Abe Sells Elderly on Charms of Country Life to Save Economy

``Eighty minutes by express train from Takano's ward is the mountain town of Chichibu where the population has been decreasing since 1975. While the town's center is lined with shuttered businesses and abandoned buildings, it does have plenty of empty nursing-home beds and underused medical facilities.... [but] for many in Japan, the idea of moving seniors to the countryside rekindles the legend of "ubasuteyama," meaning granny-dumping mountain. Legend has it that old people in ancient times were carried off to the hills and left to die. There's even a mountain named after the folk story in Nagano, central Japan.''