Tadashi Matsuki
Director of Mother Earth EducationUnder the theme “Relationship Education between yourself and all the lives that surround you = environmental education,” he introduces to people many unique environmental education programs.He is one of the few Japanese people that are allowed to hold the traditional rituals of the Lakota.
Tadashi Matsuki took part in education camps for children as a camp counselor during his years in university.
In the process of overcoming depression, he himself met a counselor whose encounter made him consider incorporating counseling methods in the field of education.
After graduation, Tadashi went on to hold office at Osaka YMCA Rokko Education Center. There, he worked on corporate trainings that utilized experiential education. He also organized education camps for students, in which counseling
methods were used to teach the participants.
While working at YMCA, he came to learn America’s concept of environmental education. He decided to move to the United States, wishing to learn more about it.
He traveled around the United States as the instructor of environmental education, and came to strongly appreciate how the Native Americans viewed the nature, the universe, and life. He was deeply moved by the rituals and the mythologies that helped sustain their ways of thinking. He moved in to live with the Cheyenne settlements in South Dakota, teaching the Sioux Indian (The Lakota) children and engaging in community services whilst learning their traditions.
Currently, he supervises Mother Earth Education in Kobe. He introduces the participants to many unique environmental education programs under the theme “Relationship Education between yourself and all the lives that surround you =
environmental education.”
His activities include: training students on creating a good relationship in elementary, middle, and high school, holding workshops for parents on raising children, organizing and leading camps that display the deep knowledge of Native
Americans, storytelling of mythologies, and holding sessions on how to hold educational events. He has a workshop building (a stronghold) next to his house where he holds counseling sessions and original workshops.
He is one of the few Japanese people that are allowed to hold the traditional rituals of the Lakota.