Working Poor 2

So now we’re discussing the issue of working poor in the countryside regions.

As a matter of fact, I am one of those coming from the suburbs. My hometown is Takamatsu City, a city in a rather unknown prefecture of Kagawa. My parents run a cafe on a local shopping street in Takamatsu. It has been ten years since I left my hometown, and every time I go back to see my family, I can’t help but notice lesser and lesser shops keeping their business as compared to ten years ago.

At first, it seemed to me that the cause was mere economic stagnation. It was at least in the beginning, and my parents blamed the recession believing the wind would blow for them again.

But as I come to think of it, I remembered that big suburb-type shopping malls opened in Takamatsu just around the same time as I left home. Now I know that those took away the customers of the shopping street. Having said that though, I must admit that we ourselves are part of those consumers half switching from our shopping street to the shopping mall. By the time we noticed, the malls were always packed with people and the street that we came back to was almost deserted.

The most shocking moment was when a traditional department store deeply rooted to the local shopping street disappeared from our neighborhood. The once dazzling block transformed into a dark hollow lot, and it really gave me a huge sense of loss.

Okay, my story will continue on to tomorrow.