“Extinction awaits us”: this town only has one child and dozens of puppets

Kuranosuke Kato carelessly rides his tricycle through the streets of Ichinono. He is the first child born in two decades in this Japanese town, full of life-size puppets to try to compensate for the feeling of emptiness.

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Located about 60 kilometers from Osaka, the great metropolis in western Japan, Ichinono is one of 20,000 municipalities in the country where the majority of residents are 65 years old or older, according to government data.

Revitalizing rural areas is one of the notable commitments of the new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is fighting to maintain the parliamentary majority in the early elections this Sunday.

Ishiba has defined Japan’s very low fertility rate as a “silent emergency” that, however, becomes crystal clear in places like Ichinono, a bucolic village of less than 60 inhabitants.

“If the town is left as it is now, the only thing that awaits us is extinction”predicts Ichiro Sawayama, the head of the municipal government, who is 74 years old.

Many developed countries are facing a demographic crisis but Japan, with a restrictive immigration policy, already has the second oldest population in the world after Monaco.

A heavy silence permeates the streets of Ichinono, decorated with life-size puppets to recreate a certain sense of activity. Some mannequins are mounted on swings, others push a cart loaded with firewood or flash a sinister smile at visitors.

“The puppets probably outnumber us”jokes Hisayo Yamazaki, an 88-year-old widow.

Rice cultivation and sake distillation once kept the town afloat. Many families in the village had children, Yamazaki remembers.

But “they feared they wouldn’t be able to get married if they were trapped in a remote place like this,” so they continued their studies in the city.

“They left and never came back, they found jobs elsewhere. Now we pay the price,” he laments.

This is the family of the only child who lives in Ichinono

The Kato family, however, took the path in reverse: in 2021, Rie and Toshiki (33 and 31 years old) moved from Osaka to Ichinono, where their son Kuranosuke was born.

The couple chose to change their urban life for the countryside when, as a result of the pandemic, they were allowed more flexible work.

Their son, by far the youngest of the residents, is adored by his neighbors, who bring him home-cooked meals and collectively care for him.

The boy is “our pride,” says the head of the municipality, Sawayama. He’s “practically my great-grandson, such a cute thing,” exclaims Widow Yamazaki.

PHILIP FONG/AFP

For the Kato it is good that the child grows up in a community like Ichinono, instead of in the anonymity of an apartment in Osaka.

“Just by being born here, our son enjoys the love, support and hope of so many people, even though he hasn’t even achieved anything in life yet,” his father Toshiki jokes.

His mother Rie assures that the town is very cohesive. Her neighbors sometimes ask her for favors or invite her to play a Japanese sport similar to croquet. The family also often helps them harvest edamame beans.

“I feel that my worth, as an individual, is recognized here,” says Rie. “I’m sure that’s how Kuranosuke will feel when he grows up.”

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