Financial Education

Our Educational Program Framework

Since the 1990s, we have been providing financial and economics education programs in Japan for elementary and junior high school students as well as adults. We believe that knowledge of finance and economics is crucial to the development of an efficient capital market to support our economy.

Off-Site Lectures

"Manabow Classroom" for Elementary Schools

Nomura employees visit elementary schools around Japan to teach students how the economy and society work. Under the theme of foreign exchange, these finance professionals offer easy-to-understand explanations about currencies, exchange rates and the influence of a strong or weak yen on trade. They also conduct an engaging learning game on exchange rate fluctuations. To explain how the stock market works, they discuss the importance of the market and hold a mock trading session so students can experience first-hand how the stock market operates.

Financial and economic education: Manabow Class

Teaching Junior High School Students about Investing

Nomura employees visit junior high schools nationwide to teach students about the investment decision-making process. The program is designed to foster decision-making skills. Similarly, we offer an introductory program to teach students about our financial services business in line with career development courses.

NOMURA Business Challenge: Teaching Junior High and High School Students about Entrepreneurship

Nomura employees visit junior high and high schools across Japan to teach students about entrepreneurship. Through case studies of innovation significantly changing society, observing active young entrepreneurs and engaging in innovation workshops to brainstorm business ideas as a group, students are able to visualize and relate to entrepreneurship. This program is aimed to foster their capabilities to identify challenges and create new value through cooperation with others.

Teaching Junior and Senior High School Students about Money and Their Future

Nomura employees visit high schools to teach students basic skills for life planning and asset building through workshops. The program is designed to teach the importance of considering future plans and preparing to live a fulfilling life.

Seminars for School Teachers

In order to raise awareness of the necessity of financial and economics education among school teachers, Nomura has been holding seminars on financial literacy. This program is also used as official teacher training by boards of education across Japan. The seminars offer teachers an opportunity to learn about investing and social and corporate trends as well as understand how financial literacy can contribute to creating a fair and comfortable society. Teachers can also experience programs conducted for elementary, junior high and high school students.

Courses

Finance Courses at Universities Throughout Japan

Nomura Group offers practical finance courses to universities nationwide to provide practical knowledge of the real economy to Japan's future economic leaders.

Finance Seminars for Lifelong Learning

Most people get few opportunities to learn about financial and economic systems despite the deep relevance to their lives. Nomura Group addresses this problem by offering seminars for lifelong learning programs in local communities and workplaces. Courses cover financial planning concepts for comfortable retirements, and are relatively simple so they even benefit beginners.

Stock Education Contest

Special Sponsorship of Nikkei Stock League Contest

This stock education contest, held by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. for junior high school, high school and university students. Nomura Group has served as a special sponsor since the contest began. In the tenth competition, we started to present Nomura Awards to teachers who are committed to promoting financial and economic education through the Nikkei Stock League.

Nikkei Stock League Website (Only available in Japanese)

Teaching Materials

Textbook: "Social System and the Role of Money"

In September 2014, we published a textbook for upper-grade elementary students titled "Social System and the Role of Money". The student's textbook, which is accompanied by a teacher's manual, teaches students about the role money plays in society. We developed the materials based on feedback from teachers to ensure students can enjoy learning about money.

Donation of Textbook: "Social System and the Role of Money" (Instructors Manual)

"Social System and the Role of Money" was prepared as a guidebook for instructors of upper-grade elementary school students to assist them in teaching the elements of finance and economics. The textbook is intended to deepen instructors' understanding and knowledge of basic finance and economics prior to teaching students in their real classes. In our daily lives, we find many convenient products and services around us, such as credit cards and e-money, but we must learn how to use these skillfully and manage our assets ourselves. The manual contains articles about money in our daily lives, the economic activities of corporations, the economy, and other topics. Instructors in elementary, middle, and high schools will find it useful for their classroom instruction.

"The Economics Classroom"

We published this book for upper-grade elementary school students in March 2008. We have donated around 260,000 copies to 3,300 schools across Japan. Schools receive sets of student textbooks and teacher instruction manuals. The book follows the activities of seven characters to educate students about economics, talking them through 7 topics, including prices, companies and climate change.

An Introduction to the Economy: "The T-Shirt Shop"

We revised this text to supplement social studies classes. We have donated around 500,000 copies to 13-15 years old across the country. The book tells the story of three fictional junior high school students who start a T-shirt business. In working through the textbook, students learn about corporate social responsibility, how the economy works, and economic and financial terms.

Money and Life Plan: A Booklet for LGBTQ+ Youth

Diversity is an important part of the world we live in. It includes nationality, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, beliefs, social status, disability status and values, and the experiences and perspectives shaped by these unique attributes. We created this booklet on money and life planning for LGBTQ+ youth to foster understanding and help create a workplace culture where everyone can thrive and a society where people can be themselves and live with confidence and pride.

Publications

"The Compendium of Securities Companies"

The Compendium of Securities Companies, which is prepared under the editorial supervision of Nomura Holdings and published by Nikkei BP Co., Ltd., contains easy-to-understand text and illustrations related to the work of securities companies. This publication is available at bookstores nationwide, and it enables everyone from children to adults to learn about the business and economics of securities companies. It is a volume that students who will one day run the Japanese economy can use as a reference. Please examine it on your next visit to a bookstore.

"The Secrets of Money"

The newly published book "The Secrets of Money" (supervised by Nomura Holdings) that explains the role of securities companies and money in an easy-to-understand manner through manga, has been published by GAKKEN and donated to approximately 25,000 locations across Japan, including elementary and junior high schools, and public libraries. This is the first renewal of the GAKKEN's "Secrets" series in 19 years since the initial publication in April 2003. The "Secrets" series is a very popular book among elementary school students, as they can learn while having fun. The book contains a lot of trivia related to money as well.

"Nyanta and the Great Adventure of Money"

This booklet is prepared under the editorial supervision of Nomura Holdings and published by the Asahi Newspaper Publishing Co., Ltd., with the aim of acquainting primary school students about the importance of money and the role of investment. This publication is available at bookstores nationwide, and it has been especially prepared to enable children to learn about money in the context of an enjoyable story and enhance their financial literacy.

Team Challenge! Learning from Stock Investment: Nikkei Stock League

A book on the Nikkei Stock League contest, which Nomura Group has served as a special sponsor since 2000, has been published by NIKKEI Publishing Inc. This publication is available at bookstores nationwide and via internet. Through interviews with students and teachers from the past 16 contests, the book summarizes the educational effectiveness of the contest and concludes that this contest is the best learning material for proactive learning in teams. Each chapter is decorated with a comic written by Toshikazu Himeno, the creator of Pokemon, which helps readers in understanding the content.

Web

Financial Education Website: Fin Wing

Using articles and videos, Fin Wing provides timely information on asset building to a wide range of working individuals, from new employees to experienced professionals. This includes information on national programs such as NISA, a tax exemption system for small investments, corporate-type defined contribution pension plans, and iDeCo (Individual-type defined contribution pension plan). We also provide updates on topical issues such as yen depreciation and inflation, and basic knowledge about money including loans and social security systems.

Fin Wing Website (Only available in Japanese)

Economic Learning Website: man@bow

Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. and Nikkei Inc. jointly sponsor this website, which includes financial seminars to heighten general interest in and understanding of finance and the economy. Content includes commentary aimed at the ordinary person on current topics and market trends. Individual investors can use the site to learn about asset management for example.

man@bow Website (Only available in Japanese)

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