Misumi Elementary School

Misumi, a small town on the Shimane coast between Hamada and Masuda has, like much of rural Japan, been depopulated over the last 60 years with a consequence being that many of the smaller elementary schools have been closed and merged into one central school.



For the design of their new school the town council chose to go with Shimane-born architect Shin Takamatsu, one of my favorite Japanese architects.



The school buildings have all the hallmarks of Shin Takamatsu, simple geometric solids like cyclinders, cubes, cones etc. the main building itself is circular.



Extensive use is also made of refelective pools of water. The school was closed when I visited but I hope to go back and see inide as the centre of the building is a circular pool.



The school opened in 1997 and sits on top of a hill with great views out over the Japan Sea.

Takashima Sunset

This is one of the draincovers from town of Misumi which lies near the Japan Sea coast about halfway between Hamada and Masuda. It depicts a sunset over takashima, a small island just off the coast that has been uninhabited for about 30 years.

The flowers in the design are Azaleas, and Misumi will be having an Azalea Festival soon when the 50,000 Azaleas in the town come into bloom.

I was fortunate to watch a sunset there last year.