This Man Lives in an Abandoned Japanese School - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i2Ndgrgcu8

(cont. I Spent 72 Hours in a Japanese School - Abandoned in the Mountains - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvPxJBiDgp8)

Why Was This Japanese Village Abandoned? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDPT6q_4OHY

Inside a free tiny house in Japan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tneLNsV3oXQ

Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtflILeTBlX-Klzfudsxp...

I had a friend who liked to go visit them, and I went with a few times. They look like the original post, old looking on the outside and falling apart on the inside.

A shame, but also a natural progression if there are no jobs around anymore, and / or the jobs in the cities pay better and seem more attractive. We're lucky that in the software industry, a lot of jobs can be done remote now so people don't have to live in the cities unless they choose to, but that's only a fraction of the workforce.

And with the relatively wide availability of internet even in rural areas via satellites, the job factor is even lower. Of course, most jobs aren't computer/internet based, but there are still many jobs there, and some could say that the job market in those areas is growing (I'm aware of record-breaking lay-offs in the tech sector this year, but I think that has more to do with the current economy, I could be wrong)

I suspect that residential units can be converted into commercial space in cities, or combined with other units to make bigger homes. Neither of those are easy in rural areas, so properties might need to be abandoned.

This, in turn, causes economic problems. When a country has high fertility rates, their market naturally grows year by year. And vice versa, when they have a low fertility rate. So it's likely to become a vicious cycle. The population declining because of low fertility rate drives economic chaos resulting in even lower fertility rates. And this same future awaits every country with sub-replacement fertility rates. It's like watching a train wreck unfold in ultra slow-mo, but being no more capable of independently stopping it.

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/japan-populat...

IMO there's a really simple explanation for what it's "really" observing - consumerism. Poor individuals don't have enough money to fall into consumerism, the ultra wealthy have so much that there's no carrot to be dangled in front of them that they couldn't grab on a whim. The correlation captures the remaining middle class that has just enough money to always have a carrot just slightly out of reach.

And so that drives different motivations for this group of people. They'd rather chase the carrot, rather than go through the sacrifice involved in raising a family. This not only explains the past, when consumerism was much less of a thing, but also the present when even poor countries can be disproportionately driven by consumerism. This is probably why religion is correlated strongly with fertility. It's simply anti-consumerist by nature, so religious individuals become somewhat less likely to fall into the carrot loop.

And anybody who's had a child can tell you that getting pregnant is not as easy as you might think. In general women are only fertile for a window of several days per month, which they are capable of also determining due to various physiological changes that happen during that window (and also the fact that the window occurs during the, more or less, exact same time each month following their period). And even if you nail that window, the chances of a successful pregnancy are relatively low - only about 20% per month for young couples, and then rapidly decreasing for women beyond the age of 30.

Notably, in the century prior to the Roman Empire's collapse, fertility rates collapsed for reasons that are still unclear. Anyhow, this is all a very long-winded way of saying that the higher birth rates of the past weren't simply because of unplanned pregnancies. If they wanted to lower their fertility rates, they would have been fully capable of doing so.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_birth_control

But that market, can't grow forever. Population can't grow forever. You will hit the wall at one point unless you want your population living in cramped and impoverished conditions like in India. Is it bad they hit it now instead of 10-20 years down the line?

Fertility is always ciclic. It either goes up when times are good, and goes down when times are bad. And good times don't last forever.

[1] - https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033027/fertility-rate-u...

We more or less hiked (no trails) till sunset, when I suggested we should turn back before dark. The island was more or less deserted except for a newly built public housing estate at a pier. Being stuck on a (almost) wilderness mountain surrounded by abandoned tombs at night was not my idea of fun.

As a former resident, I sometimes hear people talking about how the place ranks highly on some US think-tank with respect to taxes and regulation--usually with a "we should do that in America" bent.

Many of them don't seem to realize all the other policies--ones they might dislike--which balance that and make it possible. For example, huge amounts of subsidized or government-run housing, the land-system, and an enormous sovereign-wealth fund.

https://www.chinadailyhk.com/article/304054

Section 5 [0] in particular is striking, as you're hiking through the forest _above_ Kowloon. Plus quite a few monkeys, if you're lucky!

[0] https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/hong-kong/sai-kung/m...

Also, on Lantau Island, exercise caution when encountering feral cattle on hiking trails.

But, I really miss hiking in Hong Kong, especially in the Autumn.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...

Hong Kong has a mountainous topography. Of the total land area of 1,111 km 2, 24.3% (270 km2) is built-up area, with the remaining 75 .7% (841 km 2) being not-for-development or non-built-up area consisting mainly of country parks, wetland, reservoirs, fish ponds, etc

https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr17-18/english/panels/dev/papers/d...

Hong Kong land use is fascinating and the government's Planning Department provides a great tool to explore how land is used and for what purpose: https://www.pland.gov.hk/pland_en/info_serv/open_data/landu/

The total area used by transport (71 sq km) is very close to the total area used for all types of residential (80 sq km). Hong Kong has 733 sq km of woodland and forest.

HK is mostly mountainous, so there are really dense parts between the mountains (which is cool when you have a dense but not large area surrounded by hills, like a university I visited). In this case, they are talking about an island, not connected via a bridge but a ferry, so it makes sense that life would be tough.

