Nagoro village is known as the valley of dolls after 69 year-old doll maker Tsukimi Ayano started placing life-sized dolls in the streets and schools
Nestled in the mountains of western Japan, resides a tiny village – Nagoro, where the tally of dolls and scarecrows is much more than the people residing in the village. But yet, the streets remain busy due to the presence of human like dolls.
Situation nearly 550 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, Nagoro, has become known as the valley of dolls after a local resident Tsukimi Ayano began placing scarecrows on the street to add some life into her desolate village.
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The 69 years old doll maker Tsukimi Ayano said, “Only 27 people live in this village but the number of scarecrows is 270.”
Takumi Fujinami, economist at the Japan Research Institute said that post World War II, when forestry and agriculture were the main economic drivers, many Japanese lived in rural villages like Nagoro. But young people started to leave for Tokyo in the 1960s.
“The economy was booming in Tokyo and industrial areas at that time. They were the only places people could earn money, so a lot of young people moved there," Takumi added.
However, the making of scarecrows began when Ayano created a scarecrow dressed in her father's clothes to prevent birds eating the seeds she had planted in her garden. Remembering this incident she said, “A worker who saw it in the garden thought it really was my father, he said hello but it was a scarecrow. It was funny.”
Even in the schools of Nagoro, Ayano has placed 12 child sized dolls, as there are no children left in the village. Ironically, the youngest person in the village is of 55 years.
When she began to make dolls, there were a total of 300 residents in the village but now only 27 people are left in the village.