With a school jacket casually draped over his shoulders and his feet resting on a classroom desk, 29-year-old Jason Wu fully embraced his role as a rebellious student for a day at Kimino High School. The American software engineer was taking part in a unique immersive experience designed for foreign tourists in Japan, giving them a chance to live out a classic Japanese high school day.
Located in a converted school building roughly 60 kilometers southeast of Tokyo, Kimino High offers anime fans and curious travelers alike the opportunity to wear traditional school uniforms, participate in calligraphy lessons, and engage in iconic gym class activities. Guests also take part in earthquake drills, serve lunch, and clean the classroom—just as Japanese students do.
Priced at around 35,000 yen (approximately $245), the day-long event appeals especially to anime lovers like Wu and his wife Parina Kaewkrajang, who described the experience as a way to relive an idealized version of youth portrayed in popular Japanese animation. “Lots of anime shows depict school life as a magical or nostalgic time, and we wanted to experience that for ourselves,” said Kaewkrajang, 27.
The program is organized by the event company Undokai and is part of a broader effort to attract tourists to rural parts of Japan. With the yen at historic lows, more international visitors are seeking immersive experiences beyond Tokyo and Kyoto. This initiative also aligns with national strategies aimed at combating overtourism in urban centers and encouraging economic revitalization in underpopulated regions.
Formerly Kameyama Middle School, the facility was renamed Kimino High—a play on the Japanese word for “your” and the name of its location, Kimitsu, a town known for strawberries and hot springs. The school was closed in 2020 due to Japan’s declining birth rate, a trend that has led to the closure of nearly 6,500 schools nationwide over the past 20 years.
Undokai founder Takaaki Yoneji hopes this model will inspire similar initiatives across the country. “If this can show people how to creatively reuse closed schools and draw attention to revitalizing rural areas, we’d love to expand it,” he said.
For visitors like Wu, who was on his tenth trip to Japan, Kimino High offered not just cosplay, but a chance to truly step into a cultural moment many only dream of watching on screen.
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