With most of the people gone, the residents of a small town in Japan have come up with a new plan to make it less lonely – replacing people with dolls.
There are less than 60 people living in Ichinono, and most of them are past retirement age as young people have left for jobs or education.
So, using old clothes, fabrics and mannequins, the villagers have assembled their dolls to keep them together.
Some of the dolls ride on swings, some push wooden carts, and they smile in a scary way when they look at the visitors.
“We are almost outnumbered by many dolls,” Hisayo Yamazaki, an 88-year-old widow, told Agence France-Presse.
Many families in Ichinono used to have children, Yamazaki said, but the children were encouraged to go elsewhere. “Now we are paying the price,” he added.
Japan has the highest percentage of people aged 65 and over in the world, according to data released last month by the country's statistics agency ahead of its “Old People's Day.”
Although the population is decreasing, the data showed that the number of people aged 65 and over is at a peak of 36.25 million, accounting for 29.3% of the total population.
Separate data from Japan's Ministry of the Interior, show that the country's population will decline for the 15th consecutive year in 2023, with a record low of 730,000 newborns but a record high of 1.58 million deaths.
Japan's median age has been rising since 1950, with the number reaching 49.1 in 2023, according to an estimate by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
So in Ichinono, puppets inject some young people.
Amidst the overgrown greenery, a doll girl in a coat sways slowly on a wooden swing, as if caught in peace and life. His friend, a boy with a big, warm smile, is standing on a motorcycle, ready to go.
Nearby, another doll girl wearing a red helmet is placed on a bicycle.
Elsewhere, two life-size mannequins in farming clothes stand next to an open metal tent in a field of crops. The one on the left, wearing a hat and coat, walks forward, while another in an orange jacket stands nearby.
Under the leafless trees in another part of the village, a family of three dolls collects firewood and loads the logs into a smart cart.
Standing outside the building and surrounded by a wheelbarrow and chairs, two other dolls appeared to be enjoying the sunshine.
Another, wearing a checkered shirt and hat, looks out of the orchard toward a few small houses in the distance.
There are other young residents including Rie Kato, 33, and Toshiki Kato, 31, who moved to the village from the city of Osaka after the work shifts that occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Their son, Kuranosuke Kato, now 2 years old, was Ichinono's first child in two decades when he arrived, according to Interior Ministry data.
“Just by being born here, our son benefits from the love, support and hope of many people – even though he has not achieved anything in life,” said his father.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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