As Japan's dwindling population increasingly migrates to cities, 450 rural schools close each year. Now, some are being transformed into unique inns.

The morning sun filters through tall windows, illuminating rows of wooden desks where students once recited kanji writing symbols. But instead of attracting boisterous children, this classroom now lures travellers in search of deep relaxation and a unique immersion in rural Japanese culture.

This is Hare to Ke, a former elementary school-turned-guesthouse nestled in the mountains of Miyoshi on Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands.

Hare to Ke occupies the former Deai Elementary School, which closed in 2005 after student numbers fell to just five. According to a local newspaper, in its heyday in 1945, the school had more than 500 pupils, but like many rural schools across Japan, it gradually emptied out as families have increasingly migrated to cities. After eight years standing vacant, the school was officially decommissioned in 2013.

Today, Miyoshi's population has declined from a peak of 77,779 in 1955 to around 20,000, and more than 40% of its residents are aged 65 or older. In the decades following Japan's postwar economic boom, the decline of local industries and a steady exodus of young people left Miyoshi with an aging population and abandoned infrastructure. By 2012, Miyoshi had 28 unused schools, and local officials began actively seeking proposals to repurpose them.

But Tokyo-based designer Shuko Uemoto had an idea. Uemoto first visited Miyoshi in 2014 with her then-two-year-old son and was struck by the quiet beauty of the place. "The water and air here are completely different," Uemoto told the BBC. "When we stayed here for the first time, my son's asthma symptoms just disappeared. That moment really stayed with me."

"I remember thinking, if my child grew up surrounded by this kind of nature, how would that shape him? I got really excited by the idea," she said. When she came across Miyoshi's call for revitalisation proposals, she returned to tour several of the area's other empty educational centres. The moment she stepped into Deai Elementary School's quiet courtyard, she knew she had found something special.

"The sound of the river, the sunlight, the silence, it all felt full of potential," she said. Uemoto relocated from Tokyo, submitted a detailed three-year business plan and launched what would become Hare to Ke with support from local officials and residents.

"The school had been a local landmark, but it stood in darkness, closed off from the community. Now, the lights are back on, and people have regained a sense of emotional belonging. The fact that outsiders are now drawn here and find it appealing has helped locals regain their confidence. That, I think, is the greatest achievement," said Yuko Oka, an official from Miyoshi's Regional Revitalisation Division.

Today, 13 of Miyoshi's previously abandoned schools have been transformed into community cafes, satellite offices and guesthouses like Hare to Ke, which has become a model for how abandoned schools can breathe new life into Japan's many dwindling communities.

But will it be enough to avert the quiet crisis unfolding across Japan's countryside? As the country continues to grapple with a rapidly aging population and one of the world's lowest birth rates, it is losing nearly 900,000 residents each year. According to one estimate, more than 40% of Japan's municipalities could one day cease to exist. As younger generations increasingly trade rural areas for cities, roughly 450 schools close every year, according to Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). In response, a growing number of these once-empty buildings are now being reimagined to revitalise Japan's depopulated regions.

At Hare to Ke, guests aren't just staying in a repurposed classroom, they're reconnecting with nature and themselves through rest and relaxation. The hotel's........

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