Where Shrines once thrived...

The red-roofed temple at the top of the hill closed about a decade ago, and now Yoshihiro Shibata can’t even remember its name, though the 54-year-old dairy farmer has lived in this picturesque village all his life.

“The income of the temple depends on the number of residents, and there weren’t enough to keep a monk here,” he said, looking around the deserted grounds nestled amid the village’s lush landscape of tea plants and hydrangeas, bamboo and pine trees.

The local Shinto shrine is barely hanging on. With only about 250 households left in Hara-izumi, which is technically part of nearby Kakegawa city, the village no longer has enough men to hoist up the traditional float and parade it around during the shrine’s annual festival.

“They just set it out there and it doesn’t move,” Shibata said. In a few more years, even that may not be possible. “We’re supposed to lose half our population in the next decade.”

Please read: As Japan's population shrinks, bears and boars roam where schools and shrines once thrived - LA Times

Please pray for the Norukura Fellowship. Up in the Japan Alps, northern Matsumoto, is a fellowship of about 20. The worshippers are primarily of North Star. Ask the Lord that they would be able to reach out to the local people with the message of 'Christ our hope'.