Do

Wander the halls of a white 1930s schoolhouse

This white school in rural Shiga, built in 1937 and designed by the American architect William Merrell Vories, taught local children for decades and is now open to visitors. Walk its wide corridors and stairs and look into the old classrooms; fans of the anime K-On! will recognize it as the model for the school in the series. It is about an hour and a half from Kyoto by train, and it is closed on Mondays.

Former Toyosato Elementary School Buildings
Former Toyosato Elementary School Buildings
Toyosato, Shiga Prefecture

Classrooms on the second and third floors are kept as they were, and on the third floor anime fans leave chalk messages and drawings on a blackboard. Look closely at the stair rails, where small bronze figures of the tortoise and the hare from Aesop's fable race up the handrail. It is about a 10-minute walk from Toyosato Station on the local Ohmi Railway.

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