Twenty-five years ago, Regina Doi opened a combined nursery school, preschool and kindergarten at Aoba, Tokyo. "There were 16 children, and I was not quite sure whether it would work," she said. "Within a very short period of time, we had 80 children. When we had about 150, I was sure."

Today, the Aoba-Japan International School has two campuses and a register of 550 children of more than 30 nationalities from the very young through ninth grade. Well-equipped, with high scholastic standards and offering a full range of extracurricular sports and theatrical programs, it is accredited by The New England Association of Schools and Colleges and The European Council of International Schools.

Doi laments that the one thing she, as founding director and CEO, really misses is being able to teach. "I have no time," she said simply.