Toyosato Elementary School is a beautiful school. From it`s remarkable long wooden hallways to it`s church like auditorium, the school is both Japanese and Western in style.
During the tour I came to learn that the reason for this is because the school was designed by the American born designer, William Vories. I liked how Mr. Furukawa, the man who donated the buildings, incorporated a lesson of perseverance a teacher of his once taught him through the story of the turtle and the hare. On the staircase handrails you can see small cute sculptures of both a turtle and a hair depicting their race going all the way up to the top floor. My favorite room in the school was the science room. They had many preserved scientific instruments. From an early ultraviolet light generator and a massive electrometer to a wide variety of taxidermy, I could get a feeling that the students had wonderful science classes. The school is also famous for being the setting for the anime, K-On. I did not know much about this anime, but was able to appreciate it due to all the fans that were visiting while we were there. Lastly, the volunteer guides were extremely friendly and talkative and made us feel very welcome.
