News School closures in ageing Japan: the last graduation

thomas · 3 Apr 2023

@mdchachi posted a similar article last week: Reuters on the last graduation ceremony at Yumoto Junior High in Ten-ei, a mountainous skiing and hot spring area in Fukushima Prefecture. After the last two students graduated last Friday, the 76-year-old school will close its gates forever.

Eita Sato and Aoi Hoshi walked toward their junior high school graduation ceremony, and their footsteps echoed in polished halls once crowded and noisy with students. The two were the only graduates of Yumoto Junior High in a mountainous part of northern Japan - and the last. The 76-year-old school will shut its doors for good after the school year ends on Friday. "We heard rumours about the school closure in our second year, but I didn't imagine it would actually happen. I was shocked," Eita, who, like Aoi, is 15, said. [...] Births tumbled below 800,000 in 2022, a new record low, according to government estimates and eight years earlier than expected, dealing a knockout blow to smaller public schools that are often the heart of rural towns and villages. About 450 [schools] close every year, government data shows. Between 2002 and 2020, nearly 9,000 shut their doors forever, making it hard for remote areas to lure in new and younger residents.

Very nice pictures in the article!

Last students graduate: School closures spread in ageing Japan

As Eita Sato and Aoi Hoshi walked towards their junior high school graduation ceremony, their footsteps echoed in polished halls once crowded and noisy with students.

www.reuters.com

johnnyG · 3 Apr 2023

There are schools outside of town here that have been closed for quite a while. I'm not sure when their last graduations would have been.

One has been converted to an arts studio, where my wife and here music group practices (taiko and flute in addition to her shamisen). They are able to leave the taiko there from week to week, which is extremely convenient (vs hauling stuff to a practice site).

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

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Another not far from there is now a community center:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

We used to be up to Noto more often, and I've lost track of the number of closed/consolidated schools up there, and if these ever even made the local news, it was just a minor story on an area news page.

But the "last-graduation-before-it-closes" makes for good copy in the foreign press.

thomas · 2 Nov 2023

AFP with a sad piece and touching imagery on school closures in ageing Japan as well as communal efforts to reuse those empty buildings.

School's out forever in ageing Japan

Fading photos of smiling children still adorn the staircase walls at the Ashigakubo primary school, one of thousands that have shut in ageing Japan over the past 20 years. It has 14.4 million children under the age of 15, barely 11.5 percent of the total population and four million fewer than at...

news.yahoo.com

Majestic · 2 Nov 2023

An indictment of demographics, and of the overconcentration of goods, services, amenities, in Tokyo. I mean, the population of Japan is still huge: 120 million, give or take a few million. But its aging/old, and everything is getting concentrated in Tokyo (whose population tends to increase year-on-year)

Japan can't seem to figure out solutions to these complex problems. This Ashigakubo School is only two hours from Shinjuku. Its not even in remote Japan. What must it be like in deepest inaka? Well, I think I know what it is like. No kids, and just a few aging families on farmland surviving on what they can grow.

Immigration is just part of the solution. But its no good if immigrants just flood into Tokyo. But how to make life outside of Tokyo more convenient and appealing? But you can't force people to live in inaka. There should be some kind of incentive to move outside of Tokyo. A tough problem.

thomas · 2 Nov 2023

Honestly, I have never quite understood why everybody and their brother wants to move to the big city. We're living on the green outskirts (outside Tokyo) but I'd rather move into the deepest inaka. My wife, however, is still putting up resistance.

johnnyG · 2 Nov 2023

Majestic said:
Japan can't seem to figure out solutions to these complex problems.

I'm not up on the details, but similar in china, taiwan, and korea. I saw a new article in the last day or so which reported on Xi's comments (patriotic duty to the mother/fatherland). Korea seems to be the worst, with a replacement rate of about 0.8 or less.

Xi says China's women must start 'new trend of family'

Chinese President Xi Jinping said women have a critical role and must establish a "new trend of family", as the nation grapples with an ageing population and record decline in the birth rate.

www.reuters.com

Korea has its own peculiar twists on the problem.

johnnyG · 4 Nov 2023

This isn't about school closures, but (if this comes thru, a gift link) talks some good data on what's happening in the US:

https://wapo.st/40uNPz5

Grandpa Frank · 5 Nov 2023

The elementary school where I and thousands of other kids attended was torn down because of lack of use. The state of Maine has a major aging problem like Japan.

musicisgood · 5 Nov 2023

While cycling in some prefectures I have notice also of abandon schools. Also, so many abandon factories (small in size).
There was one student that needed the train. I don't have the link, but after she graduated, the train service stopped. This is in rural Japan. For me, big cities are a trap of living in a state of poverty. Even if you are wealthy, poverty can hit you very hard. The less you have in life, the further away poverty is from you.

mdchachi · 7 Nov 2023

thomas said:
Honestly, I have never quite understood why everybody and their brother wants to move to the big city. We're living on the green outskirts (outside Tokyo) but I'd rather move into the deepest inaka. My wife, however, is still putting up resistance.

Not everybody is able to work remotely.

News School closures in ageing Japan: the last graduation

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Last students graduate: School closures spread in ageing Japan

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