One woman in a fading Japanese village is slowly replacing its dead residents with scarecrows.

正在凋落的日本村庄中，一位妇人用布偶重现旧人。

The 35 residents left in Nagoro, southern Japan, are now outnumbered three-two-one by the mannequins Tsukimi Ayano has made to replace neighbours who have died or moved away.

据英国《每日邮报》报道，日本一村庄由于居民日渐减少，已变为稻草人村。日本南部一座名为Nagoro的村庄人烟寥寥，只剩下35人。名为月见绫野（Tsukimi Ayano）艺术家为了让村庄回复昔日的人气，制作了321个稻草人重现旧人。

It's an eccentric response to an increasingly common problem. More than 10,000 towns and villages in Japan are depopulated, homes and infrastructure¹ crumbling² as the countryside empties.

这是对日益增长的村庄老龄化问题的一种古怪反应。在日本，超过一万座城镇和村庄人口日渐减少，家园和基础设施因此支离破碎。

At 65, Ms Tsukimi is one of the younger residents of Nagoro, a small village nestled in the rugged³ mountain landscape of interior of the southern island of Shikoku.

据报道，Nagoro坐落于四国岛（Shikoku）北部的一处山谷中，地形崎岖。现年65岁的月见绫野是这里最年轻的居民。

She moved back from Osaka to look after her 85-year-old father after decades away.

离开几十年后，她从大阪搬回这座村庄来照顾85岁的父亲。

'They bring back memories,' Ms Tsukimi said of the life-size dolls crowded into corners of her farmhouse⁴, perched on fences and trees, huddled⁵ side-by-side at a produce stall, the bus stop - anywhere a living person might stop.

月见绫野将真人大小的娃娃摆放在真人可能出现的任何地方，他们挤在农舍的角落里，坐在栅栏和大树旁，排在废弃的公共汽车站前。“他们带来回忆。”月见绫野说道。

'That old lady used to come and chat and drink tea. That old man used to love to drink sake and tell stories. It reminds me of the old times, when they were still alive and well,' she said.

“老妇人们过去经常过来聊天喝茶，老人们则喜欢喝清酒讲故事。这让我想起逝去的时光，那时他们都还健在。”她说。

Nagoro is typical of the thousands of communities turning into ghost towns or at best, open-air museums, frozen in time - a trend evident even in downtown Tokyo and in nearly or completely empty villages in the city's suburbs.

Nagoro是成千上万个变为鬼城或露天博物馆的典型社区之一。这种老龄化趋势甚至在东京（Tokyo）市中心和城郊几乎或完全成空的村庄中尤为明显。

The one-street town is mostly abandoned, its shops and homes permanently⁶ shuttered.

只有一条街道的小镇几乎被遗弃，商店和房屋被永久关闭了。

With no youngsters left to raise, the local elementary school closed two years ago. Now Ms Tsukimi sometimes guides visitors through the spotless classrooms populated with scarecrow students and teachers.

由于没有年轻人，当地小学两年前就关闭了。现在，月见绫野有时会带领游客参观放满稻草人学生和老师的干净教室。

As Japan grew increasingly affluent⁷ after the Second World War, younger Japanese abandoned the countryside, flooding into the cities for jobs in factories and service industries, leaving their elders to tend small farms.

日本在二战（the Second World War）后愈加富裕，日本的年轻人因此离开家乡，涌进城市的工厂和服务行业寻找生计，将他们的老人留在家中务农。

Greater Tokyo, with more than 37million people, and Osaka-Kobe, with 11.5million, account for nearly 40 per cent of the country's 127million people, with another 10million scattered⁸ in a handful of provincial⁹ capitals.

首都东京拥有超过3700万人口，大阪和神户人口有1150万，几乎占全国1.27亿人口的40%。其它1000万人分布在少量的省会城市。

'There's been this huge sucking sound as the countryside is emptied,' said Joel Cohen, a professor at Columbia University's Laboratory of Populations.

哥伦比亚大学人口实验室（Columbia University's Laboratory of Populations）教授乔·科恩（Joel Cohen）表示：“城市人口的膨胀使得农村变空。”

Meanwhile, a falling birthrate means there are too few people to repopulate rural areas as the rapidly ageing population left tending the fields die off.

与此同时，下降的出生率意味着，随着迅速老龄化的农村剩余人口相继死亡，重新注入农村地区的人口过少。

Japan's population began to decline in 2010 from a peak of 128 million. Without a drastic increase in the birthrate or a loosening of the staunch Japanese resistance to immigration, it is forecast to fall to about 108 million by 2050 and to 87 million by 2060.

日本人口在2010年开始从1.28亿的高峰下降。若没有出现大幅增长的出生率，或放松人口移民，日本人口预计到2050年将下降到1.08亿，到2060年将下降到8700万。

By then, four in 10 Japanese will be over 65 years old.

到那时，40%的日本人将会是年龄超过65岁的老人。

When Ms Tsukimi returned to her hometown 13 years ago, she initially¹⁰ tried farming. Thinking her radish seeds may have been eaten by crows, she decided¹¹ to make some scarecrows.

13年前，当月见绫野返回家乡时，她最初尝试务农。考虑到她的萝卜籽可能会被乌鸦吃掉，她决定做些稻草人。

Now there are more 100 scattered around Nagoro and other towns in Shikoku.

目前，已经有100多个稻草人分散在Nagoro和四国岛城镇的各处。

Like handcarved Buddhist¹² sculptures, each has its own whimsical expression. Some sleep, their eyelids¹³ permanently shut. Others cuddle toddler scarecrows, or man ploughs and hoes.

像手工雕刻的佛教雕塑一样，每一个稻草人都拥有自己古怪表情。有的在睡觉，眼睑永久地阖着。但大多数都“清醒着”，等待远道而来的游客观赏拍照。

'If I hadn't made these scarecrows, people would just drive right by,' she said.

“如果我没有做这些稻草人，人们就不会绕道来参观了。”月见绫野说。