A mountain village in Japan recently gave a warm welcome to unexpected visitors from Peru, marking the first visit under an agreement that could allow Peruvians to settle there. According to AFP,
A mountain village in Japan recently gave a warm welcome to unexpected visitors from Peru, marking the first visit under an agreement that could allow Peruvians to settle there. According to AFP, the initiative aims to revive a village inhabited mainly by elderly people and facing the threat of disappearing.
The mayor of Belén, a city in Peru, and two young women visited Nanmoku, a village in Japan’s Gunma Prefecture with a population of just 1,300. When they visited a local nursing home, elderly residents welcomed them with a mixture of surprise and smiles. Wendy Sangama, a 19-year-old student, told the news agency, “As soon as I arrived here, I fell in love with everything about this place. This is a village where I could potentially see myself living in the future.”
Nanmoku is one of Japan’s oldest villages, where more than 70 percent of the population is aged 65 or above. A report published in 2014 identified it as one of the Japanese villages most at risk of disappearing. Along the village’s main road beside the Nanmoku River, houses and shops stand largely deserted, with most closed and the streets often quiet. Local officials hope that the sister-city agreement with Belén will encourage young people from the Peruvian city to settle in Nanmoku, although it remains unclear how they would obtain residency visas.
Peru has a sizeable community of people of Japanese descent. However, Nanmoku Mayor Saijo Hasegawa said the agreement resulted less from a deliberate strategy than from an unexpected meeting with a Japanese-Peruvian businessman. He said the village needed to attract more residents, including foreigners, to ensure its survival, regardless of where they came from. Without new residents, he warned, the village could eventually reach a point where even public transport might have to be discontinued.
Despite Japan’s severe labour shortage, opposition to immigration is growing. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been pushing for stricter rules concerning foreign nationals. Nanmoku has made several attempts to attract young people from other parts of Japan, but its mountainous location means that job opportunities and arable land are extremely limited. Mayor Hasegawa said around 60 people die in the village each year, while only two or three babies are born. In contrast, Belén in Peru has a relatively young population.
The poor neighbourhood of Belén, in the Amazonian city of Iquitos in northeastern Peru, has an average age of just 27. Home to more than 60,000 people, the area is sometimes described as the “Venice of Latin America” and can be reached only by air or boat. Ketsi Yahuarcani, a 23-year-old student who was part of the visiting group, described the experience as wonderful. “If I get the opportunity to settle here, I will definitely stay,” she said. Neighbouring districts around Nanmoku have allowed foreign workers, particularly caregivers, to come to the area. However, they generally arrive on short-term or technical visas.
Mayor Hasegawa said his vision was different. Rather than workers who stay for only a few years, he wants people who will build long-term lives in Nanmoku. However, 34-year-old Yuki Wanibuchi, who moved to Nanmoku from Kyoto several years ago, said newcomers would face a number of challenges, including the language barrier. Knowledge of Japanese is necessary to obtain a driving licence. Hiroshi Ihara, an 87-year-old resident of the village, said he had watched his community grow older as all three of his children had moved to major cities in search of work. “Japan’s population is declining. I think it would be wonderful if people from overseas came here and helped us,” he said.
