SAKURA GATE is a specialist education agency dedicated to connecting Japanese families with New Zealand public primary schools. We are the New Zealand Education Division of J-Frontier Investments Co., Ltd., a Tokyo-based business development company established in 2011. SAKURA GATE was launched in 2026, built not from a recruitment background, but from over two decades at global financial institutions and the deep conviction of one Japanese father.

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The perspective our founder, Masataka (Mas) Iwata, brings is one no other agency can offer. A career spanning more than twenty years at Goldman Sachs Japan, Barclays Global Investors (now BlackRock), and UBS Investment Bank Tokyo, combined with the firsthand experience of a father who has enrolled his own children in five international schools across Japan, Vietnam, and New Zealand. That unique blend of professional insight and parental conviction is what guides every family we serve.

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— A Message from Our Founder —

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Dear Parents,

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My hope for children to grow up in an international environment stems from my own story. I never studied abroad. Yet I was fortunate to spend over twenty years building a career at some of the world's leading financial institutions. Working alongside colleagues, managers, and teams from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, I developed the skills to compete on the global stage, though it was far from easy. It took years of trial, error, and perseverance.

 

Through that journey, I arrived at one deep conviction: "bilingualism" is so much more than the ability to speak two languages. It is a pathway to understanding different cultures. When children are exposed early to a rich and diverse environment, surrounded by students and teachers from around the world, they naturally develop the ability to embrace different values and bridge competing perspectives. From that, they grow into individuals unbounded by borders or bias.

 

Whatever path our children may choose, my wish is simply this: that they grow up to live as true Global Citizens. Nothing more, nothing less.

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Mas