We often hear people arguing that having cheap broadband in all local areas is just impossible, and I read it as "no young adult will want to live in those areas when they've the choice to move out on their own". Broadband being just one example.

The thing is, they moved but most often retained land rights. So those villages fell into disrepair as people moved but the houses and plots of land usually belong to families that have lived abroad for one, two or three generations now. They could be developed but so far there's little incentive for people to do so, despite the high property prices (those that were very successful abroad instead bought property in Hong Kong's new towns and have seen asset values skyrocket).

Hong Kong's government has historically been very good at providing services for the outlying areas. The many villages that did not end up abandoned have for decades had all the amenities, with stable power, clean water, fiberoptic broadband and often gas as well.

There's just a bunch of issues with being semi remote.

Unless you can land remote work (good luck) jobs are basically have a family farm, work in the school, or work for a state agency maintaining roads, or commute for an hour to a city with more jobs.

Then there's the lack of services, it's basically "want food, entertainment, hospital care? Welp, you are going to have to travel for an hour to get any of that". You pretty much have to leave the town if you want more than a high school education.

Quiet literally the only thing going on in the city is high school sports.

But hey, with small towns that also generally means that everyone knows everyone. Which can be good if you like community, but also can be real bad if you don't want to live where everyone has their nose in everyone else's business.

But then, that was a small town. There's a large number of "communities" where instead of farmers putting their house close together they keep the "homes on the range". Which, as you can imagine, takes people that want isolation to want to live in those places.

I spent some time in India years ago and remember being amazed that a country with over a billion people could have so much vast open beautiful countryside. It’s incredible how much population can fit into a few (very) dense areas.

Was getting lag even on an m1 pro.

For people interested in abandoned villages, I can heartily recommend the 'Hong Kong Abandoned Villages' group : https://www.facebook.com/groups/801573476651269/

The group still has content posted daily, with almost exclusively Hong Kong places

Also if you are in HK and are interested in hacker spaces there's https://www.dimsumlabs.com which is great. Has an open door every Tuesday (today!).

Otherwise grabbing a beer with 1-2 people is also usually not a bad outcome:

https://chat.whatsapp.com/J0figJGIgTkAwUkbmOzuLQ

I hope this invite link works, otherwise email in my profile.

> In the 1950s and ‘60s, as Hong Kong grew as an industrial hub, many people migrated to the rapidly expanding urban centers for better working opportunities. “It’s hard farming and fishing out there in these remote areas, so a lot of people moved to the city to work in the factories,”

The short answer seems to be corruption: a cabal of property developers colludes with the government to ensure prices are sky-high and nobody outside the system (like, say, whoever owns the land in these abandoned villages) gets building permits.

Where are you getting this? Do you have a source?

It’s a lot of effort and high risk. Much easier to buy out active villages where you can knock on a door, show them a check and do it that way.

Edit: actually it may be even more difficult than that as the inheritance right appears limited to the heir building one house. I’m not sure the plots even can be sold. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_House_Policy

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That makes them more likely to attack other visitors, unfortunately.

But more seriously what is a good strategy for dealing with wild dogs?

"Oh look, a visitor. You will allow us to rifle through every pocket and steal your backpack, or else."

No food? Some will take glasses, wallets, and phones hostage.

Basically they need to learn to not mess with humans. Same with bears and coyotes. Never, ever feed them.

It's the most convenient self-defence EDC imho, at least at night, since not being able to see will catch most human and non-human attackers off-guard for quite a while. Of course, pepper spray or a really loud signal horn are better in theory, as they attack senses more important to the dog. But they are bulkier and not allowed everywhere, and you are therefore less likely to EDC them and have them with you when they are needed.

But most flashlights that I have bought have Narsil or Anduril as their firmware, which includes double-click for turbo. With this, you can quickly blind everyone even if they are approaching rapidly.

https://github.com/ToyKeeper/anduril

Please, the entirety of Hong Kong is like 40x50km.

There sure are some tall steep hills making some areas just not worth messing with.

Some of the outlining villages that are heavily populated are regarded as “remote” because they have limited public transport infrastructure. The density of the city combined with the mountainous topology makes it impossible to directly go to your destination.

Then, these abandoned villages are on outlying islands from these heavily populated villages. You need to hire a private charter boat or a “tour service” to get to.

So it can take 1-2 hours from the city center to get to one of the villages (if you’re going to Sai Kung Village, you’re on a single road prone to congestion during peak traffic), then you’re taking another 1-2 hour ride on a boat to the islands you want to go to.

Certainly possible as day trips, but also certainly an inconvenience.

People commute from Pakenham to Melbourne (~1:20), from Alpharetta to Atlanta (~1:30) etc.

For Hong Kong, the density and “business” driven expectations of the city make it so that a 1-2 hour journey sitting on a bus is considered a long route. People do not want to waste time traveling within the city.

It is common for some people to roll their eyes at the thought of traveling to Kowloon side if they live on Hong Kong side, even if it’s a 5minute train / 15 minute ferry trip.

That evening, when I returned and shared my excitement, I received a dressing-down for walking on the trails alone; explanation being people that have entered HK without permission or those fleeing within HK from like the law tend to hide out in the hills, and they are known to sometimes attack out of desperation or suspicion. To this day I'm still not certain about it, what was their reasoning rooted in..