Japan's rural petrol stations get new lease on life

Tokyo

IN Shimukappu, a village on Japan's Hokkaido island and home to a popular skiing resort, residents are to reopen the sole petrol station in the area which closed four years ago as sales declined.

It's a similar story elsewhere in Japan, where oil demand has dropped by nearly a third since 2000 as the country's population dwindles and new car sales are also down by around a third since 1990.