Why Does Japan Have 9,000,000 Abandoned Homes?

0:01 Japan is one of the most visited and beloved countries in the world.

0:05 But in the country's shadow, something is shifting.

0:14 400.

0:14 With a population that peaked in 2010 at 128 million inhabitants,

0:19 today that number has already shrunk to 125 million.

0:22 With around 30% of its population being over the age of 65,

0:27 they are experiencing the most severe aging population crisis in the world.

0:32 Within the next few decades,

0:34 the population is expected to drop to as low as 88 million.

0:38 And as a consequence, hundreds,

0:39 potentially thousands of rural villages will turn into complete ghost towns.

0:44 And the craziest part is it's already started.

0:46 to capture some of these beautiful villages before

0:49 they're fully gone and to go on the search

0:51 for those who still live in these towns

0:52 and hear their stories for the next four days.

0:54 We'll be going on a road trip across one of Japan's hardest to reach

0:58 and most mysterious regions ultimately seeking

1:01 to understand what's going to happen to Japan.

1:04 Japan is having fewer babies and is on pace to shrink by half.

1:08 Rural towns and villages are really starting to feel the pinch.

1:13 Population has shrunk by nearly 90%.

1:24 What's up?

1:24 Our journey began in Tokyo where we met up with our old friend and guest Theory

1:29 subscriber Kai who had joined us last time

1:32 we were in Japan filming our sumo wrestling video.

1:36 Welcome back to Japan.

1:37 Thank So, we're going super far and it's

1:39 like quite kind of hard to figure out how

1:41 to even get to this place cuz it's like

1:44 you have to train and then drive and yeah,

1:46 it's going to be but it's going to be cool.

1:51 It's going to be a good adventure.

1:55 Made a journey begin.

1:58 Japan is made up of four major islands and Shikoku

2:00 where we are heading is its least visited one.

2:03 It is also home to several of the prefectures

2:06 most aggressively hit by its aging population,

2:09 which is leading to many, and I mean many,

2:11 of its rural villages to rapidly die out.

2:14 There is one road in particular, Road 439,

2:17 which in a country as clean and organized as Japan,

2:21 seems almost forgotten and is rumored to cut through

2:25 many of these very unique places we're hoping to find.

2:31 Okay, suddenly we were here.

2:32 It's quite the journey to get to where we're going,

2:35 but we're going to find these villages.

2:37 So, after our 4-hour train ride from Tokyo, we rented a van and got ready

2:41 for the final 3-hour drive into the mountains of Shikoku.

2:44 We thought the story would just be about

2:46 uncovering how these villages began to fade away.

2:48 But we had no idea about the strange scenes we were about to encounter

2:52 and the unsolved mystery that this valley has held for hundreds of years.

2:56 Road trip into the unknown officially begins.

2:58 We've been told that there are no stores, no gas stations.

3:01 Thing is about these places is there's barely any information even on Google.

3:05 Like when a town goes abandoned this remote,

3:07 it just disappears off the map, right?

3:08 I think some of it will be us discovering some of these places

3:14 ourselves by just we stop and we see what we find.

3:25 Let's go.

3:33 We're driving through these super small little I mean

3:36 I don't even know if we can call them towns.

3:39 Like there's one road and then buildings on each side.

3:42 And here across the bridge it looks like there's

3:45 a huge building that we don't know what it is.

3:47 Looks completely abandoned.

3:48 We're going to drive over the bridge and see

3:51 if we can potentially enter this abandoned school.

4:04 It's kind of scary to walk up to this building.

4:06 I feel like like it is a Monday, so there should be school, right?

4:09 I mean, look at how many classrooms there are, right?

4:12 At some point, there was hundreds of students here.

4:28 Look at that clock right there.

4:31 6:35.

4:31 Oh, wow.

4:32 Give me shivers.

4:34 The crazy thing about Japan is when places are abandoned,

4:38 they actually stay intact.

4:39 Like there's not people coming to graffiti

4:41 or break windows or so, it's hard to tell.

4:44 There's a lot of things still inside, right?

4:47 Yeah.

4:47 There's like chairs.

4:48 Get the dust on the on the classroom tables.

4:52 Wow.

4:53 They left even baseball equipment.

4:54 Like no kid in this area thought,

4:56 I'll go get the baseball equipment that nobody uses.

4:59 It's just still here.

5:01 Only in Japan do you find abandoned buildings

5:05 that are almost intact with everything still inside.

