In This Japanese Village, Life-Size Dolls Outnumber Residents

Tucked deep in the misty folds of Shikoku’s Iya Valley, Nagoro feels like a place where time has slipped quietly away. Wooden houses dot the mountainside, cedar forests rise steeply into the sky, and a clear river winds through the valley below. On first glance, the village seems like many other rural hamlets in Japan — quiet, sparse, and shaped by the rhythms of farming life. But a second look reveals Nagoro’s secret: the “villagers” you see tending crops, waiting for a bus, or laughing in the schoolyard are not people at all. They are dolls.