Gov't data show exodus to Tokyo from other parts of Japan continues

There is no way I’d ever live in Tokyo with the pollution and cramped conditions.

If the provincial cities and towns did a better job of making themselves appealing, this wouldn't be happening. Some many of these towns are dreary, marked by neglect.

Some many of these towns are dreary, marked by neglect.

And largely populated by old people. What enterprising young person would want to spend their best years in a drab provincial town when they could live in Tokyo?

People typically move to where the jobs are and with the 2020 olympics on the horizon Tokyo would be the place to go. Just my thoughts.

Want to make traction, move the national government to someplace like Okayama. But they just want to talk not actually do.

Screw Tokyo!

Everybody I know who moved to Tokyo changed to cold stressed people.

I mean, centralisation is a huge problem in Japan. Of course you're going to see people flocking to Tokyo when it's essentially a city state surrounded by uninhabited wilderness.

Personally, I'd love to work in Sendai, but I'm not optimistic about finding translation work there, so it'll probably have to be Tokyo.

The number of people moving into the Tokyo metropolitan region in 2018 exceeded the number moving out by nearly 140,000, a government report showed Thursday, despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to reverse the trend by 2020 to revive rural areas.

That plan just doesn't work .

If the provincial cities and towns did a better job of making themselves appealing, this wouldn't be happening. 

Entrepreneurship spirit from local government? I just wouldn't expect that.

People follow the jobs. Period.

So many people I know who live in these overpopulated cities/prefectures want to move to other areas but can't.

My depopulated area's beautiful jutting along the coast with plenty of places to surf, fish, camp, and canoe. Many visitors say they'd like to live here.

Many inquiries from people from big cities are made to the city office about job opportunities here but most often they get a disappointing response.

The above poster mentioned provincial towns and cities looking drab and run-down.

Well, that's the depressing result of 50+ years of inaction and lip-service by this national government to pass policy that doesn't whirlpool all businesses and money into mega-Tokyo. There's no concerted effort to spread the vast wealth to the rest of the country.

I'd love to work in Sendai, but I'm not optimistic about finding translation work there, so it'll probably have to be Tokyo.

If you have an Internet connection you can do translation work anywhere, from home. The companies I do work for are mostly in Tokyo, and I've never been to any of their offices. It's never been a problem.

There's a chronic shortage of J-E translators. Try sending in your CV, see what happens.

Good luck!

Overconcentration of people and resources isn't good, as people will belatedly discover when a large earthquake strikes.

Promote telecommuting!

Now living in the center (sort of) of Osaka but would love to live a bit more countryside but there are a few problems (which I think apply for many others that refrain them from moving elsewhere).

Local villages don't have financial support for new parents which bigger municipalities offer.

No car means can't go anywhere. Both me and the missus don't have a drivers-license.

Friends, family live in the city.

There is no way I’d ever live in Tokyo with the pollution

Pollution? As a cyclist who goes all over Tokyo from the suburbs to Ginza and Otemachi, I can tell you that Tokyo has remarkably clean air.

If the provincial cities and towns did a better job of making themselves appealing, this wouldn't be happening.

As others have noted, people go where the jobs are and not just in Japan. Greater London keeps growing although much of London is dreadfully dreary but it's where the good, high pay jobs are. Same for Tokyo.

Well, that's the depressing result of 50+ years of inaction and lip-service by this national government to pass policy that doesn't whirlpool all businesses and money into mega-Tokyo.

Just the opposite. Taxpayers in Tokyo subsidize provincial areas. Schools, libraries, sports centers, etc. in provincial areas are very posh compared to what we have in Tokyo. Tokyo has six times the revenue per person of the prefecture with the least revenue per head but we get less than 100 yen in government expenditure for every 100 yen we pay in taxes. We are subsidizing the boonies.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181204/p2a/00m/0na/510000c

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2018/12/18/editorials/patchwork-steps-governments-2019-tax-reform/

It’s understandable. As mentioned, people go to where the work and the fun is and the provincial towns are pretty drab. One of my coworkers from Akita remarked there is more going on around one station of the Yamanote Line than in his home town.

The countryside is as miserable as sin.

I’ll put up with the crowds.

@bullfighter

The Kanto Plain In Japan has some of the worst pollution in Japan due to the

large number of vehicles on the roads.

Also, the Kanto area’s high demand for goods means that it would have the largest number of truck deliveries in Japan, powered by Diesel engines....

If you have an Internet connection you can do translation work anywhere, from home. The companies I do work for are mostly in Tokyo, and I've never been to any of their offices. It's never been a problem.

> There's a chronic shortage of J-E translators. Try sending in your CV, see what happens.

> Good luck!

Thank you for the encouraging words! I would like to be able to work in an office so I'm not sure about working remotely in the immediate future (although I can see it fitting into, hopefully, my short-term plans all the same), and I think I need more experience and something approaching a portfolio before I try freelance work, but I'll definitely consider it as an option and try sending my CV around to some companies! Thanks again!

Want to make traction, move the national government to someplace like Okayama. But they just want to talk not actually do.

Exactly. People live where there is work, if the central government moved some of it's departments outside Tokyo into different areas throughout Japan it would revitalise many towns and cities and take pressure off Tokyo housing and transport. Also, it makes common sense to decentralise in a country that has earthquakes every day.

Have to agree with bullfighter. I spent a good 11 years in Kyushu travelling around to every nook and cranny of the island. There are soooo Manu georgeous bridges libraries highway station and there are beautiful new schools dotted everywhere sometimes housing only a few students. They get lots of money from Toyko! That and I spent 2years as an CIR working in a small city hall in a town of 7000. It is standard to budget as much as possible into your yearly plan each year in order to continue to receive the money from Tokyo. Even for my own CIR programs I was advised to budget "more than you need" incase you run out of funds, and also to keep the money flowing "from Tokyo" every year. It's open and common knowledge in Japan.