Japan's Country Towns Were Dying, Then COVID Happened 

Imagine living in those peaceful, serene villages and the internet will still be fast because Japan.

From Salary-man to Celery-man. What a heartfelt way of life

"I can live anywhere as long as I have my laptop and wifi" lmao golden

The 2nd couple already made their contribution to Japan by having 3 children.

Great documentary! I’ve been trying to lure friends away from Tokyo for years. Not necessarily to farm life but to life in the country, albeit to no avail so far! The lack of jobs and work opportunities remains to be the biggest hurdle unfortunately.

I prefer mid size cities, not so big to be overcrowded, not so small to lack services, just the perfect size.

Very nice! My husband and I moved out to the countryside, Aomori, this year. We LOVE it! It was definitely the right choice for us. We both work for Tokyo companies remotely, so a lot of zoom meetings, but having no commute is nice! One of the best things has definitely been starting our own vegetable garden and sharing fruits/vegetables with others in the community. The amount of money we spend on food has been reduced dramatically! I only go to the supermarket 2 or 3 times a month now vs. the 3 or 4 times a week I went while living in Tokyo. I was worried about making friends, but I've made more friends since I moved here 4 months ago than I did the 5 or so years I lived in Tokyo.

Vice: Lets talk about why japanese are leaving Tokyo Also Vice: asks an English why

To be honest, I'd rather live in the countryside than in the city. Imagine waking up everyday with beautiful surroundings and a breath of fresh air :')

"We were losing our faith in the countrysides, but everything changed when the COVID attacked."

the country side guy -> smile face. the city guy -> sad face

I remember a call with my mom weeks ago. She said that a lot of those who left for the big cities were coming back home. I could understand. This pandemic taught as a lot of things.

My grandma actually lived in a small island with a small town in Japan. There were no kids there so the schools closed down. Just old people now.

Humans are not meant to be packed like sardines.

I have botany and veterinarian degree and training.....my mind is racing with the potential

Vice Asia: Blurs kid's face at 2:11 Also Vice Asia: Forgets to blur kid's face 9 seconds later.

No everyone leaves the city to start a farm, they just needs less stress .

I used to live the same kinda life but in Seoul. I moved out of the city and got a motorcycle to avoid the crowded commute. Best decision ever.

Can VICE try to interview some real Japanese locals instead of some western immigrants? It’d provide a more realistic perspective

I just love how those children are being raised on that farm. Resilient and independent.

My wife and I moved To Kamiyama, Tokushima a town of less than 4000 people and opened a Asian street-food style restaurant. We remodeled a 150 year old house and life is awesome!

The shot of the mom holding her three kids, rocking the infant, is beautiful.

Watching that couple having an intelligent conversation and their children helping comfort the baby and passing their infant to one another, such a precious thing I witnessed. It kind of reminds me of some kind of wholesome voice over animation.

I was born in the States, resident of Central Japan for thirty-some years. We beat the rush and moved to the countryside a little over ten years ago. Bought a relatively modern empty house which I am slowly refurbishing, on nearly an acre of land... now fully reclaimed. Life has never been better... we grow a lot of our own food, and trade for what we don't grow. Twenty-five households in our community, high on the Hill. The air is clean and fresh, and the nights are quiet, and dark... you can see all the stars. And in our case there's a fairly decent city just twenty minutes away; the best of both worlds. Yes... the neighbors were a tough nut to crack. Once they saw, they believed, and I'm now the go-to guy in the village for machinery parts and repairs... and beer and BBQ. Lots of work... but absolutely worth it.

If the internet connection is good, anywhere can be your home

For a video about rural Japan, I see quite a lack of Japanese people...

My heart really went out to Jason commuting like that, and to his lovely wife also. I really hope they can make the move. That commute sounds and looks soul crushing. And what he said there at the end about not waiting for life to happen and then react to it, but instead making life happen yourself, is also exactly where I am right now. Awesome, wholesome video, thank you for the post.

I grew up in Japan my whole lige and came to America for College in 2018... more than a year before the COVID outbreak. I am travelling back to Japan this winter and cant wait

You could live in the biggest city with the most population and still feel lonely.

Decentralize the mega-cities. Not even a new idea. This may become one of the good things Covid will bring us.

Anyone interesting in looking further down that route, there's a really good book by Andy Couturier. It is called The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan. The author interviews about 13 people that left the city to live a live of homesteading that included art and philosophy. All of the people he interviewed were native Japanese.

Why dont you guys interview a Japanese individual whos lived their lives in Japan and get their perspective on how the virus affected their daily lives? And then ask them, “have you considered moving to a rural part of Japan?”

