Tokyo Kodomo Club
Tokyo Kodomo Club, meaning Tokyo Children Club, is an early childhood education program published in Japan in an audio-visual format, distributed monthly on a record. The 7-inch record contained stories and songs, accompanied by a picture book that could be bound in a special folder. The early-childhood education program came in two courses: a 2-4 year old course and a 5-7 year old course. Each of the courses was designed to complete in 12 months. In addition on a quarterly basis, the Club sent out supplemental stories, songs and other music on a 12-inch record. The recitations on Side A were by "Uncle Maeda", and on Side B, "Bin-chan". The records were monaural recordings at 33-1/3 rpm. Presently, the recordings have gone out of print, making their procurement quite difficult.
Programs
The programs were designed to familiarize children with stories and songs from around the world, with emphasis on European orchestral works. Main story narration often featured Classical music as a background music in order to help set the tone of the story. The bullets found in the index to each lesson were color-coded: red for the main story, blue for the songs and yellow for the occasional extra story. In the original course series, the main stories and songs were bulleted with a star and the extra stories with a circle. However, in later course series, they switched their bullets to red circles, blue squares and yellow triangles, keeping the same color code as before.General Courses
2-4 year old Basic Course
2-4 year old Graduation
2-4 year old Graduate Course
| Unit | Side A | Side B |
| 1 | Story: Hansel and Gretel | Song: London Bridge is Falling Down Song: Bear Child Song: Scarab Beetle Song: Rock-Paper-Scissors |
| 2 | Story: Pied Piper of Hamelin | Song: Button Boy Song: Birthday Story: Chieko's Dream |
| 3 | Story: Emperor's New Clothes | Song: Mr. Bunny in the Box Song: Old Man Cobbler Song: Mr. Piggy Song: Blocks |
| 4 | Story: Jack and the Beanstalk | Song: Do-Re-Mi Song: Mochi-making of the Mice Story: Ganchan's Dream |
| 5 | Story: The Three Wishes | Song: Buzz-buzz-buzz Busy Little Bee Song: Catch a Red Bird Song: Rain-fall Bear Cub Song: Sound of Bells |
| 6 | Story: The Honest Woodcutter | Song: Story Song: Song of the Mountain Story: Miracle of Fire |
| 7 | Story: The Dog and the Shadow | Song: A-ha-ha, A-ha-ha Song: Tranquil Lakeshore Meadow Song: Parrot Song: Amusement-park Airplane |
| 8 | Story: The Snow Maiden | Song: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree Story: Hiro's Adventure |
| 9 | Story: King Midas Has Donkey's Ears | Song:Mr. Soap Song:New Home Song:Potato Song:First in Being Early in the Morning... |
| 10 | Story: Cinderella | Song: Chick Song: Playhouse Story: Adventures of Shin |
| 11 | Story: The Adventures of Mouse Deer | Song: Odds and Ends of a Child Song: Tiger Song: Medicine Bag Song: Lunchbox |
| 12 | Story: Ivan the Fool | Song: That Dog is Strange Song: Mountain Waltz Story: Canary that Flew into the Sky |
5-7 year old Basic Course
5-7 year old Graduation
5-7 year old Graduate Course
Quarterly supplements
Seasons series
The Purple Flowers
The Purple Flowers: Mother who Fell Ill| Side A | Side B |
| Song: Bear Climbed over the Mountain | Song: Mom is Busy |
| Song: Meadow March | Singing lessons |
| Song: Mary Had a Little Lamb | |
| Song: Picnic | |
| Song: Song of a Bird | |
| Song: Brahms' Lullaby | |
| Song: Found It! |
Let's sing with Dad
Let's sing with Dad| Side A | Side B |
| Story | Story |
| Story | Song: Hol-di-li-di-a |
| Song: Sur le pont d'Avignon | |
| Song: Sōran-tune | |
| Song: Itsuki Lullaby | |
| Song: At Uncle's Pastures | |
| Song: Li'l Eel, Li'l Carp | |
| Song: Egg and the Chicken | |
| Song: Folktune from Kagoshima | |
| Song: The Sea |
Uncle's Pastures
Uncle's Pastures| Side A | Side B |
| Story: Uncle's Pastures | Story: Yuka's Shopping |
| Song: I've Been Working on the Railroad | Song: Let's Go For A Stroll |
| Song: Summer Mountain | Song: Good Friend |
| Song: Song For a Rainy Day | Song: Flower Ring |
| Song: Moo Moo Cow | Song: Clip-clop Clatter-clatter |
| Song: Just One More Lullaby | |
| Song: Gleaming Star |
Kodomo Concert Hall
The Kodomo Concert Hall series were recordings of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.Uncle Kōji's Story Bag
Uncle Kōji's Story Bag| Story Bag No. 1: Why is the Ocean Salty? |
| Story Bag No. 2: Snow Woman |
| Story Bag No. 3: Happy Flowers |
| Story Bag No. 4: Cinderella of the Southern Isles |
| Story Bag No. 5: Egg Number Three |
| Story Bag No. 6: Sun-shine and the Golden Chain |
| Story Bag No. 7: Table-cloth from the North-wind |
| Story Bag No. 8: Nightingale's Home |
Sing in English Group
The Tokyo Kodomo Club issued two courses of children’s songs in English for the Japanese audience in the Sing in English Group series. These songs were sung by Esther Ghan and her children. The Let’s Sing English Songs course was designed similarly to their Japanese courses, where the lesson units were distributed monthly on a record. Each of the courses was designed to complete in 12 months, with the course set spanning two years. For the older children, Folk-album for All in a set of six lesson units and a Christmas supplement were provided. It also spanned over two years.Let’s Sing English Songs (1)
Let’s Sing English Songs (2)
Folk-album for All (1)
Folk-album for All (2)
Other
- Bin-Chan's Song and Story: Spring, Springbrook, Koinobori, Summer.
Contact information
- Tokyo Kodomo Club
Shibuya-ku, Tōkyō, Japan 〒150-0035
- Telephone : 81-3-464-1311
- Telephone : 81-3-3464-1311 or 81-3-3464-7468
- Postal transfer: Tokyo 5-88764
- Tokyo Kodomo Club
Hachiōji-shi, Tōkyō, Japan 〒192-0083
- Telephone: 81-42-656-6756