Greyest Japanese village turns to Peru sister city to plug severe worker shortage

Japan’s most greying municipality has turned to its Peruvian sister city in search of a way to reverse its population decline and address the labour shortage that together threaten its survival.The mountain village of Nanmoku in Gunma prefecture, where 65.2 per cent of residents were aged 65 or older in the 2020 census, signed a sister-city agreement with Belen in northern Peru in November, hoping cultural exchanges under the framework will eventually bring young people to live and work in the Japanese village.“In five years, we may no longer have enough people to support the community,” said Nanmoku Mayor Saijo Hasegawa, 73. “We need people from overseas if we are to survive.”