4 ms·
An interesting view of Japan, outside of the big cities, is blog written by Richard Hendy (an English ex-pat) back in the early 2010s called Spike Japan[0]. He
by breput 4y ago
An interesting view of Japan, outside of the big cities, is blog written by Richard Hendy (an English ex-pat) back in the early 2010s called Spike Japan[0].
He focuses on areas such as Hokkaido where there are glimpses of past prosperity but due to an aging population and the younger people moving to the cities, the communities that remain are crumbling, but in a very Japanese way. Hendy has a great sense of humor and the photography and storytelling is top notch.
This is a rabbit hole you won't mind falling down if you're at all interested in different cultures and comparing decaying rural areas to those in your own country.
[0] https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/ https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/
and a few sample blog posts to give you a taste:
https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/spike-hokkaido-2/lake-toya-the-billion-dollar-tower-of-bubble/ https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/spike-hokkaido-2/lake-toya-...
https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/requiem-for-a-railway/ https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/requiem-for-a-railway/
https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/ugly-japan-2/ https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/ugly-japan-2/
- gkanai 4y agoSpike Japan is great. He needed an editor though. It's a great reminder of the collapse of rural Japan- that's still ongoing today. Those parts of rural Japan should never have had the development that they did have during the 80s/90s bubble years.
- breput 4y agoIronically his last blog post was a commissioned article[0] from The Guardian and he complained[1] about editorialization. But yes, he liked his words, but I also wish he would revisit some of these places now. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/aug/15/yubari-japan-city-learns-die-lost-population-detroit https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/aug/15/yubari-japan-... [1] https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/yubari-withering-into-truth/ https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/yubari-withering...
- astrange 4y agoI had Japanese resident friends at the time who were very mad about this blog because he kept claiming totally-not-abandoned places were abandoned. He just showed up on holidays when everyone was somewhere else!
- breput 4y agoI'm sure it happened to an extent, but he couldn't have faked all of physical decay photos or actual demographic and population data. He showed up on holidays when everyone was away, but they were always away in many rural areas.