< Outside of Metropolitan – The Real Japan >

Japan is famous for her cities and infrastructure, anime and manga. To me, Japan’s beauty lies in her beautiful scenery and wonderfully maintained road, because I am a rider.

 

Last Sunday I went to a famous seaside located in the Shimane prefecture. (prefecture is similar to the idea of a state)

The beach is nicely hidden and tucked away from the city, accessible only from the back roads. The name of the beach is Kotogahara.

 

However, the place was not flooded with tourists nor local beach-goers. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, but there were really only very few tourists.

There was no picnic, BBQ, sun-bathing or beach volley-ball at the beach. Just people sitting there enjoying the breeze or couples strolling the beach.

I couldn't even hear anyone speaking, actually. All in all, it was a peaceful and blissful time.

 

However, as much as I would like to keep the beach all to myself, I must admit that is a very selfish idea. In fact, I believe I have witnessed the problem that is haunting the whole of Japan. There are just not enough people on this land, on the big scale of things.

For one, people are so concentrated in the cities, resulting in rural areas losing their populations to the cities. Other than that, a low birth rate also be contributing to this declining of population.

 

I had to ride through a stretch of tiny road with houses lining up on both sides of the road. 

I have to say that it was a sorry sight to behold. The houses are old, most of them seemed to be have not been occupied for a long time.

Yet, you still see how this place was once vibrant with wealth and life. Along the two sides of the road, there was a Porsche, an antique Volvo and another high end vehicle sitting quietly in their own garage. Yet, I am sitting in the waiting room of this now-vacant little museum, looking out at the empty street, sipping the bottle of water and listening to the noises coming from a TV set from a faraway house.

I am no politician nor scholar, i don't know how to solve this problem. In fact, I don't even know if this is a problem. But one thing for sure, I will be back.