Why is Japan offering families a million yen per child to leave Tokyo

In what is being seen as a major incentive, Japan’s government is offering one million yen per child to families asking them to move out of greater Tokyo.

The relocation fee incentive will be introduced in April this year, Guardian reported quoting Japanese media, as part of a push from the government to move people towards country’s declining small towns and villages.

Owing to the Covid pandemic, Tokyo’s population fell for the first time last year but Japan’s policymakers believe that much more needs to be done in order to lower the population density in the city. They also believe that such a move is necessary in order to encourage people to start living in “unfashionable” parts of the country which have been severely impacted by shrinking populations amid widespread migration.

The payment is an addition to almost three million yen financial support which is already available to families for the same purpose. It will be granted to families who are living in 23 “core” wards of Tokyo and Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, the report said.

To receive the benefits, families must move outside the greater Tokyo area, the rules state. Some could also receive the payment if the families relocate to mountainous regions, the scheme which has been joined by about 1,300 municipalities, states. Moreover, families must live in their new homes for at least five years and one member of the household must be in work or plan to open a new business during the period.

Half of the money for the scheme will come from the central government, and the other half from local municipalities, Kyodo had earlier reported.