5:08 Testament of integrity in Japanese culture in general.

5:10 I went to school just like this too.

5:13 Like this?

5:14 Like before I moved to the US with Kuner classrooms, you know, after school.

5:18 This is in such a good condition, though.

5:19 Yeah.

5:20 I wonder if someone like comes to cleaning this place up or something.

5:25 There's a date on a board there.

5:29 1993.

5:29 That's crazy.

5:30 That is a long time ago.

5:32 That's the year I was born.

5:33 It can't have been abandoned that long, right?

5:35 30 years.

5:36 And it still looks like this.

5:37 That's That's 3 months after you were born.

5:39 Yeah.

5:40 That's like dinosaur time old.

5:42 It might have been a long What's up?

5:47 I'm leaving.

5:51 Must have been wild to go to school to a place like this.

5:54 You're surrounded in like this extremely beautiful valley.

6:00 We are in paradise even if it's quite empty.

6:16 Oh wow.

6:17 Are there any students left?

6:20 No students.

6:23 How does she feel about that?

6:31 There's only grandpa's grandmas around.

6:35 Really?

6:36 Wow.

6:36 So cute lady.

6:37 It is so sad that there's just

6:39 no little little kids running around anymore, huh?

6:41 Yeah.

6:41 So, the last student in that school was here four or five years ago,

6:45 but you could tell it's been dwindling for a long time.

6:47 One part of the school had a sign from 93, one part had a sign from 2004.

6:55 So, it's probably been a very gradual Yeah.

7:02 decline, right?

7:03 Wow.

7:08 Wow.

7:09 Uh, seems like there's old people right now.

7:15 A lot of old people right now.

7:20 No young people.

7:22 Oh, it's like 400 people right now in this area.

7:28 400.

7:28 So, most buildings here that we're driving by, there's no nothing in it.

7:33 Like nobody living there.

7:49 Mhm.

7:50 There's candies.

7:51 Oh, I got the Oh, thank you.

7:57 Oh, wow.

7:59 Did you look good?

8:05 YouTube.

8:14 She's like, "Do you guys want to go grab a tea?" Oh, yeah.

8:20 Yeah.

8:20 Yeah.

8:20 Oh, you live here.

8:23 Oh, wow.

8:24 So sweet.

8:25 It used to be 10,000 people.

8:28 Now there's 400.

8:30 That is way steeper than what I thought.

8:32 I can imagine that it's impossible to make any sort of income out here.

8:35 They're surviving just on pensions, just like government.

8:38 Yeah.

8:38 Giving them money.

8:39 This is a dream, right?

8:40 Imagine going to that school, having that valley, having that mountain.

8:43 I could see myself live here with my Yeah.

8:46 eight future kids, you know, and be like,

8:51 you know, single-handedly we'll repopulate this village like when kids.

8:58 We have just entered this lovely lady's house.

9:03 What's the name of this very beautiful lady?

9:07 Wow.

9:08 Beautiful name and a beautiful lady.

9:13 17 years old.

9:16 What's your number one favorite thing uh living here?

9:22 For us, when we look here, it's like everyone has ears.

9:42 It's a Japanese tea.

9:48 Yeah, it's like a pickled crumb.

9:50 Oh, pickled plum.

9:52 Oh, wow.

9:53 Yeah, it is a very sour.

9:56 Pull it out.

9:56 Like the most sour candy you've ever had.

9:58 This is more sour than that.

9:59 And I like sour candy.

10:01 Am I right?

10:02 I'm not finishing it.

10:03 You spit it out.

10:05 Besides being the home to many of Japan's dying villages,

10:08 this valley is also home to a myth that if

10:12 true would be the biggest historical reversal in Japanese history.

10:16 History claims otherwise.

10:18 But a different story here has been passed down generation to generation.

10:22 And the mission we have on this road trip is to ask the locals like Mrs.

10:27 Marita for clues.

10:29 Can you ask her?

10:30 We've heard stories, rumors of the emperor Antoku who apparently

10:35 fled in these mountains in the 1100s.

10:38 Can you ask her if she's heard any of these stories?

10:46 There was a child emperor.

10:54 Yeah, they're going to be cool.

10:56 Mrs.

10:57 Marita then contacted the local monk and arranged for us

11:02 to meet up with him to learn more about this tale.

11:30 There are two ways that this tale we heard goes.

11:33 The one that is considered historical fact and the other which

11:36 is considered a myth but is believed by the residents of Shikoku.

