Spike Japan

There's an amazing (and depressing) blog called Spike Japan that's all about this aesthetic, with a special focus on the Bubble of the 80s and the detritus it left behind: https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/

The demographic decline of the Japanese countryside is a stark reality most vistors don't get to witness, but it really is transforming the country. For a great, poetic examination from a few years back, the (now dormant) blog Spike Japan is an essential resource. https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/

Hokkaido is a land of contrasts. Amazing natural spaces, great food- especially the seafood, but also the best milk in Japan, etc. Hokkaido is also one of the poorest prefectures in Japan and has struggled since the economic bubble collapsed 3 decades ago. You see a lot of abandoned houses, and whole towns look empty as youth have moved to Sapporo or other larger cities for work and leave only the elderly to farm or fish, etc. The Spike Japan blog stopped in 2014 but is a very interesting look into the rural collapse of Japan, and Hokkaido specifically. https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/ Note that if you go just by that blog, you'd not want to visit. It's a great place to visit, to ski, etc. but there is the other side that SpikeJapan highlights.

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/ and a few sample blog posts to give you a taste: https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/spike-hokkaido-2/lake-toya-the-billio… https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/requiem-for-a-railway/ https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/ugly-japan-2/

I've been there, it was amazing. Windmills, tulips, canal boats, clogs. The gift shop was themed after Schipol airport! This article about how the park came to be is my favourite piece of travel writing (it's why we went): https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/huis-ten-bosch-only-miffy-…

That's a lovely story, but it's also why JR is bleeding red ink. Here's a typical story about one line that was serving an average of 19 (nineteen) passengers per day and made a loss of about US$3m/year for decades until it was finally axed in 2014 thanks to a providential landslide. https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/minispike-the-end-of-the-l…

Exactly. We still have echo effects of the zombification of the economy since the 1990s as well. This series does a wonderful job explaining what is happening, through story and pictures. Whole towns are disappearing. Schools are opening and closing based on what grade the only child in the district is in. Go to the oldest post and work back if u have time. https://spikejapan.wordpress.com I read this

Spike Japan is another well-written blog covering poverty & decay in Japan, specifically Tokyo. It also has nice photos of things rusting. https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/

There's a very tiny band of people buying old "Minkas"[1] and restoring them. My Japanese friends recently moved into one, and it's amazing. Here is an English article on the subject[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minka [2] https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/miscellany/

It's desperately attempting to, yes. However, it will fail, sooner or later, because every single rural city in Japan will soon be like Yubari, and the central government can't prop up all of them. The following piece, also on Spike, is much slower/less flashy reading, but nonetheless pretty terrifying. https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/a-city-on-the-edge/

Also I would recommend amazing post http://spikejapan.wordpress.com/spike-hokkaido-2/yubari-from-the-cultu…

I'm familiar with Japan and find it quite believable. You may be familiar with the "akiya" phenomenon, where empty houses in the Japanese countryside are sold for a song. The same applies not just to residential homes, but to other buildings as well, and their price tag is very low for the same reason: the property has serious issues and/or has been vacant for years, and will require far more than the initial investment to make habitable. Here's a fascinating blog post by someone who went poking around the ruins of one hot spring town (Kinugawa) that went through a particularly dramatic boom and bust cycle: https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/983/ This particular hotel at least appears to have been open until fairly recently, but Google reviews describe the "Showa-era" furnishings (read: 1980s at best), and it's on the fairly grim slate grey Kujukurihama beach 3.5 hours from Tokyo by train: https://maps.app.goo.gl/G53KWyCsmeUy8JyR9

The extended/uncut version of The Guardian's article can be read here: http://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/yubari-withering-into-truth…

He recently posted this as well: http://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/yubari-withering-into-truth… (…darn, I just noticed the comment by taoquay).

Reminds me of http://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/spiked-eamonn-fingleton/

>Borrowing in order to increase sales (taxes in the case of governments) or to decrease costs (increase economic efficiency, spending on infrastructure and the like) is a good idea It can be a good idea if the economic activity that results covers the cost of borrowing. But that's not an easy thing to determine, and any rational start to the process tends to get warped by political reality. The fetish for infrastructure spending results in, for example, rail projects that lose ¥32 for every ¥1 they take in: http://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/minispike-the-end-of-the-li…

Here's a debunking of Eamonn Fingleton who is interviewed on that show http://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/spiked-eamonn-fingleton/