OBIHIRO, Japan - The longstanding tradition of teaching children to skate in the northern Japanese city of Obihiro is under threat as warmer winters and rising costs force schools to reconsider lessons that have long been part of local life.
Known as a "skating kingdom," the city in Hokkaido plans to phase out ice hockey lessons at junior high schools by the 2028 academic year, while the future of speed skating classes at elementary schools is also under review.
The move has raised concerns in the local skating community, with fears that children could lose an important introduction to the sports.
According to the city's board of education, all elementary schools currently teach speed skating, while many junior high schools offer ice hockey.
The lessons traditionally take place on outdoor rinks created by packing down snow on school grounds and spraying the surface with water.
But warmer winters have made the rinks increasingly difficult to build and maintain, drastically shortening the skating season.
About a decade ago, schools could use their rinks for roughly three months from mid-December. Now, they can generally be maintained for only a few weeks from mid-January.
Conditions were particularly difficult in the 2024 academic year, when a severe lack of snow forced around 60 percent of the city's elementary, junior high and compulsory education schools to abandon plans to build rinks.
Maintaining the facilities also places a heavy burden on teachers. While elementary schools generally hire contractors to prepare the ice, junior high schools rely mainly on teaching staff to do the work.
Equipment costs pose another obstacle, with families generally expected to provide their children's gear.
Ice hockey is particularly expensive, requiring not only skates but also sticks and helmets. A full set costs around 25,000 yen ($158), while renting equipment for a season costs about 10,000 yen.
Amid rising prices, the board of education began seriously considering scrapping the lessons last year.
Hideyuki Ishida, 55, who has run an ice hockey equipment shop in Obihiro for about 30 years, worries about the consequences.
"It's not just about sales. Children will lose the chance to become interested in the sport," he said. "It's really sad."
Obihiro lies in the Tokachi region, where bitterly cold winters and relatively light snowfall have traditionally provided ideal conditions for making outdoor skating rinks.
The area has produced numerous top athletes, including Hiroyasu Shimizu, who won the men's 500 meters speed skating gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
More recently, sisters Aoi and Akane Shiga have represented Japan in ice hockey, while neighboring Makubetsu is the hometown of speed skating sisters Nana and Miho Takagi.
Tsukasa Yamashita, 71, chairman of the Obihiro Ice Hockey Federation, acknowledges the difficulties schools face but believes the tradition is worth preserving.
"Skating is an important part of our local culture, something people here have developed by making the most of our cold winters," he said.
Yamashita said some people who first encounter ice hockey through school lessons return to the sport as adults.
"It's one of the ways people discover ice hockey as a lifelong sport," he said.
Concerned that ending the lessons could eventually lead to fewer people playing the sport, Yamashita hopes to work with the city and local schools to promote participation and keep the tradition alive.
