By Koji Kawazoe | Executive Director
Thank you for keeping our online after-school club open. A boy who first came to our Scratch event in elementary school has just accepted a job at a game studio. This is his story.
A Basketball Kid Who Found a Second Home
Hero (his online name) first came to a Kids Code Club Scratch event as an elementary school student in Fukuoka. Back then, his life was "80% basketball." Coding was something he did once or twice a week.
When the pandemic closed our in-person events, our free online after-school club took off. Hero was in his first year of junior high. There he met kids who were amazing at Scratch, learned from them, and learned from watching the back-and-forth with our staff. "For me, the club was an oasis for programming," he told us.
50 Games, Then JavaScript
Inspired by an indie game, Hero built a Scratch series called "Tower of Cats." It grew to 50 levels, each one his own idea. Then, through our club, he discovered JavaScript. "It was much closer to the programming I had imagined," he said. During the pandemic he even made a game where vaccines fight off a virus.
At 15, Hero chose a game-development high school. In 2025, one of his games was nominated for the top under-18 award at Game Creator Koshien, an annual contest for student game makers. This summer, at 18, he accepted a job offer from a game studio in Yokohama.
From Learner to Teacher
Hero didn't just learn in our club. In high school he joined our first class of high school mentors and taught younger children how fun it is to make games. Today he writes his commit messages in English and hopes to work at a game studio overseas one day.
Hero's story is why this project exists. A free, open place where a child can try, fail, ask, and try again can change where a child ends up.
By the Numbers
Every gift keeps the doors of this club open for the next child, who may be sitting where Hero once sat. Thank you for being part of his story.
With gratitude,
Koji Kawazoe
Executive Director, Kids Code Club
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