A Ghost Town Peopled by scarecrows in Japan; Result of Urban Exodus

In a small town deep in the mountains of southern Japan, scarecrows outnumber the residents three- to- one. Nagoro, once a bustling community of hundreds of families, now only has 37 residents.

It is a ghost town inhabited by old people. Most of the population has died out and the rest have moved away.

Ayano, 65, is the maker of these makeshift lifesize dolls . She moved in to the town to look after her aging father. "They bring back memories," Ayano said of the life-sized dolls which can be seen nestling or standing in her homestead and scattered around the town huddled side-by-side at a produce stall, the bus stop, near a fence, the usual place where you find people chatting or talking in a living community.

"That old lady used to come and chat and drink tea. That old man used to love to drink sake and tell stories. It reminds me of the old times, when they were still alive and well," she said, reports the Associated Press.

She started making the scarecrows to scare away birds and animals from her garden produce and then just thought of filling up the empty familiar places with these dolls.

Japan's biggest problem is its dwindling population , which is aging rapidly, and a stagnant birth rate.

Japan's population has been on the decline since 2010 when it reached 128 million. It is forecast to fall to about 108 million by 2050 and to 87 million by 2060.

The exodus to the urban centres started after World War II when the country's economy and industry took off. Almost 45 percent of Japan's urban population stays in Tokyo and Osaka Kobe region.

The government and local bodies are doing their best to attract people to the countryside. House banks have been opened up offering people houses at low rents. Art Communities, more fast food and organic eating places and selling towns as viable and cheaper secondary commercial options for tech companies, all efforts are being made.

Incentives like free daycare, diapers and formula and education for larger families are being given.

"You can't just grab people by the necks like kittens and drag them here," a town official said to the Associated Press. "They have to want to live here."

Till the citizenry takes a bite of the slower pace of country living, ghost towns scattered in the semi-urban and rural regions of Japan will have to make do with life-size dolls and scarecrows to fill the human void. .