The number of dying villages in Japan is increasing due to the aging and shrinking society. However, the shrinking city which leads to the ghost towns in rural Japan is an unavoidable problem. Architects and urbanists always focus their urban strategy on urban growth and revitalization, neglecting the opposite. Instead of examining the revitalization of such places, this research aims to study the possibility of a dying village design strategy to better prepare for closing the place down. The research focuses on finding a way to bid farewell to a dying village before all inhabitants have left and the place turns into an unwanted, forgotten ghost town. This research challenges the meaning of place by using requalification and focusing on the important role of the village’s memory. By using a phenomenological approach, this research is inspired by theories of nostalgia and amnesia—how memory works subjectively and its differences with history. Moreover, it focuses on several relevant cases as the scope of the study, namely Scarecrows Village, Cat Island, and the Art House Project. The conclusion draws a design strategy for decline and sum up the results of the attempts conducted in selected places in Japan.