Overcrowded Tokyo is offering families money to move out of the city

Photo: Takuya Matsuyama -

Families living in Japan’s overcrowded capital, Tokyo, are reportedly being offered money by the government to move out of the city and into the countryside.

It’s part of an effort to revitalise smaller towns and boost falling birth rates, a government spokesperson has said.

From April, families in central Tokyo, including those which have one parent, will be eligible to receive up to one million yen – around $7,500 US Dollars – per child if they move to less-populated areas, reports The Guardian newspaper.

The incentives are said to apply to children aged under 18, or dependents 18 and over if they’re still attending high school.

Tokyo is one of the most overcrowded cities in the world, with a population of approximately 37 million people, and although this number fell for the first time in 2022, some policymakers within central government are said to believe that more action is needed to lower Tokyo’s population density, and encourage people to settle in other parts of the country that have been affected by ageing populations and the movement of younger people to the capital.

The payment will be offered to families living in the 23 ‘core’ wards of Tokyo, other parts of the metropolitan area and the neighbouring commuter-belt prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa.

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Author: Simon Weedy

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