Photos of a depopulated rural Japan

[thomas]

The WP on photographer James Whitlow Delano who has lived in Japan for many years. Brilliant imagery from a very different - silent - Japan.

Coming from a part of the United States made of exurbs and gentrified farms, he has always found it baffling that a bucolic paradise could exist so close to the claustrophobic urban madness of Tokyo, where he and his wife live. But he has found that such places do exist. And he told InSight about one of those areas, which he recently visited: "On the fringes of urban sprawl are depopulating geriatric villages … set right beside worker-bee lowlands where people live cheek to jowl in tiny apartments and houses in a space-starved nation with traditions intimately connected to nature."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2021/11/29/this-is-what-rural-depopulation-japan-looks-like/

Years ago, Mr Delano published an award-winning story on Fukushima's eerie ghost towns. More on his website:

James Whitlow Delano / Documentary Storyteller

www.jameswhitlowdelano.com

 

[johnnyG]

Hey--I can actually read that! Not sure if it's still available, but I signed up for a wapo black friday sale--$.99/month for the first 12 months.

Some nice pics, but it'd also be nice to be able to click on them for larger versions (maybe on his website rather than the paper?). Also, I think some TCC people have posted some good ghost town shots.

 

[thomas]

Some nice pics, but it'd also be nice to be able to click on them for larger versions (maybe on his website rather than the paper?). Also, I think some TCC people have posted some good ghost town shots.

Yes, search for "Nichitsu ghost town". Some nice shots here:

Sun, Nov 4 - Nichitsu autumn leaves

This coming Sunday Jose (Jayves) and I will be following on Pete's (Yamabushi's) trail from last weekend for some autumn leaves viewing around Nichitsu ghost town in Chichibu. We'll be meeting on the east bank of the Tamagawahara bridge on the Tamagawa (多摩川原橋, R19 / Tsurukawa Highway) at 05:30...

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