11:40 In the 12th century,

11:41 the emperor of Japan was a seven-year-old boy, Emperor Antoku.

11:44 Caught in the midst of a brutal civil war that was tearing Japan apart,

11:49 the boy was carried from place to place as a symbol for his clan.

11:52 But eventually, his army began to lose the battle.

11:55 Their enemy closed in on them until there was nowhere left to run.

11:59 The final stand happens at sea, a place called Dan Noura.

12:03 With their defeat certain and surrender considered shameful in Japanese culture,

12:07 the Tyra clan chose to take their own lives,

12:09 meaning the boy emperor and Toku would have to join them.

12:14 His grandmother reportedly took him into her arms and leaped into the ocean.

12:28 This officially was the death of Emperor

12:30 Antoku and the beginning of the samurai period.

12:33 But here in Shikoku,

12:34 many locals believe in a myth that the story had a different ending.

12:38 They believe Emperor Antoku didn't die,

12:41 that he survived and that he was hidden away somewhere in these mountains.

13:01 He said that's strange, right?

13:06 That is strange.

13:09 Yeah.

13:10 But you beautiful village.

13:16 With the priest having less answers than we had hoped for, our search

13:19 for this myth continues as we drive deeper into this wild and mysterious valley.

13:25 Well, the roads are not in great shape.

13:29 There's just fallen branches and leaves all over and then some landslides.

13:37 This road looks like nobody has driven here in years.

13:40 It's very steep as well.

13:42 Like I'm feeling it in my belly.

13:44 As we make our way through these forgotten roads,

13:47 there was one village we were told about that we weren't sure if

13:50 it was either straight out of a fairy tale or a horror story.

14:05 Oh my god, that's scary.

14:12 Oh, we have arrived to what may be one of the creepiest villages I've ever seen.

14:21 Nagoro is a village that used to be home to around 300 residents.

14:25 But today, it is no longer home to the living.

14:29 Instead, it is filled with over 350 dolls all throughout the village.

14:34 All placed to eerily reenact a normal day in the life in this village.

14:44 The story behind this village actually has to do with what's right behind me.

14:48 the employment in this village and the existence of this village

14:50 had to do with this dam when it was manually operated.

14:53 But then one day it was automated

14:55 and we didn't need people here as much anymore.

14:58 And slowly people left because there was no more work to be had here.

15:02 And the story goes that the woman who once

15:04 used to live here in her childhood came back.

15:07 When she came back most people had gone.

15:09 Tukimi Ayano is a woman who grew up in Nagoro but left when she became an adult.

15:14 After 15 years of living away, when she returned to her childhood town,

15:18 the population had all but completely vanished.

15:21 To protect her late father's vegetable garden,

15:23 she created a scarecrow based on her father's presence.

15:26 But then she decided to make a few more,

15:29 modeling after people that had either left Nagoro or passed away,

15:32 dressing them up and placing them in places

15:35 people used to inhabit all over town.

15:38 Before long, Tukimi had filled Nagora with over 350 dolls,

15:42 each with a catalog name and a backstory.

15:47 Today, this village stands still, tucked away in the mountains, frozen in time.

16:03 This is extremely eerie.

16:05 Like I thought there was these were actually people.

16:12 Oh, seeing it like this is almost more sad.

16:16 They're everywhere.

16:17 Wow.

16:17 What is going on?

16:20 And this looks like an abandoned school.

16:26 Oh my god, these scarecrows are just everywhere.

16:30 I find it like both beautiful and eerie at the same time.

16:35 feels very symbolic of what's happening in many of these rural villages.

16:40 You can feel what she's trying to do,

16:42 but it also makes the fact that they're not here felt almost more.

16:46 Apparently, I read on the internet that there

16:48 are like way more dolls than humans living here.

16:53 More than 300 dolls.

16:56 25 people still living.

16:59 Wow.

17:00 Wow.

17:04 Oh, what did we just walk into?

17:18 What the[ __] You This is too much.

17:50 Okay.

17:51 Okay.

17:52 Truly ghostly.

17:55 It's very I don't know.

17:56 It feels heavy for sure.

17:58 That's for sure.

17:58 It's all like happy things that's portrayed here, but it feels really heavy.

18:11 Someone's been missing for for a while here.

18:13 Let's see if I can find him.

18:15 You good, bro?

18:16 Yeah.

18:17 Not want to be in there anymore.

18:19 Yeah.

