A lot of Japanese people are very proud of their country’s distinctive four seasons – summer, autumn, winter and spring. Yet a lot of them mention a fifth season, which explains why they are not very proud of their math skills… rainy season. Rainy season is a period that lasts for about two to four weeks, usually starting in early or mid-June, turning most of Japan (especially Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu) into a humid hellhole for about three months. Personally I don’t think Japan has four seasons as it stretches too much for a general statement like that. Okinawa definitely doesn’t have a winter, and in my personal experience, Osaka has only two seasons: “Kind of nice” and “unbearably hot and humid”.
The period of rather intense rain began early this year, in the first week of June, starting to turn Osaka into a sticky place where you don’t want to wear any long clothes or do anything that requires even the slightest effort. Luckily my friends Dan and Kyoko weren’t eager to stay in Osaka either, so I planned a nice little weekend trip to Shikoku… which I had to re-plan after the weather forecast changed – Chubu instead! (Chubu is one of eight major regions in Japan, basically the central part of the main island Honshu between Nagoya and Mount Fuji)
Three days later I found myself sweating like pig hiking up a mountain in Shizuoka prefecture. A couple of minutes prior we passed through a small village on the slope, located in the middle of nowhere, where only one old lady was living, at least part time – she and her husband were tea farmers, but he passed away a few years ago, so she takes care of what is left; everybody else had died or moved away many years before…
We escaped Osaka’s rain and humidity, but central Japan’s countryside was surprisingly warm for early July. The hiking trail us three were on connected the hamlet with its school, closed in the late 70s and officially abandoned in the early 90s. Why it wasn’t built directly next to the settlement is beyond me, but farm land was probably more valuable than the place for an elementary school; and so the kids had to hike up that mountain every day, an elevation gain of almost 100 meters! Even after 30 years the path was clearly visible, yet partly overgrown and covered by several layers of foliage, making it a rather slippery climb these days. I was taking another break enjoying the beautiful surrounding and silence, when I heard Dan from above: “The school is up here!”
A few minutes later I saw the school near the top of the mountain myself – a surprisingly big wooden building with a living quarter annex; probably for a teacher or two to live in. The main building consisted of two classrooms and an office (all wooden floors), plus a tatami room right next to the office. Outside was a small playground with a slide and leftovers of some swings and a soccer goal. And there was a shrine with a wooden building, empty according to the old lady…
What made the Shizuoka Countryside School quite special was its authenticity. While a lot of “abandoned” schools in Japan are still maintained by the local community (like the *Kyoto Countryside School*), it was pretty clear that this wasn’t the case here – yet there were barely any signs of vandalism, with small exceptions like the pink painted nipples of the female gypsum bust or the smashed wooden metronome. There were signs of visitors though – not only did I find a Sony lens cap in the grass, you could see that certain items were staged for photos and that some explorers crashed through the wooden floors when they were not cautious enough. Most of the rooms had plenty of interesting items left behind, like a chair and table combination, a table tennis plate, books, posters, chalk, and whatever you think should be at an abandoned countryside school – considering that it was basically a two room school I think it was rather well equipped and I really loved some of the tacky items, like the National manufactured red record player. The icing on cake, of course, was the location itself. Near the top of a mountain, with a shrine next to it, on a lovely late spring / early summer day… quite magical. Sadly I had to share one of the rooms with a suzumebachi a.k.a. Giant Asian Hornet. There are a lot of them at abandoned places these days and usually I avoid them, but in this case that would have meant not taking pictures of one third of the school. Half the time it was trying to leave through a window and failed, half the time it was flying around the room, causing me to hastily leave. After a few rounds of hide and seek I got most of the shots I wanted to take and called it a day.
Just getting out of Osaka for another two days was a blessing, exploring an abandoned countryside school in good condition and being able to share that with friends… priceless!
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Thank you for writing and uploading these amazing photos of Japan!
Thanks for stopping by and having a look at them! (There will be more every week…)
Looks amazing! What were those messages on the green-board? Recent? Looked that way at least.
I actually didn’t pay much attention to the writing on the boards. I’ve heard that sometimes students come back and leave messages, but I am sure that most of them were written by fellow explorers. (Some have dates, like on “How Tall Are You?”… one was 3 weeks old, one was three years old.)
Perfect beautiful spot for a recluse poet!
I totally agree – too bad that one room was pretty moldy…
My late boyfriend’s hometown was Osaka. He never mentioned his grade school years. I doubt if he attended this abandoned school, However, in the back of my mind, I now wonder if he knew about this place.
I still keep an eye on my elementary school… and I am happy to say that my niece is in first grade now, in the room below the one I went to school for four years.
Looks like a lovely school! Exactly my type of place in the mountains on a sunny day 🙂
You might wanna wait till autumn now – it’s getting hot and humid, as you know, and the area most likely will be even more lovely when covered in red and yellow leaves.
So fascinating ! !
I will present more abandoned schools soon – and all of them are special in their own ways…
Looks like a great explore…well done for getting some decent images despite the suzume-thingies 🙂
Those beasts are nasty, Sue! And they are noisy! Luckily it was near the window most of the time, allowing me to take photos of the table tennis plate and some of the electronics.
Oh wow, these shots are amazing. It feels like I’ve gone back in time while at the same time am in the future where there are no longer any people. A Japanese version of the game Fallout? Thanks for putting up with the hornet so we could also see.
There should be more real-life abandoned places in video games!
What happened to all those horror games from Japan? They’d be perfect to feature places like *Nara Dreamland* or the *La Rainbow Hotel*! Heck, one location in Japan is even nicknamed *Anti-Zombie Fortress*!
Priceless indeed! i especially liked the mirror by the bookcase. Great shot – even if you got nothing else from this site the trip would have been worth it for that.
Thanks! I was always fascinated with abandoned mirrors. Most items are used without thinking about them – but mirrors are used with a purpose, with attention. Recently I more and more involve them in my photo shoots, so there will be more creative stuff with mirrors soon! 🙂
Well done, mate! The more for it that I live in Shizuoka. If I find something I’ll send you the blog! Auf Wiedersehn!
Thanks a lot!
I hope to come back to Shizuoka later this year. There are plenty of amazing abandoned places in that area!
Reallu interesting. Do you mind if I ask where in Shizuoka is this?
I’m sorry, but to protect the school I don’t want to reveal more information about it.
I know for a fact that some locations suffered severely from too much exposure – and I don’t want that to happen to this wonderful school. (One example would be the *Hokkaido House of Hidden Treasure*, which is almost completely trashed now after some Japanese blogs revealed its exact location… and because you can find it by entering the original Japanese name to GoogleMaps.)
I love reading your entries. There’s something romantic and nostalgic on the photos. I always love to read the short history of the places… anyway you are doing great jobs sharing and preserving these memories! And I sincerely thank you.
Thank you very much for your kind words, Jade! Abandoned Kansai takes more and more of my resources, so reassurance that they are not wasted feels really good!
“Three days later I found myself sweating like pig hiking up a mountain in Shizuoka prefecture.” That sentence really cracked me up 😀 While I was looking at your photos and reading the article, I was wondering a few things: You mentioned someone hasn’t been careful enough and crashed through floor boards. How do you know if a building or room is safe to enter? When I saw the taktel that still looks like in good condition, I was wondering, do urban explorers every take anything if they see something valuable, or is that against your rules?
I’ve always been fascinated by abandoned places, but never dared to go inside, so I’m very curious to follow your blog!