According to various local media sources, Japan intends to increase financial assistance to households moving away from the capital in order to counteract depopulation in other areas of the country.
Eligible families in the Tokyo metropolitan region would be able to get 1 million yen ($7,700) per child beginning in the fiscal year 2023 if they relocate to a disadvantaged neighborhood, according to reports, more than tripling the current 300,000 yen incentive.
The financial incentives underscore the difficulties that Japan faces as a result of its low birth rate and long life expectancy. Rural areas have experienced dramatic depopulation as young people leave for better prospects in cities, leaving communities studded with abandoned homes and struggling with declining tax revenue.
The increased help for children comes on top of a one-time payment of one million yen for families who relocate. A household with two children could receive 3 million yen in assistance if they move out of the Tokyo area under the new idea.
Japan’s national government launched an attempt to draw people to regional areas
In 2019, Japan’s national government launched an attempt to draw people to regional areas, allowing households that have resided in the core Tokyo metropolitan area for five years to apply for relocation assistance.
Families can continue to work remotely at their present job, work at a local small or medium-sized business, or create a business in the area, allowing them to ask for even more financial assistance.
In 2021, the scheme had 1,184 household participants, compared to 71 the first year it launched, according to the Nikkei. In 2021, the number of births totaled 811,604, the lowest since records were first kept in 1899.
The assistance for children is in addition to the one million yen that families can currently earn for moving, according to Time magazine. Households that have lived in the central Tokyo metropolitan region for five years are eligible to apply for support payments.