As we all know, the problem of declining birthrate in Japan is very serious. Japan, which was once the benchmark for compulsory education, is now seeing more and more schools closed or merged due to insufficient recruitment of new students, and the original campuses have become "abandoned schools". In order to make use of these school site resources and attract foreign exchange, Kameyama Middle School, located in the mountains of Kimizu City, Chiba Prefecture, came up with a way: to turn the old school building into a tourist destination.
People who like Japanese culture basically yearn for the dreamlike middle school life in Japanese comics and dramas.
Guishan Middle School took advantage of this and launched a tourism project called "Your High School" to allow foreigners to experience being a high school student. You can experience almost most of the scenes in Japanese anime campuses here, which is very immersive.
They put on Japanese-style student uniforms according to their preferences. There are many choices of school uniform styles, including basic iconic clothes. After choosing, they were divided into classes and stood together in front of the "Opening Ceremony" sign to take photos.
For formal classes, we also choose some culture-related courses, such as calligraphy.
In addition to formal classes, "Your High School" also hosts a variety of interesting activities. For example, earthquake disaster prevention drills, kimono experience activities, and physical education classes are similar to sports festivals, including sandbag throwing, tug-of-war, and bread-eating races.
In order to increase the drama, there are also people pretending to be bad students who come to cause trouble. If both parties are committed enough, they can probably experience a hot-blooded college.
Taking into account the language barrier, communication will be conducted in English throughout the experience activities. At the end of the one-day student experience, students will be arranged to go on stage one by one to receive their graduation certificates.
Of course, the "Your High School" experience program is not cheap. It costs 30,000 yen (approximately RMB 1,500) at a time, which may not put any pressure on those who take US dollars and euros, so it is obvious which side of the tourists it attracts.