Japan's islands have long been a source of tearful TV documentaries that focus on aging populations and families abandoned by children who have left for the cities.
So when I moved to a small island in the Seto Inland Sea five years ago, I expected to find a withering population of people just barely getting by. What I didn't expect was huge, government-funded projects.
In a place where the population loses 25 people a year to death or emigration to one of Japan's larger islands, you wouldn't think the government would be spending money on new buildings with little long-term benefit or innovations only a small percentage of a progressively smaller population could benefit from. But, this is Japan. Despite the dwindling population on this island, there has been amazing, and often inexplicable development here over the past few years.