In Pictures: Japan's Nagoro village where life-sized dolls outnumber humans 10 to one
Deep in the mountains of western Japan, the tiny village of Nagoro appears busy, but there is not a living soul to be seen. The street is dotted with life-sized dolls that outnumber humans 10 to one, the product of a one-woman bid to counter the emptiness and loneliness felt in Nagoro which, like many Japanese villages, has been decimated by depopulation.
Life-sized dolls sit in the tiny village of Nagoro in western Japan, on March 16, 2019.
PHOTO: AFP
Nagoro resident Tsukimi Ayano posing with life-sized dolls at an elementary school that closed seven years ago, as there was no one left to teach.
PHOTO: AFP
Madam Tsukimi Ayano, 69, sewing the head of a life-sized doll at her house in Nagoro.
PHOTO: AFP
The tiny village of Nagoro in western Japan in a photo taken on March 16, 2019.
PHOTO: AFP
A life-sized doll on display at a house beside a road in Nagoro.
PHOTO: AFP
Life-sized dolls depicting a farming couple.
PHOTO: AFP
Madam Tsukimi Ayano walking in front of an abandoned grocery shop decorated with life-sized dolls.
PHOTO: AFP
Madam Tsukimi Ayano (bottom right) inspects one of her dolls displayed at an elementary school that closed seven years ago.
PHOTO: AFP
Life-sized dolls depicting schoolchildren at the elementary school that was closed seven years ago, as there was no one left to teach.
PHOTO: AFP
Madam Tsukimi Ayano checking on her dolls displayed outside her workshop in Nagoro.
PHOTO: AFP