor Eby, Yukari Nakamura, Renee Van Druff

Here are some fun highlights from the Choral and Handbell Spring Concert.

FIVE IN A ROW!

Last Wednesday, the high school boys' soccer team defeated Yokota 5-0 in the Far East Division II Championship game in Iwakuni. The win gave CAJ high school boys' soccer its fifth championship in a row (2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024) since moving to the Division II Tournament in 2017.

The Knights had lost to Yokota 1-0 during pool play, but they were able to bounce back with a much stronger performance in the championship game.

Congratulations, Knights!

As always, follow CAJ Knights for frequent updates on how all of our sports teams are doing!



Photo credit: Tamara Hershberger

It was wonderful seeing everyone today at the Spring Party event! Thank you to the PTA, NHS, and middle school student council for helping make this event possible.

A big shout-out to our wonderful PTA for going above and beyond in decorating our campus, making bookmarks with the students, and baking treats in preparation for Staff Appreciation Day! We're so grateful for our supportive PTA community.

The fire department visited CAJ for an exciting and interactive time with our first grade class! Our students had the opportunity to meet the firefighters and even got to spend some time drawing the firetruck. CAJCommunity

The Middle School Science Fair took place this week. Everyone involved did a great job showcasing their projects and presenting their work.

Today at CAJ, Merete Kropp, principal of Komazawa Park International School (KPIS) and CAJ alumna (Lidal class of 1988), shared on raising multilingual kids. The emphasis was on supporting literacy and academics for children who are immersed in two or more languages in their daily lives. Thank you to Ms. Kropp for sharing her expertise, and to Parallel Educational Services for hosting this event!

This week is Spiritual Life Emphasis Week (SLEW) for our middle school students, centered around the theme of spiritual growth. We're honored to have both the YWAM visiting team from Colorado Springs leading worship and one of our alumni, Patrick McGinty, class of 2007 and now serving as pastor at Cross Community Church in Yokohama, as our guest speaker.
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Today is Book Character Day at CAJ, where everyone dresses up as their favorite book character.

Our high school Design and Technology students are always serving the CAJ community. With a focus on "Building to Bless," they use their class time to propose, design and build projects that make the world a better place.

Currently, one group of students is building a table using unwanted books, while another group is using leftover wood to create simple games to be played in CAJ's community spaces.

Design and Tech teacher Ryan Potter added: "By giving students the opportunity to take initiative and responsibility, practicing creativity and perseverance, we can empower them to change the world."