Into the hills, through the woods and over the river, to Tashiro Elementary we go

If your car can make it up the steep hill into the mountains of Tashiro, you will be awarded with some of the richest scenery Akune has to offer. After cresting the nearly two kilometer-climb into the far eastern part of the city, steep, stout mountains sandwich the two-lane road. When you’ve passed a handful of roadside gardens that produce everything from taro root to tomatoes, you will enter the dense heart of Tashiro, which is all but dense. Before going to school I always stop at the local produce stand. Fruits, vegetables, mushrooms ad flowers all cultivated within the limits of Tashiro fill this small wooden shack. The produce from Takenko-yama (Bamboo shoot mountain) is harvested mostly from the fields of the two old ladies who hang out at the store. They are usually found decked out in huge sun hats, dirty white gloves, rain boots and cute wrinkly smiles. Our relationship is rudimentary: I buy their magnificent produce and they, in return, gawk at my height, praise me about bringing my own shopping bag and compliment me on my Japanese; we get along.

Roadside garden



Takenko-yama



Tashiro Elementary



With a bag full of local goodies I complete the long drive to Tashiro Elementary. My car barely makes the hairpin turn into school, squeaking down the narrow driveway with not a centimeter to spare. The voices of Tashiro’s thirteen students echo clearly through the mostly empty school. I would hardly call this a disproportion, though, for a school with such a big personality.

Everyone



Aobazuku, the Brown Hawk-Owl, a loyal, annual visitor of Tashiro’s school grounds



A photo of a photo



When I first came to teach at Tashiro two years ago the students in my class, fifth and sixth grade combined, numbered three. Thanks to a few exchange students who came in last year from outside the prefecture I now have the pleasure of working with five. Everyone eats lunch together in the science room. Everyone plays at lunch recess together; there are just enough people to have a rowdy game of tag, a paper airplane flying contest and a slightly off-sided soccer match; all of this is under the watch and shade of a centuries-old tree. It is a truly mystical land out in Tashiro, where everyone’s true colors shine through.

Great-grandfather Tree



Bye bye



Tashiro Elementary's catch-phrase



A school filled with flowers, smiles and dreams.