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I went to Gunma a couple months ago and saw this first hand. Small villages where abandoned housing outnumbered occupied buildings 2 to 1. In this case it was

by rtpg 12y ago

I went to Gunma a couple months ago and saw this first hand. Small villages where abandoned housing outnumbered occupied buildings 2 to 1. In this case it was in a more mountainous area, but there's a lot of community collapse going on (the tsunami probably exacerbated the trend in some areas)

relet 12y ago
That makes me wonder if it's a good time to start up some mountain tourism in Japan. The landscape is magnificient, the culture is unique, and if the prices are falling a bit you could attract a lot more of budget-ish climbing/hiking/trekking/paragliding/younameit traffic both foreign and local. Especially hiking, trekking and trailrunning is quite big.
- lmb 12y ago
  The only downside being that the Yen is a strong currency, which kills the whole budget idea. The central bank has been trying for a long time to induce inflation, without much success. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29845466 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29845466