日本稻草人村：“居民”多爲布偶

One woman in a fading Japanese village is slowly replacing its dead residents with scarecrows.

正在凋落的日本村莊中，一位婦人用布偶重現舊人。

The 35 residents left in Nagoro, southern Japan, are now outnumbered three-two-one by the mannequins Tsukimi Ayano has made to replace neighbours who have died or Moved away.

據英國《每日郵報》報道，日本一村莊由於居民日漸減少，已變爲稻草人村。日本南部一座名爲Nagoro的村莊人煙寥寥，只剩下35人。名爲月見綾野（Tsukimi Ayano）藝術家爲了讓村莊回覆昔日的人氣，製作了321個稻草人重現舊人。

It's an eccentric response to an increasingly common problem. More than 10,000 towns and villages in Japan are dePopulated, homes and infrastructure crumbling as the countryside empties.

這是對日益增長的村莊老齡化問題的一種古怪反應。在日本，超過一萬座城鎮和村莊人口日漸減少，家園和基礎設施因此支離破碎。

At 65, Ms Tsukimi is one of the younger residents of Nagoro, a small village nestled in the rugged mountain landscape of interior of the southern island of Shikoku.

據報道，Nagoro坐落於四國島（Shikoku）北部的一處山谷中，地形崎嶇。現年65歲的月見綾野是這裏最年輕的居民。

She moved back from Osaka to look after her 85-year-old father after decades away.

離開幾十年後，她從大阪搬回這座村莊來照顧85歲的父親。

'They bring back memories,' Ms Tsukimi said of the life-size dolls crowded into corners of her farmhouse, perched on fences and trees, huddled side-by-side at a produce stall, the bus stop - anywhere a living person might stop.

月見綾野將真人大小的娃娃擺放在真人可能出現的任何地方，他們擠在農舍的角落裏，坐在柵欄和大樹旁，排在廢棄的公共汽車站前。“他們帶來回憶。”月見綾野說道。

'That old lady used to come and chat and drink tea. That old man used to love to drink sake and tell stories. It reminds me of the old times, when they were still alive and well,' she said.

“老婦人們過去經常過來聊天喝茶，老人們則喜歡喝清酒講故事。這讓我想起逝去的時光，那時他們都還健在。”她說。

Nagoro is typical of the thousands of communities turning into ghost towns or at best, open-air museums, frozen in time - a trend evident even in downtown Tokyo and in nearly or completely empty villages in the city's suburbs.

Nagoro是成千上萬個變爲鬼城或露天博物館的典型社區之一。這種老齡化趨勢甚至在東京（Tokyo）市中心和城郊幾乎或完全成空的村莊中尤爲明顯。

The one-street town is mostly abandoned, its shops and homes permanently shuttered.

只有一條街道的小鎮幾乎被遺棄，商店和房屋被永久關閉了。

With no youngsters left to raise, the local elementary school closed two years ago. Now Ms Tsukimi sometimes guides visitors through the spotless classrooms populated with scarecrow students and teachers.

由於沒有年輕人，當地小學兩年前就關閉了。現在，月見綾野有時會帶領遊客參觀放滿稻草人學生和老師的乾淨教室。

As Japan grew increasingly affluent after the Second World War, younger Japanese abandoned the countryside, flooding into the cities for jobs in factories and service industries, leaving their elders to tend small farms.

日本在二戰（the Second World War）後愈加富裕，日本的年輕人因此離開家鄉，涌進城市的工廠和服務行業尋找生計，將他們的老人留在家中務農。

Greater Tokyo, with more than 37million people, and Osaka-Kobe, with 11.5million, account for nearly 40 per cent of the country's 127million people, with another 10million scattered in a handful of provincial capitals.

首都東京擁有超過3700萬人口，大阪和神戶人口有1150萬，幾乎佔全國1.27億人口的40%。其它1000萬人分佈在少量的省會城市。

'There's been this huge sucking sound as the countryside is emptied,' said Joel Cohen, a professor at Columbia University's Laboratory of Populations.

哥倫比亞大學人口實驗室（Columbia University's Laboratory of Populations）教授喬·科恩（Joel Cohen）表示：“城市人口的膨脹使得農村變空。”

Meanwhile, a falling birthrate means there are too few people to repopulate rural areas as the rapidly ageing population left tending the fields die off.

與此同時，下降的出生率意味着，隨着迅速老齡化的農村剩餘人口相繼死亡，重新注入農村地區的人口過少。Japan's population began to decline in 2010 from a peak of 128 million. Without a drastic increase in the birthrate or a loosening of the staunch Japanese resistance to immigration, it is forecast to fall to about 108 million by 2050 and to 87 million by 2060.

日本人口在2010年開始從1.28億的高峯下降。若沒有出現大幅增長的出生率，或放鬆人口移民，日本人口預計到2050年將下降到1.08億，到2060年將下降到8700萬。

By then, four in 10 Japanese will be over 65 years old.

到那時，40%的日本人將會是年齡超過65歲的老人。

When Ms Tsukimi returned to her hometown 13 years ago, she initially tried farming. Thinking her radish seeds may have been eaten by crows, she decided to make some scarecrows.

13年前，當月見綾野返回家鄉時，她最初嘗試務農。考慮到她的蘿蔔籽可能會被烏鴉吃掉，她決定做些稻草人。

Now there are more 100 scattered around Nagoro and other towns in Shikoku.

目前，已經有100多個稻草人分散在Nagoro和四國島城鎮的各處。

Like handcarved Buddhist sculptures, each has its own whimsical expression. Some sleep, their eyelids permanently shut. Others cuddle toddler scarecrows, or man ploughs and hoes.

像手工雕刻的佛教雕塑一樣，每一個稻草人都擁有自己古怪表情。有的在睡覺，眼瞼永久地闔着。但大多數都“清醒着”，等待遠道而來的遊客觀賞拍照。

'If I hadn't made these scarecrows, people would just drive right by,' she said.

“如果我沒有做這些稻草人，人們就不會繞道來參觀了。”月見綾野說。