Life-size dolls in Nagoro Village in Shikoku, Japan. Made as part of an offbeat effort to keep the village populated as residents leave or pass away.
Life-size dolls in the tiny village of Nagoro in Shikoku, about 350 miles west of Tokyo, Japan. They're made by elderly resident Tsukimi Ayano as part of an offbeat effort to keep the village populated as residents leave or pass away. She started making them in around 2002. The one-street village is a microcosm of Japanese society, with the nation's falling birthrate leading to village depopulation in rural communities. Japan's current population stands at about 127 million, but current trends suggest it could fall to below 100 million within 35 years. Nagoro's doll population, however, continues to grow (there are more than 400 with more being added) and is now greater than the village's human population, which in 2019 stood at around 35. The dolls are even starting to show up in nearby villages whose populations are also shrinking.
Size: 4896px × 3264px
Location: Nagoro, Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan.
Photo credit: © Trevor Mogg / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: birth, birthrate, decline, doll, dolls, falling, japan, japanese, japans, life, life-size, nagoro, population, rate, scarecrow, shikoku, shrinking, size, tourism, village
