Net population influx into Tokyo recovers to pre-pandemic level

So, while Japan is going to become extinct, Tokyo is growing. Interesting

So basically the headline means the trouble has returned.

The central government has been encouraging people to move outside Tokyo as part of its regional revitalization policy, but progress in curbing overconcentration in the capital has been slow.

No, the "progress" in curbing overconcentration has been an absolute failure. The've done nothing to decentralize since I first heard of this problem back in 1984.

Glad I bought land here then.

Factchecker above...does the population growth reduce or increase value depending on the " massive earthquake expected "criteria ?

I would buy somewhere and not speculate.

As Guru indicated - the unfortunate end result of cramming not so far away from 40,000,000 people into Greater Tokyo will be a catastrophe of monstrous proportions.

That the largest megalopolis in the world continues to develop and expand, all while existing in arguably the worlds highest severe earthquake zone is mystifying.

Located near the junction of the Pacific and Philippine Sea plates, which are being pushed under the Eurasian plate guarantees The Biggie will come - again - as it has historically done many times in the past.

It's down and dark to talk about, when we should be celebrating the merits of this ginormous city, but the stark reality is there, supported by science and history.

No thanks.

More proof that spending money on inaka is a waste.

Move government offices and workers that do not absolutely, positively need to be in Tokyo to small cities across the country. A huge benefit would be a likely increase in fertility. Probably more than half of the 500,000 national government employees could be sent to small towns in Kyushu.

I was amazed at the size of Tokyo each time I have visited there. Japanese people have a great resource for about any cultural experience they desire by visiting or living there.

Best city of the world..

Best city of the world..

Agreed!

More proof that spending money on inaka is a waste.

Not when we've still got lots of members of parliament. We want our pork and will get it by the barrel-load.

48% (!!) of South Korea's population lives in Seoul. So I'm sure there's room for more in Tokyo.

Turning Japan into a one-city country. Soon, all the residential apartments will need to be as tall as Sky Tree Tower, while the rest of the country will be a barren wasteland.

Tokyo will keep growing as rural young people flock in…until there is not enough rural population to keep supplying Tokyo with people, food, and other resources. That’s the Wile E. Coyote moment when Japan will realize that it’s inescapably off the population cliff.

So, while Japan is going to become extinct, Tokyo is growing. Interesting

More proof that spending money on inaka is a waste.

The overconcentration of population in big cities is part of the reason for many of the problems at the national level. For example Tokyo does not produce even a small portion of the food it consumes, so if the trend continues it would mean that less people will produce food, and more people will demand it, which ends up making the country more and more dependent on other countries to feed itself.

Tokyo does not produce even a small portion of the food it consumes, so if the trend continues it would mean that less people will produce food, and more people will demand it, which ends up making the country more and more dependent on other countries to feed itself.

This is precisely why Japan should invest in farming by incentivising young people to take up farming, through subsidies and by offering them the land abandoned by those in rural areas where migration to Tokyo has rendered vacant. This rather than unsustaianable popultion growth or immigration (that would only futher the strain on the public coffers when 50% of current jobs become obsolete within the next two decades) is what the Japanese government should focus their attention and resources on.

This is precisely why Japan should invest in farming by incentivising young people to take up farming,

Good that you recognize your previous suggestions (letting unproductive towns just disappear) are counterproductive and the best solution for the country is to oppose the current trend of overcentralization.

If this means giving national money to towns that will be in the red even after producing food that still a winning strategy.

This rather than unsustaianable popultion growth or immigration

False dichotomy, pretending the solution you had to accept as positive only has one other alternative that you don't want to accept. It is perfectly acceptable for example to have sustainable population growth or even balance (including with immigration) to oppose the current trend towards unbalance, not only because the population is becoming overcentralized, but because it is also becoming unproductive. Having economically active population growth to the point where the retirees can still survive and at the same time redirecting the people outside of the big cities, even if that means using the money the big cities produce in order to give little towns at least the same advantages.

Else who is going to choose to live as a farmer without any extra support when the simple fact of living in Tokyo would give the whole family cheap (or free) medical attention, good education, better jobs with enforced life/work balance, etc. etc.

Good that you recognize your previous suggestions (letting unproductive towns just disappear)

I’m certain I said farming should be incentivized and subsidized and that those towns that have no sway or use should disappear into history.

I’m also certain you would agree that farming is of great use.

I’m certain I said farming should be incentivized and subsidized and that those towns that have no sway or use should disappear into history.

You said that about towns that could not produce as big cities, that includes every single one that is mainly dedicated to farming that can only exist thanks to huge subsidies and heavily taxing food from other countries, representing a huge economic loss just to keep them afloat.

Never mind again that nobody will want to live outside of big cities without at least the same amount of support; big nice and cheap hospitals, libraries, schools, etc. etc. which again do not work with your idea of just letting them fall if people are not interested in living there.

I’m also certain you would agree that farming is of great use.

And not only farming, but that is of course lost on people that can only see "economic production" and consider everything else "no sway or use"

Japan inc , sitting on the sidelines watching everything go down and blaming someone else for it !

you said that about towns that could not produce as big cities,

Wrong! The topic was the dying ghost towns such as Minakami that saw a boom in the bubble when over zealous investors thought building several big hotels along a narrow river was a plum idea, thinking that hordes would come to visit onsen towns with only the river, baths and hotels there to draw them. When the bubble burst those towns became abandoned. Those were the cities and towns I was referring to. Rather than pine over their loss, the government and Japanese people would do better to invest in farming...AND the communities that surround that arable land. Agriculture and technology should be the focus of Japan going forward. Not unsustainable immigration, nor throwing money away on dying or dead towns that hold no sway or value other than the very few people left there clinging to a nostalgic pang. Those towns have died organically. If there is revitalisation it will be for good reason, if not, that will also be for good reason.

Wrong! The topic was the dying ghost towns such as Minakami

Most of the dying ghost towns are dedicated to the production of food, once this was pointed out to you and how your suggestions would make Japan much more dependent of food from overseas you tried to make it as if you only said so about one single town when actually you made a generalization that you had to recognize was deeply unproductive or even would make things worse.

In the same way that you had to recognize that production of food is at least as important as whatever big cities produce the same applies to many other things that you still consider irrelevant but that are extremely important for the people of Japan. Just because you simply give no importance to something that does not make it unimportant for the country as well.

Completely unaddressed is the point that nobody will want to live in those towns that you now recognize must be saved simply because big cities have countless more advantages for families, so your suggestion is not only counterproductive but realistically impossible to apply, people are already concentrating in big cities because they look for the advantages they receive and are leaving small towns to disappear, investing in farming is not going to change this, it would still be necessary to invest in all those useless towns you think should be left to disappear.