A village in Japan has become so quiet that the people there make puppets to give the facade of a lively and youthful community.
Ichinono, in southern Japan, has a population of just 60 people, and the vast majority of them are past retirement age.The younger members of their family mostly move away to find job opportunities in the cities, leaving Ichinono to become something of a ghost town.
As a result, the people there have resorted to using cloth, fabrics and mannequins to create puppets that are on display through the village. In fact, the number of puppets now outnumbers the real people there.
Hisayo Yamazaki, an 88-year-old widow, told the Agence France-Presse news agency: “We’re probably outnumbered by puppets.”
On the young people who left the village, she added: “We were afraid they would become unmarriageable if they remained stuck in a remote place like this.
“Out they went, and they never came back, getting jobs elsewhere. We’re now paying the price.” Rie Kato, 33, and Toshiki Kato, 31 are among the younger residents in the village.
When their son Kuranosuke, two, was born, he was the first new arrival in 20 years. His father said: “Just by being born here, our son benefits from the love, support, and hope of so many people — even though he has achieved absolutely nothing in life yet.”
Japan has the second oldest population behind Monaco, with 29.3% of the population over 65 years old.
Ichiro Sawayama, 74, head of the governing body in the village, told Japan Today: “If the village is left as it is now, the only thing that awaits us is extinction.”
Villagers have made the puppets look eerily life-like, with many puppet children riding bikes, playing on swings and chilling out on the front porches of people’s homes.
They can be spotted on grass verges, with some young families also depicted.
There is a small glimmer of hope for the 60 people residing in the village who hope for vibrancy once again. One family decided to move there during Covid – when self-isolation was key to avoid infection.
It is not known if there are any plans to revitalise the village or encourage people to down roots there.
