As countries all over the world grapple with the problem of how to tackle declining birth rates, Ichinono – a small village in southern Japan – has found a novel solution: puppets.

Japan has the highest population of over-65s in the world, as the overall population has been declining steadily for 15 years. As a result, there are now fewer than 60 people living in Ichinono, most of whom are of retirement age. In an effort to address feelings of loneliness, as most younger residents have moved away to find jobs or attend university, the villagers have banded together and created an army of puppets, stitched together with old clothes and fabrics. As 88-year-old widower Hisayo Yamazaki told the Agence France-Presse news agency, “we’re probably outnumbered by puppets.”

The puppets can be seen all over the village, lending it an eerie, folk horror atmosphere: there’s a little girl with a solemn expression swinging on a wooden swing, while next to her a young boy puppet stands on a scooter with a wide grin, and another girl nearby perches on a bicycle. There are families, collecting logs together or observing the fields. It seems only a matter of time before they are heard giggling and whispering in the night, before the villagers wake up to find that they have moved positions, inching closer to their homes. 

While it seems incredible that this approach is intended to make the village less depressing, it does seem to provide some comfort for its residents. As Britain faces its lowest birth rates since records began, is this a policy we should think about adopting ourselves? It’s a bleak vision of the future, but at least puppets would never play Mr Beast videos out loud on the bus. ❤️