18:20 I can imagine for this woman, it's like trying to keep the spirit alive, right?

18:25 The way she's presented all the people, it's like so inviting, you know?

18:29 That's which is both cute and kind of creepy, right?

18:32 It's set them all up as if everyone is welcoming you.

18:35 I don't know if she's recreating a reality

18:38 that she's wishing was still here, right?

18:44 Or is she rebuilding a memory?

18:48 You know, as we explore these villages, it is hard to comprehend that there are

18:53 over a thousand of these villages facing complete extinction.

18:55 And being in these places has made me think a lot

18:59 about isolation and what happens when you lose your sense of community.

19:02 We've met some elderly people who are the last ones in their village,

19:06 some of the last ones on their entire street.

19:08 And you can really see how the loneliness has affected some of them,

19:12 and it's made me think about how we all need connection and how easy

19:16 it is to let isolation creep in, even when we're surrounded by other people.

19:20 I've been leaning on therapy for support for some time now.

19:24 And one thing that I've learned is

19:26 that feeling disconnected isn't always just about physical distance,

19:28 but also about not having someone there

19:31 to talk to about what's going on within yourself.

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20:08 These villages are a reminder that connection matters.

20:10 So, please don't wait to be the last one to reach out for help.

20:15 And now, let's see how much further we can make it into these mountains.

20:23 We kept driving to our next village that isn't even on any maps,

20:27 but is rumored on some online forums to exist

20:30 and to be the home of one last man still living there.

20:33 We are deep in the forest now and where we're heading.

20:37 Apparently, this village is completely abandoned.

20:39 But there's one man who's moved back there by himself,

20:43 but we don't know if he's there.

20:45 We don't know if this is true or not.

20:56 Oh, car.

20:56 There's a car.

20:57 There's a truck.

20:58 There's a There's a truck.

20:59 But if there's a truck, that means there's a person here, right?

21:02 Yeah.

21:03 If we actually find someone here, that would be crazy.

21:07 Okay, we have just found a village

21:10 of houses that doesn't even show on Google Maps.

21:17 All of these houses that we see behind us are currently uninhabited.

21:38 Oh wow.

21:39 This doesn't feel abandoned that long ago.

21:43 So strange.

21:44 It does feel like people still live here, right?

21:46 And look at these ancient ancient tools here.

21:49 You see that?

21:50 Looks like people just fled at one point.

21:53 Mhm.

21:53 Like shoes in front of doors laid up perfectly and a hat

21:58 hung on like the side of a door and it says 2002.

22:08 It's hard to tell if these houses are used to any capacity or not.

22:14 Feels like most of them are not,

22:16 but some look a little bit more maintained than others.

22:21 There's a person.

22:23 There's a person there.

22:24 What do we I think you have to say hello.

22:28 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

22:30 What?

22:30 Wait, wait, wait.

22:31 What do we What do we talk about?

22:34 Just say like, "Oh, hello.

22:37 We're just exploring like rural villages.

23:03 Thomas, tell him we're sorry for Hopefully we're not invading his his space.

23:18 Oh wow.

23:21 Okay.

23:22 Nice.

23:24 How many people live in this village here?

23:36 Just two.

23:39 Two.

23:40 Why did you choose to move here?

23:46 Hi.

23:47 Hi.

23:51 Hi.

24:12 Does he feel there's something special about this this village?

24:16 This place you can see the waterfall up there.

24:19 That's why there's two people living in this village.

24:22 One of them is here.

24:23 The other one is not even in town.

24:26 And all the houses we passed up there that look inhabited still, they're not.

24:32 Nobody lives there.

24:36 It's a beautiful view he found here.

24:44 Yeah.

24:46 Like it's it is very peaceful here.

24:48 You hear the the river.

24:50 It's really peaceful.

24:51 You're in the forest.

24:53 We said 15% chance we'll find a man.

24:56 Let's go.

24:57 You seem like a very happy and problem free man.

25:06 Would would you say that?

25:11 How does it feel about a lot of these rural

25:16 villages sort of losing its population over time?

25:24 It's the water from the mountain.

25:28 Oh, wow.

25:29 Kilome away.

25:36 Wow.

25:36 He has a smile.

25:39 He has a vibe.

25:41 He's like, he seems actually happy.

25:45 He's a troublefree man.

25:57 So he said that this is where the Antoku was brought after the fight

26:02 and then he's saying that they came through the top of the mountains to here.

