Fifty to sixty students. That’s the approximate enrollment at Fukagawa 7th Junior High School. Imagine a school with that small a student body. This isn’t some sprawling campus. Fukagawa 7th Junior High School is nestled in a tight space. The school grounds are only about the size of three tennis courts. Think about it. Three tennis courts. That’s all the space for a junior high school.
Fukagawa 7th Junior High School has a unique history. Many of its students come from Higashikawa Elementary School and Mori Elementary School. In recent years many students have come from other areas too. Sometimes these out-of-district students make up a third of the student body.
The school building itself is fascinating. The first floor of the gymnasium is called a “small gymnasium”. This is where the table tennis club practices after school. But there’s more. The gymnasium extends from the open space between the second and third floors of the school building. They call this section a “field house”. It’s a rather unusual design.
A significant change happened in the school’s history. When the student population reached fifty-one the school adopted blazers as part of the uniform. Before that it must have been something different. What was it like before blazers? It is a detail that many would not be aware of.
Getting to Fukagawa 7th Junior High School is easy. It’s a ten-minute walk from Kinshicho Station. You can take the JR East Sobu Line or Sobu Express Line or even the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line. Alternatively a five-minute walk from Sumiyoshi Station will get you there. That station is on the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line and the Toei Shinjuku Line. There are also several nearby bus stops.
Fukagawa 7th Junior High School isn’t just a school. It’s a piece of Fukagawa’s history. It reflects the community it serves. A small school in a small space with a big story. A truly unique place in Tokyo.