Joe Bloggs

Shattering the peace

We've come up to Obaachan's (grandmama's) place deep in the countryside of western Japan. I'm afraid the Bloggs have rather shattered the tranquility Obaachan is used to. A small hamlet in the mountains of Okayama, this place is going the way of many other similar places all around Japan. The young are deserting to the city or nearby towns and when the current resident generation (septuagenarians and older) pass away, the houses are abandoned and hamlets likely to be reclaimed by nature. Obaachan (77) spends her time looking after her various vegetable patches up and down the mountain and that small activity keeps her remarkably alert and healthy. An occasional visit from grandchildren also helps - or at least that's how we justify our noisy presence. The photos show Obaachan's 250-year-old house (where Mrs. Bloggs was born) on the left and the old school house further up the mountain. Obaachan's house is known locally as shintaku (the new house), because the original family house (honké) is even older. (Being squeezed on to a narrow ledge on the mountain, it is difficult to get a good picture of it.) The school house was abandoned 45 years ago from when the children in the hamlet started to go to school in a nearby town.

Click on the photos to get enlargements.