CHIBA, Jul 02 (News On Japan) - In an abandoned school deep in the mountains of Chiba, locals are experimenting with foreign travellers, who are dressed up in school uniforms to have a 'Japanese School Experience,' in an effort to revive the town.
This experience, themed "What if I were a Japanese high school student?", has been offered at the abandoned school in Kimitsu City since November last year, aimed at inbound tourists.
The first period is a "Japanese" class.
"Stand up, bow, sit down! Please teach us!"
Just like in a real school, the class starts with a command from the class leader. First up is a calligraphy experience, where students choose and write their favorite kanji character using a brush.
Dani, who "attended" from America, chose the kanji for "samurai."
"I chose this kanji because I am very interested in various aspects of Japanese culture, including samurai," Dani explained.
Dani's friend Teresa chose "ninja."
The two, who love Japanese subculture, participated because they were eager to experience the "Japanese school life" often depicted in manga and anime like "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Naruto."
Kimitsu City, the stage for this school experience, has seen an increase in abandoned schools due to population decline, with 16 now in total. Moreover, it has become merely a transit point to popular tourist destinations like Kamogawa, highlighting the need to expand tourism content for inbound visitors.
The school experience also includes "physical education," featuring activities like tug-of-war, bread-eating races, and ball toss games. Additionally, participants can experience evacuation drills and other scenes rarely seen today.
"What did you do?" a teacher asks a student standing in the hallway holding a bucket.
"I cheated on the test," the student replies.
"This is a rather old custom. Nowadays, this punishment is no longer practiced," the teacher explains, prompting a wry smile from Dani.
The "school lunch" brought smiles to the surprised students.
"Do you want more?" Dani, acting as the lunch server, asks.
"More!" a student replies.
"Okay!" Dani responds.
Dani, who has never experienced serving lunch in America, enjoyed distributing dishes like the traditional curry rice, fried bread, and the familiar Chiba school menu item, "peanut miso."
"It's very delicious. It's also great to eat local food," Dani said.
The experience concludes with a "graduation ceremony."
"It was a truly wonderful experience to actually do almost everything that students do in Japanese schools," Dani remarked.
Takaki Beiji, the representative of Undokaiya, the company running the event, hopes this initiative will become a new tourist attraction in Kimitsu City.
"We aim to discover and promote more attractions and create new charm, bringing liveliness to the region," Beiji said.
This service is being closely watched as a potential new use for abandoned schools.
According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, approximately 450 schools across Japan become abandoned facilities each year due to the declining number of children and students.
Takaki Beiji, the representative of Undokaiya, which operates the school experience service, said he thought about how to use abandoned schools in their existing form, leading to the creation of this Showa-era school experience service.
The cost to launch the business was about 6 million yen, utilizing subsidies from the Japan Tourism Agency's inbound business program to prepare actors and uniforms.
Beiji said that the maintenance costs associated with using the school have begun to be covered by profits as the business gets on track. "If this initiative to meet the high demand from foreign tourists to 'experience Japanese culture' becomes a success, it could lead to revitalization in areas with few tourism resources and limited benefits from inbound tourism. We want to create content from scratch and promote 'regional revitalization projects' to bring liveliness to the community," Beiji stated.
Source: ANN
