‘Outnumbered By Puppets,’ Small Village In Japan Populated By Dolls To Keep Seniors Company
Two things we've seen time and time again in horror or otherwise eerie media are near-abandoned towns and dolls. Both motifs pop up frequently in many different forms, both meant to feel creepy, unsettling, even haunting.
That doesn't mean they're inherently frightening, though. A very small village in Japan has both, but they see the dolls inhabiting their streets as something youthful and bright.
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Filling Space
As the population of the small Japanese village of Ichinono slowly wanes, with their young people moving away for school, work, or to experience a livelier city, the remaining residents have begun a new tradition to help make the space seem a little fuller. Making dolls.
There are less than 60 people living in Ichinono now, with many of them being quite older, above retirement age. So, they started collecting old clothes, fabric, and mannequins to create a population of dolls.
Among The People
They're posed around town doing various things, from riding swings to harvesting plants to lounging on their maker's front porch.
"We're probably outnumbered by puppets," 88-year-old widow Hisayo Yamazaki told the AFP. She explained that most of the families in Ichinono used to have children, but those children were actually encouraged to move elsewhere as they got older. "We're now paying the price," she added.
Dropping Slowly
Though Ichinono used to have plenty of children, there are still far less young people in Japan, with the country having the highest percentage of people 65 and over in the world. There are 36.25 million people over 65 in the country, which makes up 29.3% of its total population.
The population is also on a steady decline and has been for the past 15 years, with far fewer children being born compared to the amount of deaths that take place each year.
Sharing The Streets
For Ichinono, the dolls are a means of bringing some semblance of youth back to the village, as well as helping their aging population feel less lonely.
The village is very green, crops and overgrowth abound, a very natural and peaceful place. Life there is simple, with its citizens being very hardworking, self-sufficient, and tight knit.
Some of the younger residents include Rie and Toshiki Kato, who are 33 and 31, respectively. They moved to the village from Osaka thanks to their flexible, work-from-home careers.
New Youth
They also recently had a son. Kuranosuke Kato, who's now two years old, was Ichinono's first baby in over two decades. Though he is the sole child, he receives endless amounts of attention and adoration from Ichinono's older residents, who perhaps see him as a sign of hope for the future.
As 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."
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