Toyosato Elementary School 豊郷小学校

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Toyosato Elementary School 豊郷小学校

Designed by William Merrell Vories, the old Toyosato Elementary School building was built in 1937. This picture was taken in 2007, before renovations. This is the front gate.

Toyosato Elementary School after renovations in 2009. Nice new coat of paint makes the old school look almost brand new.

Toyosato Elementary School before renovations. During 1999-2002, Toyosato gained national attention when this old elementary school building was going to be torn down by the mayor in opposition to activists who wanted to preserve the building.

Toyosato Elementary School after renovations. At a total cost of 650 million yen, the old building was repainted, reinforced against earthquakes, installed with an elevator, and preserved as much as possible.

Toyosato Elementary School before renovations.

Toyosato Elementary School after renovations. A ceremony was held on May 30, 2009 to mark the completion of the renovations.

Anyone can now enter this old building and look around. Free admission. The school is Toyosato's symbol.

Toyosato Elementary School name plate at the front gate.

Weather vane on top of the main building.

Statue of Furukawa Tetsujiro, the man who donated his own money to build the school in 1937. He donated 600,000 yen which is equivalent to today's value of a few billion yen.

Entrance hall. You have to take off your shoes and wear house slippers.

Little statue in the entrance hall.

Map of the old school. The first floor has a public library, exhibition room, children's playroom, meeting rooms, and local board of education office.

First-floor corridor.

This exhibition room is what you first see when you enter the front entrance.

On display are old photos of the school.

Telephone booth

Old telephone

Scale model of old school.

Exhibition panels explaining school's history.

Old camera that was used to take the school pictures on display.

First floor corridor and stairway. Notice the rabbit sculpture.

Rabbit sculpture on the railing.

This rabbit sculpture and turtle sculpture represents the famous Aesop's fable, the race between the turtle and hare.

The turtle makes it way at its own, slow pace.

As the rabbit sleeps.

Second-floor corridor

VIP room.

Children's playroom

2nd floor corridor

On the 2nd floor, this classroom has been reconstructed.

On the 2nd floor, this classroom has been reconstructed to look like what it was before.

This is one of two rooms in the building which has been reconstructed as a classroom for display purposes.

Classroom door

Classroom windows as seen from the outside.

2nd floor corridor

On the second floor, a mural depicting a train station.

Another reconstructed classroom on the 2nd floor. This one was for homemaking.

End stairway with wash basin.

Stairway

Stairway with turtle statue on railing.

Cubby hole

Looking toward the school auditorium.

School auditorium.

School auditorium entrance.

Inside school auditorium.

The school auditorium also has an upper level.

View from the podium in the school auditorium. It looks like that they still use this auditorium.

On the opposite side of the auditorium is the old library.

The old school library.

Name plate for the old school library.

Old school library is now a gallery and event space.

It also has an upper level.

Inside the old library which also has a local tourist information counter.

This old school library is most interesting architecturally.

The library checkout counter.

Upper level of old school library.

Spiral staircase

Gallery corner in old school library.

Entrance to new public library.

Inside public library which occupies former classrooms whose walls were removed.

Public library in old Toyosato Elementary School. The renovations are very impressive.

Study desks inside public library. They face a window with a view of the new Toyosato Elementary School building.

The new Toyosato Elementary School building.

Front entrance of the new Toyosato Elementary School building.

What it looked like before the new school building was built.

Before the new Toyosato Elementary School building was completed, the school held classes in this temporary structure in front of the old school building.

In 2003, local citizens and former students staged protests against the destruction of the old school building.

Protest signs.

The local mayor Ono Wasaburo was forced to stop his plans to destroy the building. He was later ousted from office, but later re-elected.

Rear view of the old Toyosato Elementary School before renovations.

Partially destroyed building. This was stopped via a court order.

Toyosato manhole.

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