Rural Japanese Postmasters are becoming supermarket operators with unmanned retail spaces inside their facilities to support older residents who cannot travel long distances to shop.
With essential services pulling out of rural areas as a result of population decline, some 3,000 of the roughly 24,000 Post Offices nationwide have embraced the service, stocking vegetables, daily necessities and other items.
In the town of Misato, Miyazaki Prefecture, elderly people gather at the Nyushita Post Office before noon.
“I can buy vegetables here and I enjoy talking with the Postmaster and friends of mine,” says Kimi Oda, an 89-year-old woman who lives nearby.
People aged 65 and older account for 52.5 per cent of the population in Misato, making it the fastest-aging Municipality in the Prefecture.
Supermarkets and home appliance shops there have been closing down one after another.
For many elderly people, some of whom have already turned in their driver’s licenses, shopping has become a major problem with the nearest store five kilometres away.
Post Offices are also expected to complement Government administrative services, a role that is anticipated to grow as Municipalities in depopulated areas see a drop in tax revenues, making it difficult to continue running existing services without cutting costs.
In Nagano Prefecture, for instance, the Yasuoka Village Government closed its sole branch in July 2019.
It has since delegated the issuance of residence certificate copies and other documents, and the acceptance of document submissions, to the nearby Nukuda Post Office.
Tokyo, 27 February 2023
