Deep in the Shikoku wilderness, along a steep winding road above a dark green river, sits the tiny village of Okawa. It's located in a region sometimes dubbed by enthusiastic travel writers as the "Tibet of Japan" for its comparative isolation within the mountains.
With less than 400 citizens, the Kochi Prefecture village faces the same predicament most local governments around Japan are grappling with: a declining, elderly population.
But Okawa's decision to study the possibility of abolishing its village assembly due to a lack of candidates and introducing direct democracy is sparking a nationwide debate, and central government discussion, on the merits and demerits of establishing general village meetings in place of an elected council.
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