TOKYO -- University admission exam prep school Nichigaku in the capital's Shinjuku Ward suddenly closed its doors just before Japan's standardized university entrance exams on Jan. 18 and 19.

The two were the only graduates of Yumoto Junior High in a mountainous part of northern Japan - and the last. The 76-year-old school will shut its doors for good when the school year ends on Friday.

This April, as junior high school students across Japan enter high school, a new type of specialty institution will open its doors. Dubbed “Esport High School” in English, the school is called ...