LETTER FROM TOKYO
It's the beginning of the school year in Japan. Like every April, students start a new year under the cherry blossoms. Normally it is a festive occasion, but this year it is overshadowed by disappointing news of school closures due to population decline and uncertainties about the future of many educational institutions. Japan was troubled by the closure of Yumoto middle school, in Tenei, Fukushima prefecture, in the Northeast of the country. The last two students, Eita Sato and Aoi Hoshi, finished their three years of study there at the end of March. "There were rumors of closure in the second year, but I couldn't believe it," said Sato. "I entered the school suspecting that it might close, but I still have more wonderful memories than I thought," added Hoshi.
When Eita Sato and Aoi Hoshi began attending Yumoto, the school had five students. Its services, such as transportation, cafeteria and club activities, continued until they left. In February of this year, the two students composed a song titled"I'll Never Forget," with the help of Yoshiyuki Fujii, a member the band Onso9Line and a native of the prefecture. The lyrics were inspired by memories of their school days. At the graduation ceremony on March 14, principal Mikio Watanabe returned the school's flag to the village's mayor, Katsuyuki Soeta.
The school was built in 1947. It has educated 1,572 students from Tenei, a small rural municipality known for its rice and sake, as well as its hot springs, campgrounds and ski slopes. After peaking at 10,000 in the 1950s, the somewhat isolated village saw its population depart for more urban horizons. Depopulation accelerated after the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, located less than 100 kilometers away. Part of the village's territory experienced radioactive fallout. Today, the population of Tenei is less than 5,300 residents.
The stir caused by the closure of Yumoto middle school should not be allowed to overshadow other less publicized cases. Fukushima prefecture also saw the end of Ono middle school in Iwaki, which had only three students left.
According to Ministry of Education statistics, an average of 450 schools close each year in Japan. Between 2002 and 2020, nearly 9,000 schools closed permanently. There are about 34,000 elementary, middle and high schools left in the country.
The trend seems difficult to reverse because it is the result of an accelerating population decline. The number of births fell below 800,000 in 2022, a record low. The decline in the birth rate, which began in the 1970s, is intensifying; the government had predicted that the number of births would not fall below 800,000 until 2030. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to take "unprecedented measures" to boost the birth rate, including doubling the budget for child-friendly policies. He also stressed the importance of keeping schools open.
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