Ohnominami Middle School Where we're located, our history, and the kind of facilities we have About Us Ohnominami Middle School is situated in a bustling city not far from Tokyo. Some fruit-bearing trees grow in the school grounds, making it a haven of nature in the city. Join some of the smiling students for a short tour. . . Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, is located a little over an hour's train ride from Tokyo. The city has 52 municipal elementary schools and 27 municipal middle schools, including Ohnominami Middle School. The school in the early morning. All is quiet before the students arrive. Ohnominami Middle School (Japanese only) was founded in 1947. It is a school of average size, with just over 700 students. Each grade has six or seven classes, with 36 or 37 students per class. There are slightly more boys than girls in the school. Here are some of the many trophies won by previous students of Ono Minami Middle School. The school formed a Kids Web Welcoming Committee, consisting mainly of two class committee members from each second year class, who talked to us enthusiastically about their school. When we arrived at the school, we were met by two members of the Kids Web Welcoming Committee --Sho Okuda and Akino Shintani of Class 2-6 (Class 6 of the second year of middle school (eighth grade)). First of all they took us on a tour of their favorite spots. On our way, we were joined by two other students (one boy, one girl again)--their classmate Nobuhiro Ando, and Nozomi Watanabe of class 2-4. We had a lively chat as we walked. A Japanese orange tree near the school's main entrance. The fruit gives off a sour-sweet fragrance when picked. The first port of call was the trophy cabinet at the main entrance. Here was displayed an array of trophies won at various competitions by the baseball, soccer, basketball, and other school sports clubs. A closer look showed that some of these trophies dated from 10 to 20 years ago! "We're really impressed when we see these trophies, because there are lots from a long time ago," commented Akino Shintani. This bird is picking an out-of-season persimmon. Next we proceeded to a great mandarin tree growing near the main gate, which was in fruit at the time. Each year when the mandarins ripen the tree's branches are weighed down with the orange fruit, each about 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter. "They taste sour, though!" the girls warned with a laugh. They told us also that every autumn they can pick persimmons from the windows of their class's homeroom, which is on the third floor. "This year we picked about 20 and hung them up in the classroom to dry. But unfortunately they went moldy," Sho Okuda said, looking disappointed. Second-year class 2-6 made this class flag by hand. Finally we were taken to see the school flags used at the annual Sports Festival, on show by the entrance. Each class vies in the originality of the design painted on its flag. Sho Okuda and his classmates proudly pointed out their class flag, with its colorful design on the theme of world peace.