Japan has seen the closure of some 8,580 public schools since 2002, due to extreme population decline

The front entrance gate leading to the former Ashigakubo Elementary School in the town of Yokose, near Chichibu, Saitama prefecture, Japan. Photos: AFP

Fading photos of smiling children still adorn the staircase walls at the Ashigakubo primary school, one of thousands that have shut in ageing Japan over the past 20 years.

The school, which was more than a century old, was forced to close in 2009 when the last few dozen children left to join a bigger one “because they couldn’t make any friends”, mayor Yoshinari Tomita said.