> After the coal mines closed, the city pivoted to tourism, opening a coal-themed amusement park, a fossil museum, and a ski resort.
When it comes to such towns in the US, I've often wondered how many of them have no discernible economic reason to exist except the coal mine, e.g. other resources, on a trade route, etc.
This is complicated by perennial rhetoric around "bring back coal", or "jobs for coal miners." The first is an empty political promise of magical-thinking, and the second is achievable but wouldn't make recipients that happy because they don't just want a job...
> The arithmetic is brutal: you inherit a rural house valued at ¥5 million on the cadastral registry and pay inheritance tax of up to 55%, only to discover that the actual market value is ¥0. Nobody wants property in a village hemorrhaging population.
Even if Mr. Cole Miner could get a new job somewhere else (or remotely), local conditions are degrading and the family property (bought during the good times) is worth almost nothing because nobody wants to live in the area. That's why the political demand is typically to to somehow reopen the mine and rewind the clock.