26:07 So the people in the bottom of the village

26:10 or like in the bottom side didn't know anything about it.

26:14 So even this place was unknown to them.

26:17 And one time there there was a rumor that something was here, right?

26:20 So they brought one of the monks up to see what was going on in this village.

26:25 And then the people in this village decided to execute

26:28 him because they didn't want to let the secret out.

26:31 And that monk is also being honored in that thing over there.

26:35 Wow.

26:36 Wait.

26:36 So he thinks the emperor came to this village.

26:40 Yeah, he thinks so.

26:42 Oh wow.

26:51 Wow, that's insane.

26:53 That is insane.

26:55 Like oral tradition going down story has been traveling.

27:07 He's showing us directions now to find

27:10 this shrine here that is honoring the emperor.

27:14 So yeah, we're about to go down there.

27:19 I'm just thinking about this emperor if it's He's had stories

27:22 passed down from elders saying that this emperor was freaking here.

27:26 That's crazy.

27:26 And the only thing we found about this village on Google Maps was this shrine,

27:31 but we didn't know what the shrine was for.

27:34 And somehow we're ending up following the trail

27:43 of the child emperor that fled to the mountains.

28:08 My body just felt really warm for some reason.

28:11 If this is actually where he came and where he was buried,

28:15 this site is an absolute gem.

28:17 If the story is true and the myth is

28:20 real and this is where was his final resting place.

28:26 It feels magical, right?

28:29 Thousand-y old tail.

28:31 So this here it says anku t meaning emperor toku.

28:37 Oh wow.

28:38 Yeah.

28:39 And I'm assuming this is peace.

28:42 So this is for to promote peace.

28:45 They built this Sububakiyama shrine which is where we are right now.

28:50 Was not expecting to find this place.

28:52 Yeah.

28:52 Hidden in the forest.

28:53 Quite a way to get Imagine being like 6 years old and not like Yeah.

28:57 chosen your own fate, right?

28:58 And you might have not even known that he was the emperor.

29:03 Yeah, that's true.

29:05 Could have been all hidden from to protect them.

29:19 So far, our expedition to these mountain villages had stirred a mix of emotions.

29:24 It was inspiring to see elderly residents living in solitude,

29:27 yet completely content with the peace and the quiet.

29:30 At the same time, we couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness at the sight

29:34 of these run-down buildings and hearing residents talk

29:39 about how vibrant life used to be there.

29:44 She's 98.

30:09 This is feels a little lonely.

30:11 We began to wonder, would this also become the fate

30:15 of other communities beyond this region or even around the world.

30:19 That's why we were so excited to meet two young

30:23 and inspiring women determined to change the fate of these villages.

30:27 Kira and Ammy, they made the decision to move back

30:30 into some of these neglected towns and bring new life into them.

30:33 Just excited to see what a village

30:35 that maybe rebooting a little bit could look like.

30:40 This is a spot, I think.

30:44 So, so nice to meet you.

30:46 So nice to meet you, sir.

30:48 So, welcome to our town.

30:49 My beautiful slice of paradise in the world.

30:52 This was an abandoned building um when I when I got it a year ago.

30:56 And that's why I'm friends with people like Ammy because she found

30:59 me on social media and she actually helped me renovate this whole place.

31:02 How did you choose this village out of all the villages?

31:05 Someone asked me to like take care of their cats in this town.

31:09 Uh and I ended up like living there for 10 months.

31:12 Wow.

31:12 Taking cats for like 10 months.

31:14 Yeah.

31:14 And I got a chance to live here and like I guess trial life here.

31:19 So that's why I knew by the time I like started the business,

31:22 I was like really established and everybody knew me in town.

31:25 I ended up wanting to make a business that's like all about connecting people

31:29 and like working with the locals and like you know I'm not making a guest house.

31:33 I want to work with guest houses and it was just

31:36 like a business surrounded like by wonderful places that already exist.

31:39 So they were like wow she's not even

31:42 like even like taking away from our economy.

31:45 She's like boosting it.

31:46 And there are millions of homes like this in Japan, right?

31:50 Millions.

31:50 There's a house that I'm planning on buying

31:52 and it's been abandoned for like 15 years.

31:55 And it's only like $13,000 US.

31:58 $13,000 to buy the house to buy it.

32:02 And it's like all new.

32:05 What are we doing?

32:07 We have decided we want to buy something as well.

32:13 Joking.

32:13 Hello.

32:14 How's it going?