My parents kept talking about going back to rural. I didn't understand their position quite well as who wouldn't want to work and get money but thanks to this it brought a new light to me . Thank you for bringing it to me and other viewers. I might need to talk to my parents again about this.

The virus teaches us to go back to our roots. The place we abandon in the past, is now a place of peace and happiness.

Am from Kenya and am this crazy lifestyle of living in the city being on top... from this video am making a 360° change starting 2021. Moving to the country side to have an organic life

“Convenience is also relative” . Good point

3 kids in Japan!! Give that couple a medal!

Great episode, would love to see a followup to this.

As someone who now resides in the countryside, I can attest to the beauty of the scenery, particularly when it rains. Because the gathering is tiny, everyone knows each other, which is nice but not ideal. The poor internet connection would be the primary difficulty, and don't expect any malls or large stores. The milk and grocery store is the only store within walking distance of my home. There are numerous power outages as well, so be prepared to draw water from the well. But if people want to live here, I guess they should expect to be a little less pampered.

Loving the dad's energy/spirit and attitude about it all. He understands.

When you're trying to document a phenomenon in Japan as a whole, but can only get foreigners to be in it...

It's not just Tokyo, also NYC and LA. Sky-high rents, health concerns, crime rates and high taxes are causing people to leave big cities and move to a less densely packed place in another state.

I love the way this is shot, the perspectives, the sun bursts, the pace. Nice work 👌

This is an eye opener. Thank you for sharing.

8:52 Beautiful to see little man living life properly and developing real skills at such a young age. Like the the footage of his sister in the previous scene with the chicken, so relaxed in her hands. This is a big part of being human and worthy of this earth and birth. Great parents.

38million.. im sure the city will do fine if not better if a few thousand people moved out

@8:15 "where our energy comes from" Eneos gas station in the background, haha

I once worked in Japan. On my off time, i would visit and stay in the countryside. Very peaceful and the people are very nice. Great memories.

It's near impossible to buy those abandoned buildings though, unless it's mentioned later on in this documentary, which I am super fascinated to watch, but it would involve a Japanese government shiftup

I live in a very rural area in India with all the facilities like water, internet, road, food and much and I never think of moving into town.

This only applies to mixed families? Or are also Japanese families leaving the urban areas for rural areas?

This is a great video. I hope there is a follow-up one to learn how the first family is adapting to country life and if they decided to formally move.

For those unfamiliar with the causes of the economic and population decline of Japan: Japan has a work culture that rewards giving the appearance of working, and working long hours, as opposed to actual results. Japanese workers are generally expected to stay later than their boss, and their boss may stay for a long time just for the hell of it. This, coupled with a cultural reluctance to adopt new technologies, has diminished Japanese productivity. It is why real GDP per capita has not changed since the early 1990’s. The adoption of new technologies and doing it early, coupled with high interest rates, is what led to the economic boom of Japan between the 1960’s and early 1990’s. The cultural conservatism that keeps them from adopting new technologies (fax machines are one of the most common methods of business communication, face-to-face meetings are expected for things that can easily be done over the phone, etc.), low to negative interest rates that keep poorly run business afloat and promote corporatism and oligarchies, in addition to a work culture that encourages unproductive long hours and a lack of respect for women and any notion of a family life has hindered Japan economically. It hurts to see.

Funnily always thought I was missing out by not being in Tokyo, but since covid, I'm very grateful to have set up a life in the inaka (countryside) of Japan. Fresh air, birds chirping in the morning in the forest where I live, 9+ ski resorts to snowboard in the winter 🙌 The eco lodge owner is right though, living in the country, means you'll need more of a entrepreneurial spirit and some balls.

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing.

This has changed my perspective! Entirely! Great Documentary

"Japanese are moving back" show westerners moving back.

As someone who lived their childhood in the countryside, its the perfect place to feel and take in every moment. Memories will be endless, worries will fade, happiness is easily found in the most mundane of places. There is so much space, and for a child, an acre of land is an infinite convas of imagination. Edit: Thank you all so much for all the thumbs up, God bless you all 🙏

They have 3 kids. Almost unheard of in Japan.

Love Vice, they so often delve into issues/topics that no one else does. A fascinating little glimpse into Japanese life. By the way, the issues of severe rural depopulation are the same here in Spain, numerous abandoned/ghost villages and villages where the average age is frighteningly high. Since town v country appears to have become the defining societal issue of our time in economically advanced countries (informing everything from politics to the economy to transport to climate policy), perhaps this pandemic might just spark a reality check on that front and decades of abandoning rural for urban with all the consequences that's had for rural communities could actually start to be addressed seriously.

