 The American School, which was originally called the Tokyo Foreigners’ School, was established in 1902 at Tsukiji and moved to Shibaura, then to Azabu after the Big Earthquake before moving to Nakameguro in 1927, 25 years after its creation. The original school building was wooden but it already had an auditorium, a gymnasium, a dining room, male and female dormitories, an athletic field, and a tennis court. The school building was rebuilt in 1934 and graduates from the year of 1936 on have donated the green bush to the school every year. At the outbreak of the Pacific war in 1941, the school was closed and was just about to be taken over by the Japanese army. But thanks to devoted efforts by Mr. Kiyomi Hashimoto, who was a teacher of Japanese then, not only the school building but also all the important documents and books remained  undamaged. In the spring of 1927 Mr. Edwin Reischauer, who later became US Ambassador to Japan, graduated from the school. In the photograph shown at right he stands at the farthest left among other basketball players. In 1963 the  campus moved to Chofu and the school celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. The school gate, which was brought from the Nakameguro campus, is still there. It not only reminds me of the Nakmeguro campus but also the big fire of the Nakameguro Elementary School which was just across Komazawa street from us and a Soba restaurant where teachers and students used to hang around.。Ki Nimori,（Arts Teacher at the American School, 1960 - 2002） Photograph: Upper: A bird’s-eye view of the Nakameguro campus in 1927; In the upper right are shown two tennis courts, and the white lines in the upper part shows the baseball base line as well as the boundary of the athletic field. Komazawa street runs in the lower part and the white roof in the front is the Nakameguro Elementary School. Right: Former Ambassador Reischauer (furthest left) on the basketball team in 1926. Lower: The school gate at the Nakameguro campus. As you entered the gate, climbed the steps and turned to the left, you could find the entrance to the school building at the Nakameguro campus. The gate has been moved to and is maintained at the present Chofu campus. |