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For Members

Join us
as a Questioner.

TEIGEN JP is an organization of Questioners, mostly high school and university students. It is not a club that exists to be fun. It carries responsibility and real work — and because of that, experience you will not get elsewhere.

Honest Note

Second to none

Regardless of age or how long they have been here, every member holds a clear role and responsibility and makes a contribution the team cannot do without — that is the shared language of TEIGEN JP. This is not a community you simply drop into.

WHAT WE SHAREWhat it says

  • Teams are normally five people. There is nobody to hide behind.
  • Failure is not held against you. Leaving it alone is
  • The unglamorous work is yours too: scheduling, correspondence, minutes, keeping things on track, fixing documents
  • It is as good as it gets. It is not easy
  • We protect your safety. We do not lower the standard. In busy stretches, three or four meetings a week

BEFORE YOU APPLYRead it, then decide

Before you apply, please read the document that sets out not only what makes the work rewarding, but also, frankly, the responsibilities it asks of you and the real workload.

Read "Second to none"

What You Gain

Experience you will not get elsewhere.

The front line of working with government

The Assembly Speaker's office, a meeting room in the ward office, occasionally the Prime Minister's Office. Standing at the front of that as a student, and pushing a project through it, is worth something you cannot easily get anywhere else.

A meeting with the local authority

Standing in front of a class

Outreach classes in elementary, middle and high schools. Teaching the generation behind you is how you learn to speak like a person and to present so it lands.

A TEIGEN JP member showing elementary school children how to use a cloth, in front of an Osouji-tai slide

Meeting people

People your own age building from nothing, and also Diet members, mayors, public servants, teachers. Meeting that many different worlds changes what you can see.

An on-stage conversation

Ground to try things in

Know-how, contacts, budget and a platform for turning your own inquiry, idea or proposal into something real. The environment here exists to turn each person's question into a TEIGEN.

A workshop with poster paper

Programs

What is in place to grow you.

TEIGEN Dojo

Hands-on practice in business email, formal Japanese, writing documents, presenting, chairing meetings and dealing with people outside. Daily morning email drills included. Skills that hold up in the working world.

Chances to speak and compete

Forum invitations from election commissions and associations, competition entries, speaking slots. First prize at the Policy Championship and the NHK President's Award both came out of this.

Help with comprehensive-selection applications

University members advise high school members on their application materials, so what you did here counts toward where you go next.

NewsPicks premium membership

Sixty days of premium membership to the business media outlet NewsPicks, so that noticing what is going on becomes a daily habit.

Help with costs

Travel to outreach classes and outside events, and fees for external training, are paid or subsidized by the organization; travel to ordinary meetings is normally your own. It exists so that money is not the reason anyone stops.

Shofukai, our alumni association

A way to stay involved after you leave, as a Legacy Fellow, so that what earlier members know and who they know passes to the next generation.

Voices

TEIGEN JP, in Our Own Words

Interview 01 | Coming round

"From the audience to the people making it."

Saki Akiyama | Participant 2025 → Operations Team 2026 → Manager, Civic Education Division

A year after taking part as a participant, she was running the program. Overwhelmed and then carried forward by the drive of the people around her, she came out of it with the confidence she has now.

Read the interview
Interview 02 | Joining midway

"I don't say I can't."

Aoi Mihoya | Setagaya Mock Ward Mayoral Election Operations Team, third cohort

Joined more than six months after the team had already started. With no idea how to write an email or hand over a business card, the answer was to build a situation where saying "I can't" was not an option.

Read the interview
Interview 03 | On the ground

"Second year of high school. Job title: project manager."

Shuta Kanehara | Project Manager, Adachi Mock Ward Mayoral Election, third cohort

A high school junior leading a team where every member is a high school student. In an organization that runs on roles rather than age or seniority, he puts it plainly: a team that falls apart without me is a team I have failed to build.

Read the interview
Interview 04 | 0→1

"Nothing changes while you wait for someone else to act."

Masatsugu Goto | Manager, Clean Education Division

Gum stuck under the desks and bread jammed in the toilets — what he saw at school in New Zealand. Why is Japan comparatively clean? He turned that question into a program that had never existed before.

Read the interview
Interview 05 | Handing on

"Founding members don't graduate."

Kanae Yokohama | Shofukai, Legacy Fellows, first cohort, founding member

In 2023 there were four people and a question. As the group grew, enthusiasm alone stopped holding it together — and out of that pain came structure. Why she keeps walking alongside the organization as a Legacy Fellow after graduating.

Read the interview

Process

How to apply

Everything from applying to hearing the result happens online. During recruitment you can apply from anywhere in the country.

STEP 1

Apply

Through the form, during the recruitment window. No particular experience or record required.

STEP 2

Online briefing

What the work actually involves, with time to talk to current members.

STEP 3

Online interview

What brought you here, and what interests you. There is no right answer being looked for.

STEP 4

Result

Sent online.

STEP 5

Placement and training

You are placed in the division that fits what interests you and what you are good at, and start after training at the TEIGEN Dojo.

Tell me when recruitment reopens

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is it all right if I don't know much about politics?
Yes. What matters is not how much you know but whether you carry a question about the world. The knowledge comes on its own, through the training and the work. If anything, we most want the people who have not yet found out what they are capable of.
Can high school students join?
Yes. More than half of our members — 53% as of June 2026 — are in high school. The organization is built around their energy, with university members and alumni providing the continuity.
How much time does it take?
Normally one meeting a week, about 60 minutes, mostly online. In busy stretches — the month before an event, say — it can be three or four times a week, in person or online. How heavy it gets depends on the season and on your role, so go in knowing that. Against it, the rules protect your schoolwork: you may miss anything in the week before exams, and no activity may start after 11pm.
Can I join from outside the Tokyo area?
Yes. We work mostly online, and everything from applying to hearing the result happens online. Members currently come from 22 different schools and universities across Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures.
Does it cost anything?
There is no joining fee and no membership fee. Travel to outreach classes and outside events, and fees for external training, are paid or subsidized by the organization. Travel to ordinary meetings is normally your own. Equipment and materials needed to run an event are paid for by the organization.
Are you recruiting right now?
Recruitment in Tokyo for the fourth cohort, 2026, has closed; the process ran in May 2026. The next round will be announced in our news and on social media — if you would like to hear about it, say so through the contact form. Separately, if you want to start a Mock Ward Mayoral Election or an Osouji-tai where you live, we take those inquiries all year round (thirty minutes, free).

For Teens | From where you live

Why not start TEIGEN JP
in your own town?

The Mock Ward Mayoral Election and Osouji-tai are finished models. What is missing is the question your town raises. We will stay with you from finding people to dealing with the local authority — as part of TEIGEN VISION 2030, which opens a door for teenagers in all 47 prefectures by 2030.

We recruit new members in Tokyo once a year, and applications for our 4th cohort (2026) have closed (the next call will be announced in our news and on social media). If you want to start a Mogi Mayoral Election or Osouji-tai in your own town, consultations are open all year round.

Five high school students in uniform, lined up in the pose of The Thinker
Whoever took the first step was a teenager, exactly as you are now.
Book a consultation (30 minutes, free) See TEIGEN VISION 2030