HIROSAKI, Aomori -- The Fujisaki schoolhouse of the Hirosaki Vocational High School, home to Japan's only "Department of Apples," is closing at the end of the school year.
Before the curtain falls on 71 years of history, students at the school in Fujisaki, Aomori Prefecture, are trying to develop and register a new apple variety.
The Fujisaki schoolhouse opened in 1948 and its apple department was founded in 1972. The department has graduated about 2,300 students who have gone on to play important roles in regional agriculture.
The schoolhouse now has only the apple department. The final class of 12 third-year students said they want to leave their mark on history.
Fujisaki is where the Fuji apple brand originated. The town is an important producer in Aomori Prefecture, the nation's largest producer of Fuji apples.
The Fujisaki schoolhouse is considered an ordinary branch school of the high school. Teachers in the apple department use textbooks handmade by teachers and conduct practical lessons in a 2.3-hectare orchard where students care for their own trees.
Since the 2008 school year, the school has consisted of only the apple department. In 2012, it was decided that due to the low birthrate, the school would close at the end of the 2018 school year.
With many alumni sad about the school's closing, local apple grower Masafumi Ota, 63, noticed that some of his Fuji trees began producing apples with a beautiful sheen from mutation.
Wanting to leave behind something to remember the apple department by, he approached the students in April last year about selling it nationwide as a new variety of apple.
This variety is characterized by deep-red skin and a good balance of sweet and sour flavor.
Using "Fuji" from the town's name combined with "kosha" to refer to the skill of apple growers, they named the new variety Fujikosha.
In January this year, they applied to register the variety with the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.
While preparing for the department's final harvest, students are collecting data on the fruit's weight, sugar content, acid level and other factors in Ota's orchard for the registration process, which is based on the seeds and seedlings law.
Because Fujikosha is known to be a type of Fuji, they need to determine whether they can establish it as a new variety.
They are aiming for official registration in three years. After the department closes, Ota and some graduates plan to continue the registration process.
"As the last students, we want to do our part to make sure Fujikosha are eaten nationwide," said third-year student Hiroki Fujita, 17.
"Fujikosha are raised with love. We want to commemorate the history of a school that was the fruit of the hopes and labor of people working with apples," Ota said.
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