Can the Metaverse Become Infrastructure for Supporting School Refusal? Cluster Holds Webinar with a Correspondence High School Principal to Discuss the Future of Education Opened Up by "Virtual Campuses"

Cluster, Inc. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Naoto Kato) is pleased to announce that it will hold an online webinar for the general public titled "The Option of Not Going to School ~The Place for Children Who Refuse to Attend School Opened Up by the Metaverse~" on July 7, 2026 (Tuesday).

This webinar is aimed at individuals facing school refusal, their parents, teachers, supporters, and anyone interested in educational issues. It is planned as a forum to earnestly address the growing social issue of "school refusal" from three expert perspectives: technology, the educational field, and support for those affected.

On the day of the event, Naoto Kato, CEO of Cluster, will speak based on his own experience of hikikomori (social withdrawal) for approximately three years and the knowledge gained from initiatives carried out by Cluster, Inc. He will be joined by Mr. Satoshi Hanazawa, Principal of Meisei High School, Hanazawa Gakuen Educational Foundation, who has consistently supported students' struggles and changes as a leader in the educational field. They will explore the possibilities of new places of belonging offered by virtual spaces in a conversational format.

Background of the Event: The Current Situation of Over 350,000 Students Refusing to Attend School (approximately 420,000 including high school students) and the Role of the Metaverse

The number of students refusing to attend school in Japan is increasing year by year, reaching over 350,000. However, there is still a strong societal premise that "school refusal is a problem to be solved," and there are insufficient opportunities for genuine dialogue among those affected, their parents, and teachers.

Through the operation of the metaverse platform "cluster," Cluster aims to provide "a place where everyone can be themselves." This webinar will present real-world examples of support in virtual spaces and create a new forum for dialogue to consider "alternatives to school" as a society.

* https://www.cfa.go.jp/policies/futoko-taisaku

【Event Details】

Title

"The Option of Not Going to School"

~The Place for Children Who Refuse to Attend School Opened Up by the Metaverse~

Date and Time

July 7, 2026 (Tuesday) 17:00-18:15 (scheduled)

Format

Online streaming (YouTube Live, archive available later)

Participation Fee

Free

Target Audience

Parents of those refusing school, teachers, supporters, general public

Organizer

Cluster, Inc.

How to Apply

Advance registration via dedicated page

URL: [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScmqZeWilyaEN_HuzVaGCPXmtp45vRns_V2Dbujvi4jY_rCZg/viewform]

【Speakers】

Speaker

Highlights

Naoto Kato

Representative Director and CEO, Cluster, Inc.

Having experienced hikikomori for three years himself, he developed the domestic metaverse platform cluster. He will discuss the possibilities of virtual spaces for "a place where everyone can be themselves" and the intersection with support for school refusal.

Mr. Satoshi Hanazawa

Principal, Meisei High School, Hanazawa Gakuen Educational Foundation

He will speak about the struggles and changes that can only be understood from within the system, and the question of whether schools and the metaverse can coexist.

【Program (Scheduled)】

Time

Content

Details

17:00

Opening

Explanation of purpose, introduction of speakers

17:05

Problem Statement

CEO Kato's personal experience and the current situation of over 350,000 people refusing school

17:15

Testimony from the Field

Sharing of practices and insights

17:30

Dialogue

~What Technology Can Do in the Educational Field~

17:55

Q&A

Anonymous questions accepted

Speaker Profiles

Cluster, Inc.

Naoto Kato, Representative Director and CEO

Studied cosmology and quantum computers at the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University. After dropping out of graduate school, he spent about three years as a hikikomori. In 2015, he founded Cluster, a startup utilizing VR technology. In 2017, he released "cluster," a VR platform capable of hosting large-scale virtual events. It has since evolved into a metaverse platform where users can gather with friends using their favorite avatars and play user-created online games, not just attend events. He was selected as one of "30 Under 30 Japan" by Forbes JAPAN in 2018. He was also selected for the TOP 20 of "Japan's Entrepreneur Ranking" for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023. His book "Metaverse: Goodbye Atom Era" (Shueisha/2022) was published. He will be a visiting professor at Osaka Electro-Communication University in 2026.

Hanazawa Gakuen Educational Foundation

Satoshi Hanazawa, Principal, Meisei High School, Hanazawa Gakuen Educational Foundation

Graduated from Nihon University College of Economics. Began his teaching career at a support school for correspondence high schools.

When the support school opened Meisei High School, the first private correspondence high school in Chiba Prefecture, in 2000, he was actively involved in homeroom teaching, club activities, and student guidance.

He became principal of the school in March 2011 at the age of 37.

In 2015, he launched the WEB course and established the virtual learning content "Cyber Learning Country."

He retired as principal in 2016 and established the Nakano Campus in Tokyo in 2017.

He returned to Chiba in 2025 and resumed his role as principal, working on the joint development of Cluster and Meisei Schoolverse.

Moderator: MIRIN After working in advertising and sales for entertainment companies such as game and radio companies,

She worked in the marketing department at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

She joined Cluster, Inc. in 2022 as the first PR representative.

Aiming to be the most knowledgeable PR person about the metaverse in Japan, she is constantly studying.

She gives lectures at various educational institutions such as universities and junior high schools on topics like "Career Education" and "The Forefront of Metaverse Business," and also shares information on "AI Utilization in Public Relations."

https://www.educator.cluster.mu/

About Cluster, Inc.

Cluster, Inc. is a technology company that develops and operates Japan's largest metaverse platform, with the vision of "Creating an OS for co-creation spaces that connect all people, things, and technologies." Based on its proprietary large-scale concurrent connection infrastructure, it provides co-creation space infrastructure that fuses reality and virtuality. Adopted in diverse industries such as manufacturing, construction, education, international conferences, and entertainment, it supports multiple devices including smartphones, PCs, and VR. It builds real-time spaces capable of accommodating up to 100,000 concurrent connections and has a track record of numerous IP content and large-scale events. It continues to grow as a BtoB platform that achieves both commercial use and scalability, with high reliability and extensibility.

Furthermore, it operates an in-house research institute to promote R&D in areas such as user behavior analysis, virtual AI agents, and AI-driven automated 3D content creation. It actively engages in joint research and demonstration experiments with external research institutions and universities, accelerating the evolution of metaverse technology.

By fusing technology and creativity, Cluster continues to build the next generation of social infrastructure, pioneering the future of virtual experiences.

https://corp.cluster.mu/

▼ Owned media where you can learn about the forefront of Cluster, Inc.'s business for corporations

https://metaversebiznews.cluster.mu/