Walking through the city where I was born and raised (from my alma mater Kobe Municipal Hibarigaoka Junior High School to Kobe Electric Railway Hiyodorigoeshi Station)

Current state of my alma mater Kobe Municipal Hibarigaoka Junior High School

According to school information sites, the total number of students is 181. There's also information that it was 165 in 2020, so it may have increased slightly.
Well, it seems it was 246 in 2014, so the overall trend is still declining.
I filmed the junior high school's playground at the beginning of the video, and it doesn't seem to have changed from 40 years ago. The net surrounding the playground, the pool I swam in many times, and the building by the pool haven't changed at all, which is surprising.
The school building has become more yellowish from exterior paint compared to my memory, but like the playground, I don't think it's changed at all.
Indeed, schools might not change anywhere. But even when the number of students has become a fraction, not changing is strange when you think about it.

If you watch this video, you'll see it has an atmosphere like time stopped in the Showa era. It's a mountainous area with little flat land, and geographically, transportation-wise, and population-wise, there are no large commercial facilities, and it's not a city where people gather, so it can't be helped.

My alma mater elementary school (Kobe Municipal Hibarigaoka Elementary School) became a special nursing home

My alma mater, Kobe Municipal Hibarigaoka Elementary School, was merged with the neighboring elementary school, Maruyama Elementary School, to become Kobe Municipal Maruyama Hibarigaoka Elementary School.
Right when I was filming this, they were doing construction work to demolish the elementary school building and build a special nursing home. I think it's probably completely finished and become a special nursing home by now.

Incidentally, Kobe Municipal Maruyama Hibarigaoka Elementary School has 263 students.
Hibarigaoka Elementary School was separated because Maruyama Elementary School's student population increased too much. So one of my older brothers is from Maruyama Elementary School, and my other older brother and I are from Hibarigaoka Elementary School.

Kobe City is also among the top cities, towns, and wards in Japan for population decline, so the number of students is probably decreasing.
Like Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka Prefecture, cities with remarkable population decline inevitably give that impression.

Cityscape that hasn't changed much from 40 years ago

The details have changed quite a bit, but it hasn't changed much overall in over 40 years, which is strange.
I'd like to visit the places I walked as an elementary school student next time.