{"id":6973,"date":"2021-07-21T01:34:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T01:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=6973"},"modified":"2021-07-21T01:34:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T01:34:53","slug":"kominka-a-future-for-disappearing-villages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/kominka-a-future-for-disappearing-villages\/","title":{"rendered":"Kominka \u2013 a future for disappearing villages?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kominka (\u53e4\u6c11\u5bb6) \u2013 a traditional Japanese old house. A new fad that came about in the pandemic Japan was to escape (\u9003\u3052\u308b nigeru) from big cities and live in a rural area (\u7530\u820e inaka). The COVID-19 pandemic made many people realize that they did not need to live near the big cities and endure a 2-hour\/one-way commute in a crowded train every day when remote work was encouraged.<\/p>\n

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Image by FranckinJapan<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Many rural communities are dying as young people left the communities, leaving only old people in the communities. It is called Genkai Shuraku (\u9650\u754c\u96c6\u843d a village on the verge of disappearing). Over fifty percent of the residents are over 65 years old, and the ability to carry out the communicative function is close to disappearing. As of April 2019, there were 20,372 Genkai Shuraku in Japan.<\/p>\n

When the resident passed away, his\/her family members living out of the community likely abandoned the old house, farm, mountain, and forest in the rural area. \u00a0Then Kominka was publicized by foreigners living in Japan and news of their renovations and their lives in the Japanese rural communities was broadcast on TV.\u00a0 Some of them started a guest house (\u6c11\u5bbf minshuku) targeting tourists from overseas.<\/p>\n