32:14 Hi, I'm Thomas.

32:15 Good.

32:15 Nice to meet you.

32:16 Nice to meet you.

32:17 So, this is this is your town?

32:19 Yes, this is my town.

32:20 How long have you been living here?

32:22 4 years, starting on five.

32:23 I I love it here.

32:25 Yeah.

32:25 And I've lived in all parts of Japan, but I like it here the most.

32:30 Nice.

32:30 It's very peaceful out here.

32:31 Yeah.

32:31 So, we follow you.

32:33 Yes.

32:34 My car.

32:35 Oh, nice.

32:36 Nice.

32:36 This is This is It feels like the local car to have.

32:45 So through our internet friend Kira, we met Ammy.

32:48 She moved here a few years ago and she has two home stays slash Airbnbs.

32:53 So we are heading in that direction now.

32:58 Oh wow, look at this.

33:01 Look at this nature.

33:03 Oh my god.

33:04 It's like you're inside of a dream.

33:06 Have you tasted the water here?

33:08 When we met this man living by himself,

33:10 he gave us a glass of water for it was magical.

33:13 The water here is so good and it's free.

33:16 Like the we don't have to pay our water bills here.

33:20 This has some good water if you want to try that.

33:23 Oh, to try water.

33:25 Yeah.

33:26 This is straight from the mountain.

33:29 Yeah.

33:29 Straight from the mountain.

33:31 Wow, that tastes good.

33:33 You can feel there's nothing in it besides nature.

33:37 Um, it's truly beautiful.

33:38 Look at this over there.

33:40 Waterfalls in every direction.

33:41 So, um, yeah, if you've ever wanted to change

33:44 your life and move to the Japan countryside,

33:47 this would be a good place to do it.

33:50 Okay, time for some lunch here.

33:53 Entering a former school.

33:54 An abandoned school appears and then they create a restaurant out of it.

34:11 Where are we heading now?

34:14 We're going to my second Airbnb, the charcoal house.

34:20 Oh, wow.

34:22 Wow.

34:22 Charcoal house.

34:23 I renovated everything.

34:25 So, this plaster has charcoal in it.

34:28 Under the flooring has charcoal in it, too.

34:53 as a as a young person.

34:56 Yes.

34:56 What made you say yes moving to a small village?

35:00 I lived in Osaka.

35:01 I lived in the city before, but I felt so small in the city.

35:06 I didn't feel like I was contributing.

35:09 And what made sense to me was living

35:11 where my ancestors are from, helping their land.

35:15 You're so cool.

35:17 I mean, probably one of the coolest I met here.

35:22 Wow, quite the view.

35:23 Is there anyone else living in these houses

35:26 or there around five people living in this district?

35:32 There's two floors.

35:35 Okay.

35:36 Ah, cozy.

35:38 I got the bed.

35:39 You already claimed that one first was the topic.

35:41 We're staying in one of these little villages.

35:44 Yeah, literally in the villages that we made it.

35:46 This is what we came for, right?

35:48 Let's go.

35:48 Wow.

35:48 I did not realize we would be in a little abandoned village.

35:51 Look at that view, though.

35:53 As we woke up the next morning, a glimmer of hope had returned.

35:58 The shiny spirit of two entrepreneurial women had shown us that taking a bet

36:02 on a future in these beautiful rural villages

36:05 forgotten by everyone else is in fact possible.

36:09 So nice.

36:10 Yeah, it's been amazing.

36:12 Thank you.

36:14 Hopefully this video can populate this town back to 30,000 people.

36:20 So, uh yeah, I already miss you guys.

36:24 I already miss again.

36:26 Yeah.

36:27 Bye-bye.

36:27 Bye.

36:28 Bye.

36:28 The world is in a strange place right now.

36:32 Cities have become unaffordable for so many people.

36:35 And despite being a decade or two behind,

36:38 Europe's population decline is soon following Japans, which makes you wonder,

36:42 will these rural towns neglected and slowly dying

36:45 around the world one day come back to life?

36:48 So many of the luxuries we take for granted

36:51 in cities can be hard to come by this far out.

36:54 But the peace, magic, and slower lifestyles certainly feels endlessly appealing.

36:57 As our world seems to be spinning faster and faster,

37:01 our curiosity hit us on a deeper level on this trip.

37:05 And we truly started wondering, should we start Yes digital detox retreats

37:10 in these beautiful rural towns around the world?

37:13 Let us know in the comments and thank you for watching.