Foreign guests experience the tour pretending to be Japanese students

The Your High School experience tour (your high school) is offered by Undokaiya travel company from November 2023. The chosen location was Kameyama School, an abandoned school on the outskirts of Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture. This school had to close since March 2020 due to population decline and not enough students to maintain classes.

Mr. Takaaki Yoneji, representative of Undokaiya company, said that many people know about the service thanks to Japanese movies and comics or want to experience the difference between the school culture of their country and Japan.

“This service helps us promote the spirit of Japanese education such as human values, solidarity and responsibility,” said Undokaiya representative.

When arriving at school, visitors will wear Japanese high school uniforms from the Showa period (1926 – 1989), with girls wearing sailor suits and boys wearing gakuran clothes.

The daily schedule as a “student” starts from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with activities such as learning calligraphy, learning basic communication, having lunch, and playing sports. In addition, guests can participate in cultural activities such as playing taiko drums, wearing a Yukata or eating Japanese snacks.

At the end of class, the “students” must move the tables and chairs aside in the classroom and take turns cleaning. “I learned the sense of responsibility to clean the classroom after class. This is something I have never encountered when studying in the US,” said tourist Cori Grainger.

The interesting point in the classes is the situations that are scripted by the tour organizer to give visitors a similar experience to studying at school. For example, during a lesson there will be a sudden fire drill or the class will be disrupted by a yankee (gangster). Visitors can even experience being punished for standing outside in the hallway.

At the end of the experience, participants will receive a certificate of program completion. The cost to participate in the tour is 35,000 yen (about 6 million VND) per person.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, as of May 2021, more than 8,580 schools in Japan had to close due to population decline and low birth rate. Currently, 75% of abandoned schools have been reused for commercial purposes.