Narimasu HS History
Opened: February 1948
Closed: 1971
Narimasu High School was located in the Grant Heights housing area, once the take-off place for Kamikaze planes. The school opened its doors on February 16, 1948. There were 201 students from Johnson, Yokota, and Tachikawa Air Bases. By May of that year, there were 401 students enrolled. The High School was not built until 1951. As each building was completed, the school was more like schools in the States.
The yearbook, Sensu, began publication the first year of the school. The school newspaper was the Dragon’s Roar. When the school opened, there were twenty faculty members including the principal, and there were thirty-five seniors. Sports at the school included football, volleyball, and basketball for boys and basketball for girls.
In 1955, the school became a nine through twelve high school. In 1956-57 enrollment reached a peak of 976. There was a gradual dropping off in enrollment as new high schools – Johnson, Yamato, and Chofu – were opened. The 1970-71 enrollment was 340 students.
Narimasu High School suffered the worst disaster of its history when the typhoon of September 24, 1966, blew off part of its roof, depriving the use of ten classrooms, library, language laboratory, science laboratories, and the gymnasium. With the cooperation of faculty, students, and base personnel, the school reopened with a loss of only two days using temporary quarters and one class housed in the Chapel Annex.
By school year 1960-61, more than 6,500 students had attended the school and a total of about 900 graduated by June 1961. From an enrollment of 125 students in 1947, Narimasu had grown to a student body of 556; the peak year of student enrollment was 1958-59 when Narimasu High School boasted more than 900 students.
Narimasu High closed in 1971.