Feature: Trees in classroom, endless playground, here is world's best kindergarten

Adopting the concept of "roof house" in design, the Fuji Kindergarten in Tachikawa city near Japan's capital of Tokyo earns its reputation as the world's best kindergarten, with the round roof of the bungalow, which was " broke" by several large zelkova trees, becoming an endless playground for pupils.

The award-winning design provides a space without dead ends so that pupils could have a loop way for chasing each other, Sekiichi Kato, principal of the kindergarten, told Xinhua Wednesday, adding such roof house triples kids' exercise amount compared to, averagely, those who are in Tokyo's kindergartens.

Although the crowns of the zelkova trees penetrated the roof, its strong branches, on the other way, play as natural facilitate for pupils to exercise climbing under faculties' supervision and as huge green sunshades in summer providing a cool and shady place for the children.

Another eye-catching feature of the kindergarten is that, inside the bungalow, there are no walls that separate classrooms. Classrooms are only divided by furniture, meaning that there are no hidden places at the campus so that there is no secret place for bully since teachers are also security guards who can clearly see everywhere in the kindergarten.

"It's safer than other facilities. There are no walls inside and other walls are made of glasses. We can see what's happening in each classroom. For example, if something happens in one classroom, other teachers can see and we can help them quickly," said Yuuki Okubo, a young female Japanese tutor.

She continued to say that due to the interesting wall-less design, kids can see all the classrooms and go around the classrooms so that they can communicate with other pupils, adding that it is sometimes noisy in the wall-less classroom, but it is good for pupils to try to concentrate in such "bad" circumstances.

The faculties' office is also unobstructed and open to all. "It is a very communicative office because we don't have walls. The principal doesn't have a big and pretty room. We can go to his corner whenever we have a problem to discuss with him. It is very easy for us to communicate, we really like the office."

Kato's office faces the entire playground and it makes him easy to "monitor" every corner at the campus, according to the dean, who said many families moved to Tachikawa city only for the kindergarten.

Besides the interesting design, the small kindergarten also has a "smile farm" in which pupils planted tomatoes, turnips, eggplants and rice. The farm not only nourishes children's interest about agriculture, but also partially supplies the kindergarten's kitchen.

Meanwhile, to harvest is also a good physical exercise for the pupils and a good lecture to tell the kids to cherish food since they themselves experienced the fatigue of planting and harvesting.

Other details in the kindergarten also show the reasons why it is called as the world's best kindergarten -- shoe-shaped marks on the floor tell the pupils to line their shoes after taking off them; water wells in each classroom actually become conversation corner; water channels on the roof will create waterfalls in rainy days and etc.

"As you can see, it is a very open campus. It helps us have an open atmosphere. Children feel they are outside all day. I think that's very beneficiary for education. Since it is very open here, they can really grow as a community. It is a great way for children to make friends," an American staff in the kindergarten told Xinhua.

The principal said that the kindergarten is a very international community as many children here are from foreign countries and the campus helps them learn different culture from each other, paving way for them to acquire foreign cultures in the future. "This helps to maintain world peace," Kato concluded. Endi