The Japanese government took such extraordinary measures to revive social activity in remote regions of the country. In fact, metropolitan Tokyo has been overcrowded for a long time. Along with this, in Japanese towns every year fewer and fewer young and middle-aged people are migrating to big cities in search of a better life. As a result, the rural population in the Land of the Rising Sun is constantly aging. Experts even warn that by 2040, nearly 900 cities and towns across Japan will face the threat of extinction.
By the way, this trend is visible to the naked eye. It is enough to drive a car several times on narrow roads past small houses in Japanese provinces with their elderly residents living their lives to clearly understand the essence of the problem. You rarely see schoolchildren with backpacks or young lovers walking under arms in the villages.
Today, a Japanese family receives around US$2.2 thousand per child for changing a capital apartment to a town house.
Japanese authorities have previously tried to encourage the population to move from the metropolis of Tokyo to the provincial corners of the island nation. For example, today a Japanese family receives 300,000 yen (about US$2,200) for each child to replace a capital apartment with a country house. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the trend to move to the countryside has strengthened. It has become easier for people to decide to forgo urban comforts in favor of provincial silence and romance after many companies have transferred their employees to a remote form of work.
Local citizens who opted for village life could retain highly paying jobs while significantly improving their living conditions, for example, moving from cramped city apartments to relatively spacious homes of their own, settling in places with good ecology and beautiful nature.
Interestingly, other countries are also trying to attract people to sparsely populated areas. So, a few years ago, the issue was resolved on the small picturesque Greek island of Andikitira, located between the Peloponnese and Crete in the Ionian Sea. Only a few dozen people live there, most of them of retirement age. The local diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church has offered to set a monthly allowance of 500 euros for immigrants with young children who agree to come and live on the island. The grants were supposed to be paid out within three years. In addition, program participants received houses with land for use.
