“Lacking Lifeblood in Rural Japan” by Craig Tan

This photograph shows a hair salon in Tsuetate Onsen (杖立温泉), Kumamoto Prefecture. Tsuetate used to be a bustling onsen (hot spring) town during the Showa period, but in recent decades it has seen a steep decline in visitors. When I stopped by, the salon was closed, despite it being in the middle of the day when most businesses should be open and at their busiest. The salon was shuttered and will remain closed for at least another week before it opens for business.

It is common practice for businesses to mention the days when they will be closed. For example, it is common to find a notice informing customers that they are ‘closed on Tuesdays.’ So, the salon was strange in the sense that it only informed customers of when it would open. And when it did open, it was only for four specific days a month. This was the general atmosphere of the entire town, where numerous shops and restaurants remained closed throughout the day. In fact, only two restaurants in the whole town were open during lunchtime when we visited. Even the convenience store, which people expect to be open 24 hours a day, was open specific hours during the day and closed at night. To deal with the shortage of customers, ryokan owners inform shops and restaurants how many customers they will host each night, information the shops and restaurants use to decide when to open their business.

Tsuetate Onsen is trying to revitalise. Many efforts have been made to try to attract visitors, including a marathon, specialty pudding that differs in each ryokan, and perhaps their most successful event, the koinobori (鯉幟) festival. Still, Tsuetate does not see the number of visitors of its neighbour Kurokawa (黒川温泉), and the town remains rather quiet. Like many other small towns in Japan, Tsuetate is facing an ageing and declining population. Local residents are the lifeblood of any city or town, and perhaps that is the reason why Tsuetate is in its current position. It seems that only by retaining or inviting the younger generation to Tsuetate can it achieve its aim of revitalisation.