Nine years after it closed, a primary school on remote Tobishima island in Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, has reopened for two children whose father recently moved to the island to start a home visit care business.
Earlier this month, Yasukazu Shibuya, 10, a fifth-grader, and his sister, Masaki, 8, a third-grader, attended the opening ceremony of the municipally run Tobishima Primary School.
The school is bucking the trend of schools that have had to close due to a lack of students. "I can't recall any other school that has reopened after closing," said an official of the Yamagata Prefectural Board of Education's general affairs section.
Yasukazu and Masaki are enthusiastic about their new school.
"I want to know all about Tobishima and learn as much as I can from the islanders" Yasukazu said.
Masaki said she had looked forward to hitting the books. "I'll have science and social studies classes. I want to learn lots of things from my teacher," she said.
The school's staff outnumbers the students two to one. Besides school Principal Makoto Funakoshi, it has a vice principal, homeroom teacher and nursing care assistant.
At the opening ceremony on April 6, Funakoshi indicated he was aware of the significance of the school's revival. "We'll do our very best to write a new chapter in our island's history," he said.
Local residents also counted the days until the school reopened and they are pleased to hear the children's cheery greetings every morning.
"There's a buzz around the island again," said Katsuichi Sato, the community head of the Nakamura district in which the school is located.
The school was established in 1876 and its student body peaked at 291 in 1946. After that, however, the falling birthrate coupled with an exodus of people from the island saw the student population dwindle to nothing.
Tobishima Middle School, which shared the same building as the primary school, also closed after its last student graduated in March 2003. The school grounds then were used only by primary schools in Sakata for field trips in early summer.
Homeroom teacher Shinji Nunokawa, 28, is excited about the opportunities for education waiting to be tapped on the island.
"The entire island is like a school, so we'll offer lessons that are only possible on Tobishima," he said.
Three ryokan on the island will share the responsibility of preparing and delivering the children's lunches.
Masako Sawaguchi, 57, the proprietress of one of the ryokan, said, "I'll make a special effort when I prepare the lunches so the children can grow up strong and healthy."
The school song, which the two children sang at the opening ceremony, was last heard just before the school closed in April 2000.
"It's been a long time since I heard the school song," said Yoshikazu Sawaguchi, the head of Tobishima's tourism council.
About 10 schools from Sakata will go on nature excursions to Tobishima in May and July. The Shibuyas will join some of the visiting students on these excursions.
And if the principal gets his way, these exchanges will be just the beginning.
"I want to increase the chances [for students] to interact with the locals while learning about living on the island and studying its nature," Funakoshi said.
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