Bathroom Hall

The ablution block at Family School Fureai occupies a section of the former Asahi Elementary School in Yubari, Hokkaido. Rows of faded green tiles run floor to ceiling along the walls. Empty cubicles stand in a line down the hall. Light enters the space and crosses surfaces that have not been maintained since the facility stopped accepting guests in 2006. The photograph, made in 2016, records the room as it had remained for roughly a decade. The building beneath the tiles has a precise history. Asahi Elementary School opened on 1 April 1975, a reinforced-concrete structure built on the demolished site of Yubari Daini (Second) Elementary School. It consolidated three predecessor schools: Yubari Daini, Teibi, and Fukuzumi. At the moment of consolidation, only 351 students remained across 13 classes. Yubari Daini alone had enrolled 2,827 students at its 1952 peak. The coal industry that sustained those enrolments was already in collapse by the time the new building went up. Asahi Elementary closed on 31 March 1983, eight years after opening. From approximately late 1994, Yubari Kanko Kaihatsu Co., Ltd., a third-sector tourism entity established by Yubari City with capital of ¥30 million, converted the building into group lodging under the name Family School Fureai. Classrooms became guest rooms; communal facilities including the bathhouse were added to support the lodging operation. The facility was the first in YKK's portfolio, which would eventually include two hotels, a hot spring, and a ski resort. When Yubari City declared its intention to seek fiscal rehabilitation in June 2006, having accumulated deficits of approximately ¥35.3 billion, Family School Fureai ceased accepting guests. YKK filed for bankruptcy on 2 April 2007, carrying total debt of ¥5.46 billion. The building was not transferred to any successor operator and has remained unmanaged since. The tourism business account, of which YKK was the primary vehicle, contributed ¥18.6 billion to the city's total deficit, the single largest component at 53 per cent. What the photograph shows is the ablution block as it stood in 2016: green tiles, empty cubicles, and light passing through a space that outlasted the school it was built for, the tourism venture it was converted for, and the city administration that funded both.