Santen Helps Families Learn about Eye Health through “Learning Festival Summer 2025” Interactive Workshop

September 4, 2025 - Osaka, Japan - Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter Santen) recently participated in “Learning Festival 2025 Summer” hosted by the Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. and Mainichi Newspaper for Children, conducting an interactive workshop— “Take Care of Your Eyes! Happy Eye Challenge”—that helped parents and children learn about eye health in a fun way. The event took place on August 6, 2025.

Learning Festival events are hosted by the Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. and Mainichi Newspaper for Children during the annual spring and summer school holidays and bring together companies and organizations to offer on-site workshops for elementary school students. Thirty-six organizations held workshops at this year's Learning Festival 2025 Summer, held at Jissen Women's University (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo), attracting the participation of approximately 1,500 elementary school students and their parents/guardians. Santen conducted three approximately one-hour workshop sessions, engaging a total of 123 parents and children in discussions about eye health.

In recent years, the number of children in Japan with vision below 1.0 has been rising annually in accordance with the worldwide increase in the number of people with myopia. The latest School Health Statistics Survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) shows that the prevalence rates are 36.8% for elementary school students, 60.6% for junior high school students, and 71.1% for high school students.¹ Santen recognizes the importance of raising awareness about eye health starting from childhood; to encourage children to think about their eye health, Santen conducts a variety of educational programs, including this recent workshop.

The first part of the “Take Care of Your Eyes! Happy Eye Challenge” interactive workshop focused on sight. During this session, participants wore special goggles that simulated the narrowed field of vision experienced with glaucoma and the visual state associated with cataracts. They learned how human vision changes as the result of eye conditions and diseases, and the impact these changes can have on daily life.

The second part of the workshop took the form of a game— “What if I were to Develop Myopia?”—in which students were organized into teams and challenged to imagine what it would be like to live with advanced myopia. Teams were asked to think about problems that might arise in a variety of situations, such as sports, play, and everyday life, and then write them down on a flipboard, with unique answers earning more points. For example, for “soccer,” participants considered potential challenges from a variety of perspectives: “passing the ball to the opposing team,” “shooting at the wrong spot,” “struggling to catch the ball as goalkeeper.” The game allowed children to consider the inconveniences of myopia and its progression from the perspective of someone who is living with the condition.

The workshop ended with parents and children discussing practical steps they can take today to improve their eye health and made a commitment to take action.

Participants had this to say about the event:
“During the game, seeing what would happen if I had myopia was fun and interesting.” (5th grade student)
“I usually rub my eyes, but I learned that it's bad for them. I’ll be more careful in the future.” (3rd grade student)
“It's good that children could learn from an early age that progressive myopia may increase the risk of developing glaucoma and cataracts.” (Parent of 3rd and 6th grade students)

Scenes from the workshop

Reo Ohwada from Santen’s Core Principle and CSV, Core Principle and Sustainability Division, who participated in the workshop as an employee instructor, concluded the program by conveying the importance of eye health to participating parents and children. “It's not just about visual acuity—understanding your field of vision and the overall condition of your eyes is also crucial. To protect children’s eyes, please incorporate simple daily habits into your routine, such as making lifestyle adjustments and ensuring regular eye check-ups.”

For more than 130 years, Santen, a company specialized in ophthalmology, has been committed to helping people at every stage of life maintain and improve their eye health. Santen will continue to communicate its efforts to address eye diseases, including myopia, while contributing to solving social issues through its products and services.

References

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: Press Release regarding Publication of the School Health Statistics for Fiscal Year 2024 (Final Figures)
https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20250213-mxt_chousa01-000040132_1.pdf(Japanese only)

Official SNS