Do you know Japan’s Chugoku region?
Chugoku is a region located on the western side of Honshu, Japan’s largest island.
Here, “Chugoku” refers to a region within Japan, not the country of China, despite sharing the same word.
This article introduces Chugoku as consisting of 5 prefectures: Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi.
The region faces the Sea of Japan to the north and the Seto Inland Sea to the south, with mountains running through its center. Alongside a city like Hiroshima, there are also mountain towns, coastal towns, and islands dotting the Seto Inland Sea.
Islands scattered across the Seto Inland Sea.
The sun setting over the Sea of Japan.
A school building in the mountains.
A path to school running through rice paddies.
In Chugoku, you can see different school scenes depending on the place.
Today, the number of schools in Chugoku 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 Chugoku 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 Chugoku has changed, using the map?
Chugoku’s School Count Change Map
This article treats Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi prefectures as making up Chugoku.
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. Chugoku’s 5 prefectures are included in the survey at all 3 points in time.
Comparing school counts in Japan and Chugoku
The data card lets you compare the number of schools in Japan as a whole and in Chugoku’s 5 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 Chugoku went from 2,436 in 1965, to 2,057 in 1990, to 1,427 in 2024.
Junior high schools went from 990 in 1965, to 852 in 1990, to 731 in 2024.
High schools went from 459 in 1965, to 431 in 1990, to 367 in 2024.
After checking the numbers for Chugoku, take a look at the change across Japan as a whole, and the differences among the 5 prefectures, on the map as well.
What I noticed while making this map
In Chugoku, elementary, junior high, and high schools have all declined over the 3 years compared here.
The decrease in elementary schools is especially large: by 2024, the number was down about 40% from 1965.
Junior high and high schools have also decreased, and what stood out to me was that the size of the decrease differs by school type.
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 Chugoku?
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.
※ Chugoku is the total of Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi prefectures.