Last graduates: school closures spread in aging Japan | training

As Eita Sato and Aoi Hoshi walked towards their junior high school prom, their footsteps echoed through the polished halls that were once full of students and noisy.

They were the only and last graduates of Yumoto Junior High in the mountainous part of northern Japan. The 76-year-old school will close its doors for good when the school year ends on Friday.

We heard rumors about the school closing the second year, but I didn’t think it would actually happen. I was shocked, Eita, who like Aoi is 15, said.

As Japan’s birth rate falls faster than expected, school closings have accelerated, especially in rural areas such as Ten-ei, a mountainous ski and hot springs area in Fukushima prefecture, adding to areas already struggling with population decline.

The declining birth rate is a regional problem in Asia, and the cost of raising children dampens birth rates in neighboring South Korea and China. But the situation in Japan is particularly critical.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised unprecedented measures to boost the birth rate, including doubling the budget for child-related policies, and says maintaining an education environment is crucial.

But so far, little has helped.

Births fell below 800,000 in 2022, a new record low according to government estimates and eight years earlier than expected, dealing a crushing blow to smaller public schools that are often the heart of rural towns and villages.

According to the government’s data, around 450 schools are closed every year. Between 2002 and 2020, nearly 9,000 closed their doors permanently, making it difficult for remote areas to attract new and younger residents.

I’m worried that people won’t consider this area as a place to move to start a family if there is no middle school, said Eita’s mother Masumi, who also graduated from Yumoto.

Ten-ei, a village of just under 5,000 residents, where only about 10 percent are under the age of 18, is located in a quiet rural area known for its rice and sake. The Yumoto area has hot spring inns in the mountains and is full of ski rentals and campsites. Also watch out for bear signs.

At its peak in the 1950s, the village had more than 10,000 inhabitants, supported by agriculture and industry. But the increasing disadvantages and remoteness of the areas made the residents leave.

Population decline accelerated following the March 11, 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant less than 100 km (62 mi) away, and Ten-ei suffered from radioactive contamination that has since been cleaned up.

Yumoto’s school, a two-story building in the center of the district, was completed in about 50 years during its heyday in the 1960s.

Photographs of each graduating class hang near the entrance, changing from black and white to color, and the student population suddenly drops from about 2,000.

There is no picture from last year.

Eita and Aoi were together since the age of three in a class of five throughout elementary school, but they were the only two who made it to Yumoto.

Their desks sat next to each other in the middle of a classroom designed for 20 people, and during the first year they fought a lot, Eita said.

But tensions eased and they adjusted, trying to simulate a normal school experience. Couple sports were chosen for Japanese after-school club activities, mainly table tennis.

On the day of graduation, teachers attached corsages to the laughing graduates, usually a job reserved for younger students.

People are very disappointed when the source of culture is no longer there, said principal Mikio Watanabe after discussing the decision to close with the residents of the village. The place is quieter without children’s voices.

Experts warn that rural school closures will widen national disparities and increase pressure on remote areas.

Closing schools means the municipality will eventually become unsustainable, said Touko Shirakawa, a sociology lecturer at Sagami Womens University.

Ten-ei discusses the reuse of the school building. Elsewhere in Japan, closed schools have become wineries or art museums.

Aoi, who dreams of becoming a kindergarten teacher in her hometown, will be moving to a different school than Eita from April.

I don’t know if there will be children in the village when I’m a teacher, Aoi said. But if it is, I want to come back.