Remote Town Tries To Survive Japan's Population Crisis

SAYO, JAPAN - JUNE 13: Senior residents eat Takoyaki, Japanese cuisine at a food stalls site in Grandpa and Grandma's Flower Garden on June 13, 2024 in Sayo, Japan. In the quaint town of Nishi-Shinjuku, a group of eight elderly residents, predominantly aged 80 and 100, are making a concerted effort to revitalize their community by cultivating a vibrant flower garden within abandoned rice terraces. This endeavor aims to attract outsiders to their remote town, which is struggling due to declining birth rates and mass migration to urban areas. The town's 27 houses, with only seven occupied, serve as a poignant representation of Japan's broader population crisis. The iris flower site, aptly named Grandpa and Grandma's Flower Garden, boasts approximately 15,000 irises from 170 varieties across 12 hectares. Local elementary and high school students regularly visit the garden to lend a hand and foster a sense of community. Japan has witnessed a historic milestone, with the number of elderly individuals aged 75 and over surpassing 20 million for the first time. This demographic accounts for 16.1% of the total population, which has decreased by 595,000 to 124,352,000, according to the latest statistics released by the Internal Affairs Ministry. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)