Welcome to Japan’s valley of the dolls, where scarecrows outnumber people 10 to one
- Only 27 people live in the tiny village of Nagoro, but it is also home to 270 life-size dolls that are dotted around the streets
- Local resident Tsukimi Ayano began placing scarecrows on the street in 2003 to inject some life into her depopulated village
In the tiny village of Nagoro, deep in the mountains of western Japan, the wind howls down a deserted street with not a living soul to be seen.
But yet the street appears busy, dotted with life-size dolls that outnumber humans 10 to one, the product of a one-woman bid to counter the emptiness and loneliness felt in Nagoro, like many Japanese villages decimated by depopulation.
Nagoro, around 550 kilometres (340 miles) southwest of Tokyo, has become known as the valley of dolls after local resident Tsukimi Ayano began placing scarecrows on the street to inject some life into her depopulated village.
“Only 27 people live in this village but the number of scarecrows is tenfold, like 270,” the 69-year-old doll maker says.
It all started 16 years ago when the dexterous Ayano created a scarecrow dressed in her father’s clothes to prevent birds eating the seeds she had planted in her garden.
