Why Was This Japanese Village Abandoned?

It's rare to find an entire abandoned village in Japan. But what about 12 abandoned villages? Why were they abandoned? Where did everyone go? Why was so much left behind? Today we are taking a closer look at a set of abandoned villages, and talking to some of the Japanese locals who lived there, to learn more.

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Tokyo Lens Podcast:

[TokyoLens]

What did you think? Would you visit a place like this?
There was so much to explore and so many people to talk to.
Thank you all so much for being a part of these adventures. Adventure season has officially kicked off and this is the start!
And a special thank you to the Patreon crew for making these possible!

[AbroadinJapan]

This was an exceptional documentary mate! The cinematography, the story, the people. Tokyo Lens at its best!

[nanamiharuka]

it’s so fitting that the last man did not want to be on camera. YouTube can seem so produced so it’s hard to remember that these are real people and some want to stay private

[MaDmanex]

The one last man living peacefully in a forgotten village that nobody will remember. Its poetic sad and humbling to hear about this small tale of changing times.

[Parugraph]

You can really feel the melancholy in their voices when they tell the stories but they all seem like nice people.

[saraisheretoview]

Living in a mountain like that kinda gives me Wolf children vibes, the isolation, peace, and safety. Going there must feel like entering another reality

[cloudwonders]

This moved me to tears. Not because I find it sad or haunting, but because I've always found there's so much beauty in the evidence of lives lived. Times change, people move - forward or on or elsewhere, and, unavoidably, things get left behind. And here, even with the stories of discord and dispute, there's peace and stillness left. There's so much bittersweet beauty in this video: the villages that were wiped away by the future; the houses that are still standing, carrying the memories; the former villages returning to take care of what they left behind; the sole remaining villager, only accessible through paths slowly being reclaimed by nature. So many metaphors for life.

[christiantorreon]

This is just so sad. I can't even imagine seeing a place you grew up, a place you had friends, a place that builds a thord or a quarter of your life get abandoned. The memories remains and so the sadness.

[m.farrelfahrezi]

is it just me or rural part of japan made me feel strangely nostalgic even i'm not from japan?

[boeriksson]

Wow. The old homes almost turned into shrines of memories for the people that once lived there. You did great to record this before no one remembered this anymore.

[thecolortwelve]

Haunting. The visuals. The sense of things lost. Deeply effecting.

[Ozai]

You can tell that for many of them while they might of left those places behind physically, their hearts are still there.

[milliondotz]

Honestly this is the reason I subscribed to this channel. The documentation of abandoned and lost villages, stories and people allow for them to live forever regardless if anyone continues to live or visit there.

[amandadavis]

This was amazing! For a relatively short video, I feel like this captured so much more of the story of these abandoned towns than your average made-for-tv hour long documentary would. Just allowing the people who lived there to talk and reminisce told the story so vividly. It also let us know that while these villages are abandoned, they aren't forgotten or ghost towns. Thank you for making and sharing this!

[honestaditya]

Man, a life of solitude, just living alone in the mountains. I question how many of us will be able to do that or are ready to do that.

[Lydia_Swenson]

This was so deeply moving for me, I wasn’t expecting to get so emotional at the end. All the lives this dam impacted and all the hard decisions people had to face, to say the layers of emotions are deep is an absolute understatement. The man at the end choosing not to be filmed was so admirable, my imagination is running wild with the quiet, simple but hard life he leads. Thank you so much for this video ❤️

[kaltask]

The second guy had such a deep voice. I think he is and epic story teller :D

[cbtowers]

“My granddaughter used it a lot. So, we can’t bring ourselves to part with it.” The quiet, reserved sentiment is so typical Japanese. They’re not often expressive of their feelings and affection so when I see it, I get choked up. Same with their trembling voices when they talk about their memories growing up there. 🥲

[fukutaichou]

I really appreciate documentaries that are under 20 minutes that does not skimp on the quality of information learned. Thank you for telling us these stories.

[sweetarchangel]

Thank you for going back and taking the time to make a documentary on the abandonded village. I had so many questions - what happened, why was it abandoned, etc.
It's so sad that it happened, but at the same time, really cool to see how nature was coming back.

As for the last villager - I hope that they have many years to live.