The Eye of Patrick / How to discover new places, get lost!

How to discover new places, get lost!

Since coming to Japan I have tried to explore the area around my town. Each time it seems I discover something new and exciting. This past weekend was no different. I decided to set out as the sun was setting so that I could get the best light for taking photos. Photos of what I do not know? That is the point of exploring, to discover the unknown.

I went into the direction of a place called Shimokawa Mountain, or that was the best I could do to translate the Kanji on the sign. It was a country ride that kept on getting smaller as I ventured in. The trees started to get ever more crowded and I started to feel like I was venturing into the forbidden forest. Which caused my mind to want to flee, but I am also a person who once commits to something wants to see were it will end. So I kept progressing forward.

Then I reached the end and what do I find, but an abandon school. It was an elementary school that I had learnt was closed because my town is slowly dying. My town at its peak had something like 20,000 people and a huge mine and forest industry. But with the closing on the mine the town began to shrink and as a result there was a lot less students. My town has gone from having 2-3 elementary schools to just 1 and that one is slowly shrinking also.

It is a problem that is happening across the board in Japan, but a high portion of it in Hokkaido. The reason is that for the longest time the government in Tokyo used government funds to more or less to buy farming votes. So while the Japan economy was doing well this was a feasible plan. But once the bubble burst they did not have the financial means to support these towns. This means less services and jobs and as a result less young couples to populate the school. So with shrinking schools and an increasing aging population base these towns are facing their demise.

The photos of the closed school are just a small bit of the buildings in Hokkaido that are slowly dying.

It was fun to explore a place that used to be filled with life and try to imagine it in its hay-day.

I hope you enjoy.

Patrick

Comments (1) left to “How to discover new places, get lost!”

Alex wrote:

Hey man, this is an ultra-random message, but I’m a JET from Shizuoka. I was checking out your site and there are some nice pics, good to see what life is like in Hokkaido, and I’ll check out more later. I found it in the first place because I was searching for info on Canadian license conversion and saw your March 2007 entry on it. I’m about to do it, but have a small predicament along the lines of something you mentioned in your entry (had my G1 long enough but perhaps not my G2). If you don’t mind, could you shoot me a quick email when you get a chance to my address that I wrote above so I can ask the question in more detail? I couldn’t find your email on this site, so sorry if this is a weird way to contact you. Thanks man.

Posted on 25-Jun-07 at 9:32 am | Permalink

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