Fancy a move to the countryside? Japan seeks to curb rural exodus • FRANCE 24 English

[Music] This family are looking for insects and visiting their neighbors goats. 3 years ago, the Kanako family left the suburbs of Tokyo for the fresh air of the countryside where the loudest noise is the chirping of cicadas. They were attracted by the offer of public subsidies, more than 9,000 in return for settling in a rural town, provided they stay there for at least 5 years. I couldn’t stand rush hour in the city anymore. It was a challenge to come here. But I finally feel free. The fact that there were financial incentives was a very important factor in our decision to move. While her husband works remotely, Suzuka launched her own clothing brand. Here too, she received help from the government around €3,000 to start her business as well as seminars and other services the prefecture offers to new entrepreneurs. I had already decided to quit my job as a salaried worker and I wanted to show my children that I enjoyed working. That’s what pushed me to start my own business. Today I believe it was the right decision. Her business premises are an abandoned pottery workshop they bought along with the house. Japan’s countryside is full of bargain properties. Today, half of the country’s land is home to just 10% of the population, posing an existential threat to thousands of villages. Since no one has come here for a while, the grass has grown. Japan has 9 million abandoned houses or aa like this one. This real estate agent was approached by a local government to find buyers. After a year and a half of searching, she’s been forced to slash the asking price. From here, it’s barely a minute’s walk to the beach. This 100 square meter home looks over the ocean and comes with a garden. It costs just €16,000. The knockdown price is not unusual. About 80% of the houses Mayumi Fukushima sells are unoccupied. With no occupiers, these properties are sold on the cheap. The price is not only 10 times cheaper, but even a 100 times cheaper compared to properties in Tokyo. Being able to buy a house like this for only €16,000 is really reasonable. It’s even cheaper than some new cars. The Japanese government is trying to slow rural depopulation, a move that would also ease overcrowding in cities and large towns, which are home to around 92% of the population. Tokyo and its surrounding regions account for more than a third of Japan’s GDP. Some people choose to compromise and move to the Tokyo suburbs. They’re quieter and less expensive than the city center, but there are still challenges. Every day, my Namura, who works in finance, cycles to the daycare center to drop off her son, then takes two pack subways into Tokyo. She spends nearly 3 hours a day commuting to and from the city center. She often gets home after 1:00 a.m. Of course, there are times when I find it difficult. This train often stops because of problems, and in those moments, I feel it’s a bit of a hassle. But even taking all those inconveniences into account, I still think there are good sides to living in the suburbs. Namura’s job means she needs to live near the capital, and she’s not alone. Only 16,000 Tokyo residents have moved out to the countryside despite the government’s incentive scheme. It’s yet another failed attempt to revive Japan’s regions where onethird of residents are aged 65 or over. As you can see on this map, the dark blue areas represent municipalities that may no longer exist in the coming years. It’s estimated that 800 to 900 towns in Japan are at risk of disappearing. The government has said it will double subsidies aimed at boosting regional economies. It’s a bold move, but experience suggests that it might be too little, too late to save Japan’s rural heartland.

Reviving Japan’s countryside is a topic that’s close to the heart of Shigeru Ishiba, the country’s outgoing prime minister. Ishiba hails from a remote part of Japan and owes his political career to support from rural voters. This year, he doubled subsidies for local governments and appointed 180 “revitalisation officers”. But the exodus from rural regions continues. Today, more than half of Japan’s land is inhabited by less than 10 percent of the population. Yet generous incentives to encourage people living in cities to return to the countryside are having some success. FRANCE 24’s Justin McCurry, Alexis Bregere, Mélodie Sforza, Ayana Nishikawa and Constantin Simon report.
#Japan #countryside #demography

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34 comments

  1. Without a permanent residency permit NOTHING can be done. Many good and honest world people are attracted to Japan because of low crime and cleanness but They CANNOT move to Japan because of the SUPER HARSH immigration laws. 🙁

  4. I bought a house an hour outside of Tokyo this year. I think the main issue is work culture. I like the distance and wouldn't even mind going further, however I don't have a standard office job there so there's much more flexibility in my day.

    If (culturally) they had more reasonable hours and more respect for home life it wouldn't be as big of a deal to take an hour or more train ride. However getting back so late after spending all day in the office makes longer commutes unbearable.

  5. I had a goal of maybe moving to one of these rural areas for retirement, especially with the US going fully clueless fash here, but I discovered rural Japanese people demand your participation in all the local folksy activities as a resident. Dudes, I just wanted peace and privacy, not 2 months of Gedde’s barn raising and 3 months of Kaede’s wedding preparations. Who even are they???

  7. I've started a business in rural Japan. As a foreigner these benefits are not available. And properties in my area are not cheap, even older houses.

  8. I’ve lived in London, my whole life and have lived in a small small town in Morocco 🇲🇦 and small towns are so much better. Plan is to move there next year.

  9. Japan should allow and encourage immigrants who are rich, safe, Japanese-speaking, and culturally compatible to live in the countryside of Japan. … Japan makes such immigration extremely difficult. It should change this.

  11. It really is bizarre, I spent three months in Japan with some Japanese friends, we would drive out into the countryside, and you would come across these ghost towns, beautiful homes just sitting empty, the entire town abandoned. According to my friends it's a combination of the abysmally low birth rate in Japan and people leaving for opportunities in the bigger cities.

  13. A lot of foreigners especially expats would love to buy and live in these homes, but Japan restrictions on foreigners again especially expats makes it impossible for retirees to live in Japan because of no visas for retirees. Japanese are not friendly to foreigners, especially the government!

  14. Would encouraging or otherwise incentivizing more remote work and then subsidizing those who could work remotely to relocate to the more rural areas of Japan be an option?

  17. Likely they find there's a price living in a city. So they went to small villages to be more self reliant and likely do side hustles to farm crops.

    It's a start

  18. if farming is not monopolize and selling produces gets sufficient earnings, maybe rural exodus will stop. people leave their rural areas because cities have a better steady supply of earnings. farming losses are almost inevitable and nobody wants that kind of risk.

  19. I am Japanese that have lived in both areas. There are many towns that kept population stable and in fact ppl moving to. There is a reason why ppl move out of those town that are crying out. This is just a one-sided story,. You need to show why ppl moved out

  21. I'm retired and really want to move to the countryside. My wife works in the city. We sold our rooftop condo (after 18 years we got 40% more than when we bought it new) and bought something older, just a block away but much cheaper.

    But I really want to move to Yamanashi. My wife won't even live with me as it is too far to commute and has an apartment in the city center. I don't see the hassle of moving to the countryside as I already have a garden in the city. Wish I could live in the countryside and be a real farmer growing vegetables.

  23. It sounds like rather than just shuffling people around, the government should work on building up job opportunities in rural areas

  24. What they did notmention in the film is that there are zero jobs in rural Japan, you are living in a ghost town and have to drive 1 hour to get to the kindergarten, school, grocery, doctor etc. You either work remotely or start an e-commerce business…I think life there is pretty boring

  27. Tokyo is a cesspool. Moving out to the countryside is heaven. HUGE house, dirt cheap … nice people, free veggies and fruits from our neighbor farmers. Peace and quiet and did I say a HUGE house.

  29. The Japanese countryside is beautiful but most people there are incredibly toxic to everyone around. That's why young people escape to bigger cities.

  32. moving to a rural area in Japan is just a joke. people in those communities want to know everything about everyone no privacy. Dying to go back to the central Tokyo

  34. Why don’t they just move some of the large employers to some of the smaller suburbs so that people can move there because they will have employment opportunities?

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