Wanna Buy a School? Jungle Gym Included!

The incredible shrinking Japanese population has led to some interesting problems. One is that because there are so few children to fill up schools, cities have been forced with unloading hundreds of shuttered public school buildings. The problem has been that finding buyers has been difficult, especially in rural areas. One city in Hokkaido, which had to close 7 of its 9 elementary schools in 2008, decided to put the properties on Yahoo Japan's auction site, which would expose the properties to a national audience. The plan worked. Final sale price for one school, compete with pool, gym and playground: $300,000.