and Jesus said "let the children come to me"

July 21, 2010 6:26 AM

Looking for a v.sad story I read on the 'net years ago about a nursing home in Japan that had mannequins of children playing in the grounds.

I'm pretty sure it was on a small island off one of the other four Japanese islands. Basically, no children live there. The mannequins are placed at the home to keep the elderly "happy."

posted by uncanny hengeman to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

The island of the old.

There's a reference to this in the documentary 'Geriatric Island'.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 6:39 AM on July 21, 2010

In a similar vein, but a bit more hopeful, here's a RadioLab episode about a fake bus stop outside a nursing home in Germany.

It's a beautiful piece, well worth listening to.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:46 AM on July 21, 2010

Godammit! Three minutes. I tried dozens of permutations in Google with nary a sniff. Cheers.

That's sure seems like it... but the story I read had a few pics of the mannequins and of the elderly residents. But I've tried reGoogling using the island's name and still no luck.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 6:52 AM on July 21, 2010

I got an MeMail to summarise this question's responses.

** Half answered. All the info is correct, it would seem.
** Was really chasing PICTURES of the island and mannequins. I've definitely seen them before.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 9:14 PM on August 30, 2010