ABSTRACT
During depopulation, maintaining local schools presents a major challenge for residents in remote areas of Japan. In most cases the closure of remote schools precedes the final stages of small communities. What happens in such communities when their school is facing termination? What happens with the school building? This chapter tries to give answers by describing two cases: the coastal settlement of Yoriiso in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi prefecture, and a former lumbering village in Kamikoani Village, Yagisawa, in the heart of Akita prefecture.
