Transforming a 128-Year-Old Train Station into a 'Hotel': Asuka Mirai High School Students Join Tenri City's Unstaffed Station Revitalization Project, Proposing Maps and Food Vending Machines; Opening Ceremony on July 4

Asuka Mirai High School, located in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture, part of the Asuka Mirai High School Group with 45 campuses nationwide, will participate in the opening ceremony of CEUEU Kashiwabara Station on Saturday, July 4, 2026.

This project involves Tenri City receiving the 128-year-old (established in 1898) JR Kashiwabara Station building from JR West Japan, aiming to revitalize the area by transforming it into a hub for community engagement, exchange, and hospitality. The selected implementing organization, Risshisha Co., Ltd., is advancing the 'JR Kashiwabara Station Direct-Connected Hotel Project (Makoto Project),' which aims to regenerate the entire region as a 'hotel' by repurposing the unstaffed station building and local traditional houses and vacant homes.

Since 2025, students from Asuka Mirai High School have been involved in this project, proposing initiatives such as creating local maps and installing vending machines based on their awareness of challenges like the station's inconvenient surroundings and the area's underappreciated charm. At the upcoming ceremony, students will present their vision for the region's future, guide attendees, and participate in the ribbon-cutting.

Sanko Gakuen, the school corporation operating Asuka Mirai High School, will continue to expand industry-academia-government-community collaborative learning rooted in local communities across Japan, connecting educational activities to students' self-affirmation and sense of self-efficacy by encouraging them to identify challenges and actively participate in regional development.

Revitalizing the JR Kashiwabara Station Building in Tenri City into a Hotel: The 'Makoto Project'

The 'Makoto Project' is a concept to renovate unstaffed stations, traditional houses, and vacant homes along the JR West Japan Manyo Mahoroba Line, Wakayama Line, and Yamatoji Line regions into a unified 'hotel' encompassing the entire area. Planned primarily by Tenri City and the selected operator Risshisha Co., Ltd., the project begins with converting the JR Kashiwabara Station building—constructed in 1898 (Meiji 31)—into a hotel.

JR Kashiwabara Station, built in 1898 as a wooden single-story structure, is a building with 128 years of history. After being transferred from JR West Japan to Tenri City on September 30, 2025 (Reiwa 7), the city adopted a hotel conversion plan to preserve the station for the future from a broad perspective, including private enterprises, soliciting utilization ideas to solve regional issues and create new stay-based tourism and micro-tourism. The station will be reborn as a new hub facility, adding dining, tourism, and accommodation value to its original station functions.

'Nothing around the station.' Regional Collaboration Born from Student Awareness

Asuka Mirai High School students, based in Tenri City, are participating in the Makoto Project, conducting activities and making proposals grounded in local challenges.

Since the 2025 academic year, Asuka Mirai High School has established an 'Activity Project Committee' to energize the school and surrounding community. As the committee conducted activities to identify regional issues, students raised concerns such as 'Kashiwabara Station, our nearest station, is deteriorating,' 'the area's charm is not well known,' and 'there are no nearby restaurants.' Seeking ways to contribute, they discovered Tenri City's Makoto Project and decided to collaborate.

Map Creation and Food Vending Machine Proposals: High School Students Taking Initiative

In this project, Asuka Mirai High School students have interviewed local shops and compiled a regional map to introduce them. They have also proposed installing vending machines near JR Kashiwabara Station where food can be purchased. By conducting surveys, analyzing data themselves, and highlighting needs such as disaster preparedness, they have summarized the benefits in their proposals.

The Activity Project Committee at Asuka Mirai High School is currently undertaking various initiatives to solve regional challenges and is considering future activities such as promoting the hotel and organizing markets.

Ceremony Information (For Media)

At the ceremony on Saturday, July 4, 2026, students from Asuka Mirai High School's Project Committee will perform the ribbon-cutting.

- Date: Saturday, July 4, 2026, 10:00 AM– (Registration from 9:30 AM)

- Venue: CEUEU Kashiwabara Station (1418 Kashiwabara-cho Kawarugai, Tenri City, Nara Prefecture)

- Student Participation: Several students, primarily eight second-year students

- Presentation Content: Ribbon-cutting, student presentations, individual student interviews

For media inquiries, please contact the information below.

<Contact Information>

Public Relations Department, Sanko Gakuen School Corporation Contact: Kurauchi 3-23-16 Hongō, Bunkyō-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 Email: kurauchi-uraku@sanko.ac.jp

'High school students can do it too, and we did it'—Providing an Educational Environment to Foster Self-Affirmation and Sense of Usefulness

In this project, Asuka Mirai High School students are implementing and proposing concrete solutions to address regional challenges. Through this project, they are expected to genuinely feel self-affirmation and a sense of usefulness, realizing 'high school students can do it too' and 'we did it.' Amid the current trend of youth migrating to metropolitan areas and many young people leaving their hometowns without fully appreciating their local charm, the firsthand experience of 'contributing to the community' fosters attachment to the region. Asuka Mirai High School supports students' autonomous activities and provides them with opportunities for self-directed learning.

Furthermore, Sanko Gakuen, which operates Asuka Mirai High School, will continue to expand industry-academia-government-community collaborative learning rooted in local communities nationwide, connecting educational activities to students' self-affirmation and sense of self-efficacy by encouraging them to identify challenges and actively participate in regional development.

Comment from Tenri City Representative:

Since its opening in Meiji 31, the Kashiwabara Station building has watched over the lives of local residents and accumulated a rich history. To pass on this valuable community asset to the future, this project aims not only to preserve it as a historical structure but also to regenerate it as a new hub of vitality.

The participation of students from Asuka Mirai High School holds great significance for this regional revitalization initiative. We deeply appreciate their active cooperation, not only in participating in the opening ceremony but also in proposing the installation of vending machines.

In the future, we aim to leverage the unique flexibility and action-oriented mindset of high school students in regional development, such as planning regular events and operating exchange hubs based at the station building. Through public-private collaboration, we intend to create a place where the energy of youth and the history of the region converge, allowing the Kashiwabara district to radiate new charm.

Through the extraordinary experience of staying in the station building, we hope visitors will gain a deeper understanding of Tenri's history and culture, creating a positive cycle that energizes the entire region. We will continue walking hand-in-hand with the community to make this a place cherished by all for generations to come. (Tenri City Comprehensive Policy Division)

Comment from Risshisha Representative:

JR Kashiwabara Station is a vital station building that has supported the lives of the local community for 128 years. We aim not only to regenerate this historic building as an accommodation facility but also to transform it into a new hub where local residents, visitors, and the youth who will carry the next generation can interact.

We are deeply encouraged that students from Asuka Mirai High School are participating in the project from a uniquely high school student perspective, creating local maps and proposing food vending machines. Their attitude of treating regional issues as their own and taking actual action is exactly what this pro