Family School Fureai

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 24mm · f/8.0 · 1/250 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

This photograph depicts Family School Fureai. The former community learning centre stands silent, its classrooms and infrastructure decaying. It preserves a forgotten educational history.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD

Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

See certificate sample →

Shipping Free shipping over $250. Ships worldwide, rates calculated at checkout.

Returns Damaged in transit? We replace it. Full policy →

Ships within 10 business days · signed & numbered

In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Family School Fureai
Series: Family School Fureai
Catalogue: FSF-030
Process: Giclée
Captured: 30 April 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/250 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 24 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Yubari, Hokkaido, Japan
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Yubari, Hokkaido, Japan

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

The Family School Fureai sits low on the slopes of Yubari, Hokkaido, a cluster of 1970s-built classroom blocks linked by enclosed walkways. The main building is two storeys, clad in pale render with a dark-tile pitched roof. The walkways have lost most of their cladding, exposing the timber framing underneath. The grounds have not been mown in years; the original sports oval has been taken over by saplings and grasses. A line of conifers marks the back boundary. The building sits in the silence of upland Hokkaido bushland. There is no traffic noise. The mountains rise behind it on three sides.

The school was built in 1975 as Asahi Elementary School, opened to serve the children of Yubari's coal-mining workforce. As the mines closed and the city emptied out, enrolment fell, and the elementary school closed in 1983. In 1994 the building was reopened as Family School Fureai, a public lodging and group training facility run by the city's tourism company. Classrooms were repurposed as guest rooms with tatami flooring. Fureai means mutual contact, or interaction. The lodging stopped taking guests in 2006, and the tourism company went bankrupt the following year. After that, the building was sealed and left in place. This photograph was made in 2016, almost a decade after the last guest left. The signage at the gate still reads Family School Fureai.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A white three-storey building sits on a raised embankment above an empty car park. The facade stretches wide, rows of windows set into reinforced concrete. A blue sign reads ファミリースクールふれあい. A red awning marks the entrance at centre. To the right, a curved gymnasium roof rises above the main structure. Brown weeds choke the hillside. Bare deciduous trees press close behind. Faded line markings on the asphalt below. Overcast sky. No people.

Brett Patman

The series

Family School Fureai

2016 · 30 photographs

Family School Fureai stands on a hillside at the northern end of Yubari in Hokkaido. The building opened on 1 April 1975 as Asahi Elementary School, a new three-storey reinforced-concrete structure built on the site of the demolished wooden Yubari Second Elementary (Daini). It consolidated three local schools - Daini, Fukuzumi and Teibi - that had lost most of their students as Yubari's coal industry shrank. By the early 1980s enrolment had collapsed; the school closed on 31 March 1983 after just eight years. The building stayed empty until Yubari City's tourism third-sector firm Yubari Kanko Kaihatsu, established October 1994, repurposed it as the Family School Fureai public dormitory. In June 2006 Yubari City announced its fiscal collapse; the city formally entered financial reconstruction status on 6 March 2007 and YKK ceased trading 31 March 2007 with ¥5.46 billion of debt. The building has sat empty since. Inside there is no graffiti - only kanji on the chalkboards. Deer and foxes use it now.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.