Asahi Ikegami (3rd year, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies), a member of the Nakazawa-Okoshi Laboratory in the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, has won the "Japan Electronic Publishing Association Chairman's Award" at the 22nd Japan e-Learning Awards.
The Japan e-Learning Awards, organized by the Japan Online Education Industry Association and the Sankei Shimbun, are presented to outstanding entries among innovative technologies, content, and e-learning case studies submitted from across Japan and overseas. The awards recognize various initiatives that help improve productivity and reform work and employment using e-learning in companies, local governments, and organizations, as well as those that contribute to the potential of new learning styles and academic improvement for schools and individuals.
This year, the 22nd edition, featured the "e-Learning Award Forum 2025" ceremony where outstanding works were honored with the Japan e-Learning Award, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Award, and the Japan Electronic Publishing Association Chairman's Award. A panel discussion about the winning works was also held by the winners and judges.
The "Japan Electronic Publishing Association Chairman's Award" has been won by prominent companies and organizations in the past, making Ms. Ikegami's achievement as a student a remarkable feat.
(From right in the photo)
Asahi Ikegami
Co-developer Sakura Ikegami (4th year, Kyoto University of the Arts; Asahi Ikegami's older sister)
Chairman Matsuda, Japan Electronic Publishing Association
Award-winning Work
"Phonems," an English Pronunciation Teaching Material Where You Can See Sound
Comment from Asahi Ikegami
I am honored to receive the "Japan Electronic Publishing Association Chairman's Award" at the 22nd Japan e-Learning Awards. I feel very privileged to see the spirit of problem discovery and problem solving I learned at Keio University SFC realized as a concrete implementation for society.
The issue I focused on is the structural problem of Japanese people being unable to master English sounds. In Japanese English education, the study of phoneme systems is not systematized, and learners have long faced the barrier of being "unable to hear or speak." To address this fundamental issue, I felt it was necessary to create a mechanism where learners can notice things themselves and improve autonomously.
As a solution, I developed "Phonems," an English teaching material where you can see sound. Based on phonetics, cognitive science, and second language acquisition research, I designed it to visualize the stumbling blocks unique to Japanese people and allow them to improve on their own through the app.
In addition to receiving an objective evaluation from a third-party organization this time, I have also obtained a patent for this mechanism, which makes me realize once again that this is an implementation with social value.
Moving forward, I will continue to propose new standards for English education based on the principles I learned at SFC and contribute to the future of education.
Source: Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) Office, General Affairs