UTSUNOMIYA--High school students in Tochigi Prefecture once again were more willing to part with their blood to help others than those anywhere else in Japan, in fiscal 2020.

The prefecture's high schoolers scored Japan's highest blood donation rate for the fifth year in a row, prefectural officials announced.

While the national average for donations by high school students was 3.41 percent, in Tochigi it hit 15.02 percent, a record high for the past decade, according to Tochigi officials.

A total of 7,623 Tochigi high schoolers donated blood in fiscal 2020, which ended in March this year, also a record high in the past 10 years since fiscal 2011, the officials said.

The prefecture ranked first by a large margin, followed by Yamanashi Prefecture, where 9.30 percent of high school students gave blood.

Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, though fewer schools had blood donation sessions in fiscal 2020 than usual, about 80 percent of all schools in Tochigi Prefecture conducted blood drives.

Some students who had no chance to donate blood at their schools went the extra mile and said they did so at blood donation rooms elsewhere.

Tochigi officials attributed the high level of commitment to giving blood to the fact that students are aware of the importance of doing so despite the pandemic, prompted by the ubiquitous presence of blood donation sessions held at many high schools and colleges in the prefecture.

In fiscal 2015, the prefecture ceded the top spot for blood donations by high school students to Yamanashi Prefecture when 11.03 percent of the students in Tochigi gave blood compared to 11.06 percent in Yamanashi, but it has ranked first since fiscal 2016.

The underlying cause is the fact that many blood donor drives are conducted at schools in the prefecture.

More than 90 percent of high schools have provided venues for blood donation every year.

The blood donation rate has also been pushed up because it is calculated from the number of students who donated blood in schools and other places outside their schools, the officials said.

The Japanese Red Cross blood center for the prefecture sends blood collection buses to schools, accompanied by doctors and nurses. Students who are 16 or older and have gained consent from their parents or guardians can donate blood.

It remains unclear why blood donations are widely performed at schools in the prefecture. But the practice has been carried out at least since the parents and guardians of current students, and school staff, were in high school themselves.

Tochigi residents for that reason share a widespread sense that it's only natural to donate blood at schools and parents and guardians of students approve of the drives.

Donating blood together with their peers at schools has its advantages because it makes youngsters feel less hesitant about donating blood even if it is their first time. Many students donate blood on a regular basis after their first experience.

That enthusiasm was evident in the numerous positive messages about giving blood that students scrawled in notebooks set aside for their comments at a blood donation room located on Utsunomiya's Odori main street.

A message one student left said it felt good to do something for others even if it was only a small thing.

Another student said they were nervous about donating blood for the first time, but it wasn't too painful and they found the actual session didn't stress them out.

An 18-year-old college student in the prefecture, who is a member of a student group set up to promote blood drives, said she loves to do good things for others and helps manage blood donation venues. She had also donated blood when she was a high school student.

"You know how blood donations work when you experience it in school, making you feel up to doing more," she said.

The prefectural government's health and welfare department is asking the public to donate blood again this year. 

"Going out to donate blood is not considered a nonessential outing because the need for blood donations remains unchanged amid the coronavirus pandemic," said an official at the department. "Even if you receive a coronavirus vaccine, you can donate blood 48 hours afterward."