Yoshino, Nanyo

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Yoshino (吉野) is a small town in the north of Nanyo, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. It is made up of two smaller villages, Ogi and Kotaki. As of 2005, the town had a population of 935.

Yoshino is a good example of rural depopulation in Japan. 50 years ago many people were employed in mining and forestry, the population was over 3,600, and the town even had a cinema. However, forestry gradually died out, and in 1974 the mine closed.

The population decreased further in the late 1990s when a major road, National Route 5, was built through Yoshino. A number of houses had to be demolished, and many affected families chose to relocate to nearby towns with more amenities such as Akayu or Miyauchi.

However, the remaining community is close-knit, and in an effort to retain community spirits they have restarted the annual Kumano Shrine festival, and have organised a number of community sports and culture related societies. Ogi and Kotaki both have small elementary schools, and there is a single junior high school in Ogi.

Kotaki is the site of the Kuguritaki waterfall (潜り滝).