Still life

Before prolific American inventor Thomas Edison gave the world the lightbulb, he created the phonograph, the first audio player in the world.

Edison’s first commercial application of the invention was on a doll, allowing it to “talk.” He made the doll that plays recorded voices and music in 1890, and it was mass-produced, selling for $10 to $20 each, Thomas Edison National Historical Park archivist Leonard DeGraaf told the New York Post (NYP).

Out of the 10,000 talking dolls manufactured, only 2,500 were sold, as it was prone to breakdowns and its voice was terrifying, NYP reported.

Meanwhile, villagers of Ichinono in Japan have found a way to make their community a little bit more populated.

There are only 60 residents in the village, and almost all of them are retirees. Their young children have left to study or work elsewhere.

There are, however, others that keep them company. Riding in swings and pushing carts with firewood, the smiling dolls are permanent fixtures around the place.

Residents themselves stitched, stuffed, and clothed the life-size mannequins to give a semblance of population to Ichinono.

“We’re probably outnumbered by puppets,” Hisayo Yamazaki, an 88-year-old widow, told the Agence France-Presse news agency, referring to the eerie dolls.