The Wider Image: Last students graduate: School closures spread in ageing Japan
Masumi Sato, 46, and her sons Riku, 11, and Eita, 15, who is one of the only two students at Yumoto Junior High School and graduates this month, have dinner in their kitchen, at home in Ten-ei Village, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, March 10, 2023. Masumi, a single mother of three and alumnus of Yumoto Junior High, runs a hot spring inn on the mountain and added that her youngest son, who is currently a fifth grader in an elementary school nearby, wanted to share the memory of attending the same school as many of his other family members did. "He told me, 'The adults made the decision one-sidedly without us,'" she said. "I'm worried that people won't consider this area as a place to relocate to when there is no junior high school." REUTERS/Issei Kato SEARCH "KATO SCHOOLS" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.
