Matthew Cook

Matthew Cook was raised in Danville VA, and currently lives in Osaka Japan.

Matthew had an exceptional interest in reading and learning at an early age, as well as a passion for sports and being active.

Matthew’s parents enrolled him in karate lessons when he was six years old, and he soon became active in other sports and skills. His experience doing martial arts led him to a successful tenure as a competitive wrestler in both high school and college, at Virginia Tech. During a university internship, Matthew began teaching martial arts classes at a local gym. It was through leading classes of students ranging in ages from children to senior citizens, that he realized martial arts was not his main passion, but rather teaching was.

Matthew was inspired by his students successes, and this motivated him to start running his own martial arts school. He was often lauded by his students for his ability to convey information and explain points to others in a concise and simple manner. After 4 years, he moved to Charlotte, North Carolina to take his teaching to a broader stage.

During this time, he extensively studied the history of karate and Bushido, to the point that he felt he needed to go and see for himself where this amazing history was born and handed down generation after generation. In 2007, he was accepted as a participant in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, and began Japan teaching English to Junior high school students.

For 5 years, Matthew worked in a public junior high school in Daito City, Osaka, but teaching English to elementary and junior high school students. Matthew has also served as a Regional Advisor to other JET Programme participants in Osaka prefecture, often presenting workshops on pedagogy, technology in the classroom, and classroom management.

In 2011, Matthew was elected to serve as a national representative of JET Programme participants for the Association for Japan Exchange and Teaching, as its Chairman and CEO. In this position, Matthew began to engage the government ministries MEXT, CLAIR, MOFA, and MIC, as well as JET alumni associations, international corporations, and news media about the value of the Programme and internationalization.

Most recently, Matthew was hired by the Osaka Board of Education as the first foreign-born Senior Staff member in a Japanese govt. agency, tasked with the innovative reformation of education in the prefecture.