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Who Is Aditi Paudel? Meet The 17-Year-Old Appointed As Japan’s First Literacy Ambassador

Samira Vishwas | September 1, 2026 7:24 PM CST

An unprecedented event happened in Japan, when a student in the capital Tokyo became the first ever literacy ambassador from the country to be nominated by the World Literacy Foundation. Here are some facts you should know about the chosen person – Aditi Paudel.

Two Countries Childhood

Born in Japan, Paudel spent her childhood’s first half in Nepal before she moved back to Japan to start attending school and learning Japanese language from scratch. The earliest recollection of the girl’s reading experience occurred during her preschool years when her grandfather gave her a newspaper written in the Devanagari script, which she managed to comprehend despite its complexity.

First For Japan

Paudel belongs to a group of around 900 ambassadors aged between 16 and 25 coming from 101 different countries who are currently taking part in the World Literacy Foundation program. According to Andrew Kay, the founder and CEO of the charity organization, his program has been working for 12 years but this is the first time he has picked a candidate from Japan. He praised the girl for her curiosity and thoughtfulness in advocating.

Ambassador Plans

According to Paudel, the concept of literacy is not limited to the process of being able to read and write. She is planning to work with disabled children and cooperate with the Shanti Volunteer Association to gather and send books to the countries of Asia with low literacy rates, such as Nepal. Her desire to provide education to women grew after reading the autobiographical book of Malala Yousafzai “I Am Malala”.

Why Is It Important?

Paudel’s choice became especially relevant because the problem of reading habits of the young population in Japan has become the subject of research lately. The survey done by the Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute and the University of Tokyo showed that almost half of Japanese children of primary, secondary and high schools’ ages never read books. According to Andrew Kay, the current generation tends to avoid reading for fun and prefers using AI programs.

Khushi Patel

Khushi Patel is a Senior Sub Editor at NewsX, covering automotive, technology, Lifestyle, entertainment, and mainstream news. She previously worked as a Copy Editor at Times Network and has written automotive editorial content, including comparison pieces, for TimesDrive.

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