I grew up in a small town in the south of France, 1000 or so people lived there when we moved in, in 2005. The polulation is now getting close to 4000 from people moving out of the cities, and I love my hometown, even now having not lived there full time for 5 years, I still get recognised in the street and have people stop me for a chat, it's a beautiful lifestyle. I agree with what the bearded man said towards the end, yes things can be more inconvenient: you need to be able to drive because public transport is near nonexistent, food shopping isn't a worry, because a lot of towns still have local farmers markets and most of the larger towns will have at least one supermarket nearby. Getting packages delivered always takes more time than you expect,... But in the end the quality of life and the peace of mind that come from having your own space, belonging to a community, and the freedom and privacy that comes with that is amazing.

I live in a rural area and it’s happening here too. Everyone is leaving the city to come here. I have a feeling this will be the new norm.

Nice documentary👍🏻

This was a really good watch and I wanted more

Bro who wouldn’t want to live in that beautiful country side🤩🤩

"Her husband Jason is an Engl--" Yes, thanks, we already knew that

So calm and peaceful to watch ! I really like this viedo! 😀

Good documentary!

Watching all these ghibli movies made me love the countryside of Japan more.❤️

Living in large cities is overrated.

I've been inspired to live in a country-side after I've watched the anime "Non Non Biyori". It's a slice-of-life genre anime. Not much is happening in the story, but I really enjoy that anime because of the green scenery and because of the characters' way of living. It's very peaceful and very inspiring, I must say.

I really liked the energy of the video and the perspective it’s giving me towards life. Hope they will get to enjoy the change in their lifestyles and hopefully one day I’ll get to do so as well.

Japanese megacity life is a warning for the future of developed nations like the United States. Japan is just 20-30 years ahead of the curve in terms of development. Cities in the West are becoming increasingly crowded, socially rigid, and extremely expensive to working class citizens.

Why interviewing 2 white foreigners living in Japan? Why not interview true local Japanese living in city and rural area??

Nice style of life. Thx from Czech Republic.

I originally wanted to move to Tokyo. But every time I visit Tokyo, especially in a car, the traffic, the maze-like roads (I’m incredibly directionally challenged, whether when driving or taking the subway, *even* with a map) and the overwhelming amount of crowds, it just exhausted and stressed me out. I even imagined, what if a zombie apocalypse happened? Tokyo would collapse first! Then COVID-19 happened… 😑

The British- Asian woman does not want to move to the countryside and her face says it all 😂😂

Everyone should learn these skills in growing their own food. Using permaculture market gardening and holistic rotational grazing

When the older girl kisses the baby...so cute! Beautiful family, and the kids are very fortunate. My husband and I grew up on/working on farms. It was tough, but we learned so much. It made us better people. We have no regrets!!♡

I would love an update on this story.

2020 is the lifetime lesson of our century.

The major thing about living in japan really is that migrants need to be accustomed to isolation in social communities. Many japanese dont communicate much due to busy schedules, culture, shyness etc.. This would affect anyone mentally. Since no matter how much outgoing of a person you are, that still wont matter much if they really dont want to talk to you. Its a step up to the kind of loner people you see everyday.

Awesome video!

Well Vice, We would also love to hear what Japanese has to say on the topic?

so they blur the kid's face and literally show it in the next scene

I live in Canada and did the same thing. Left Toronto for rural Nova Scotia and have not looked back.

7:00 I feel you, it's hard having to always lower your head to get under the beams...

Great short doc Vice! Loved it

They used that baby like a talking stick, only the person holding them can talk

a very wise move to live in a countryside, new sub here, nice!

excellent move from the city to the country side. YOU are responsible for the schedule of your life and your life style. I love it.

Vice, more of these documentaries please!

amazing episode! thank you.

Great documentary yes in regards to hospitality industry its tough to work now this days

There's an error in this video. When old photos of the families are shown its the same photos for each family

😂they blurred the lil girl face then showed the side view😂 I was just considering moving to Japan

the way the little boy cut the wood 😂. Oh my gosh. He’s a pro but I was still concerned eeek .

Cool doco, i want to see what the last family do. do they move or not?

@asianboss does great at reporting stories from Asia.

Thanks God I realized earlier.. I'm working so hard since my age 18 until 24 at town.. then move to my hometown with 6 years of savings... Start a small business and have my own farm now.. it's great when you start thinking you shouldn't always follow the crowd to be success..when fancy stuff doesn't make you happy anymore.. sometimes less is more..