is any village or hamlet within a merged town or village in Japan that has experienced depopulation and in danger of disappearing altogether, largely because half of the people living there reach
the age of 65 and over.
Such villages are generally found in mountain villages and outlying islands. Villages facing this sort of situation have seen the functions of a community - local government autonomy, maintaining of roads, and ceremonial occasions - rapidly declining, and are facing losing these altogether.
History
Akira Ōno, a professor of emeritus at Nagano University first proposed the concept in 1991 while teaching humanities at
Kōchi University.
A number of surveys have been conducted to explore the phenomenon. In 2005 the
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries may refer to:
* Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Cambodia)
* Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)
* Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Niue)
* Dep ...
commissioned a committee on rural development to do a survey on the true state of genkai shuraku (March 2006). According to the results, there were an estimated 1403 villages that were found to be in danger. These results were based on census results in agricultural villages. In April 2006, the
commissioned a survey on the state of depopulating areas. The report stated that, of the 62,273 villages that were visited, 775 of them were depopulating.
調査報告
- 過疎地域等における集落の状況に関するアンケート調査、国土交通省平成18年度「国土形成計画策定のための集落の状況に関する現況把握調査」～最終報告～
- 国土交通省�
国土形成計画策定のための集落の状況に関する現況把握調査（図表編）
- 国土交通省
Terms
References
*大野晃 『山村環境社会学序説』 社団法人 農山漁村文化協会、2005年 3月31日、300頁。
See also
*Depopulation
A population decline (also sometimes called underpopulation, depopulation, or population collapse) in humans is a reduction in a human population size. Over the long term, stretching from prehistory to the present, Earth's total human population ...
*Ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...
*Inner city
The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists somet ...
* Hikyō station
Population
Geography of Japan
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