“70s school building,” someone muttered. That’s what the former Nakano 9th Junior High School feels like. The now-closed Nakano 9th Junior High School comes into view as you climb from Okubo Street toward Koyo Mountain Street, toward Jizo.
Nakano 9th Junior High School closed two years ago. It embodies the architectural style of school buildings from the 1970s. I think I have never been here before.
Let’s head to the grounds first. A mosaic mural exists because students created original drawings. Japan Mosaic Company produced it in 1992. You can find photos of the production scenery and the completion ceremony on the company’s website.
Now, let’s return to the present. Sadly, there is no preservation effort here. Near the school building are monuments from graduates. The wooden repair of the lyrics was led by a great senior at Hakuchu Gate and Daikessha “Formation”. But these lyrics are not good.
Is the mural better than the lyrics? The total number of elementary and junior high school students is the lowest since 1948. Elementary school students are 53% lower than the peak in 1958. There were 13.5 million students then. Junior high school students are 56% fewer than in 1962. There were 7.3 million at that time. This shows how serious Japan’s declining birthrate has become.
In fiscal 2019, 98% of junior high school graduates entered high school. This totaled 1,112,070 students. Among high school graduates, 54.7% entered university that year. 16.4% joined vocational school. 17.7% entered the workforce.
Of those who started working, 41.2% were in manufacturing. The wholesale and retail sectors hired 10.4%. Construction followed with 8.0%. More than 200 schools closed across Japan last year. This is due to a shrinking population of children. The ministry of education found a decrease of 154 elementary schools. There was also a decrease of 48 junior high schools in fiscal 2019. These schools now total 19,738 and 10,222 respectively. Elementary school students fell by 59,322 to 6,368,545. Junior high school students fell by 33,555 to 3,218,115.