Do you know Japan’s Shikoku region?
Shikoku is one of the four main islands that make up Japan. It is the smallest of the four, located south of Honshu and east of Kyushu.
This article introduces Shikoku as consisting of 4 prefectures: Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kochi.
The Seto Inland Sea lies to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south, with mountains running through the center of the island. Alongside cities and coastal towns, there are also mountain villages and islands dotting the Seto Inland Sea.
Islands scattered across the Seto Inland Sea.
A horizon stretching out over the Pacific Ocean.
A school building in the mountains.
A path to school running past terraced fields.
In Shikoku, you can see different school scenes depending on the place.
Today, the number of schools in Shikoku is decreasing.
This time, using data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s “School Basic Survey,” we made a map that lets you compare the number of elementary, junior high, and high schools in Shikoku at 3 points in time: 1965, 1990, and 2024.
Why don’t you take a look, together with me, at how the number of schools in Shikoku has changed, using the map?
Shikoku’s School Count Change Map
This article treats Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kochi prefectures as making up Shikoku.
Use the buttons at the top of the map to switch between elementary, junior high, and high schools, and between 1965, 1990, and 2024.
The size of each circle on the map represents the number of schools. The color shows how the number of schools has changed compared to 1965.
Select the circle for a prefecture you’re curious about to see the total number of schools, the number of main and branch schools, and the breakdown by national, public, and private.
If you’d like to see all of Japan, select “All Japan.”
About the map data
This map was compiled and mapped by Visible World by Data, based on data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s “School Basic Survey.”
School counts include both main schools and branch schools.
For high schools, this map shows full-time and part-time schools. Schools that are correspondence-only are not included.
1965 covers 46 prefectures, excluding Okinawa; 1990 and 2024 cover all 47 prefectures. Shikoku’s 4 prefectures are included in the survey at all 3 points in time.
Comparing school counts in Japan and Shikoku
The data card lets you compare the number of schools in Japan as a whole and in Shikoku’s 4 prefectures at 3 points in time: 1965, 1990, and 2024.
Use the buttons at the top to switch between elementary, junior high, and high schools.
Elementary schools in Shikoku went from 1,574 in 1965, to 1,258 in 1990, to 838 in 2024.
Junior high schools went from 742 in 1965, to 505 in 1990, to 410 in 2024.
High schools went from 247 in 1965, to 223 in 1990, to 184 in 2024.
After checking the numbers for Shikoku, take a look at the change across Japan as a whole, and the differences among the 4 prefectures, on the map as well.
What I noticed while making this map
In Shikoku, elementary, junior high, and high schools have all declined over the 3 years compared here.
There are roughly 2 times as many elementary schools as junior high schools in each year, but that gap narrowed from 832 schools in 1965 to 428 schools in 2024.
What stood out to me was that even as the number of schools decreases, the gap between elementary and junior high schools is also changing.
You may be curious about how the number of schools has changed in your own country, too.
Why not use the map to compare those trends with changes in Shikoku?
Let’s look at school counts across Japan
In the regional articles, you can look more closely at the change in school numbers using an enlarged map and data card for each region.
Source: Compiled from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s “School Basic Survey” (e-Stat)
※ School counts include both main schools and branch schools.
※ The high school counts include full-time and part-time schools.
※ Shikoku is the total of Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kochi prefectures.