Officials in Japan have reportedly started to offer families more money than it had previously to move their homes out of Tokyo proper due to their extreme concerns about overpopulation.
The government of the island nation has stated that it plans to give as much as 1 million yen, which can be converted to roughly $7,631, per kid for a family if they agree to leave the city of Tokyo. Japan was already offered a sum of 300,000 yen — roughly a conversion of $2,289 — per child for families that agree to move.
A press release sent out on the 29th of December, as reported by Kyodo News, explained that the initiative first started back in the fiscal year of 2019. For the fiscal year of 2021, a total of 2,381 people departed the city region and took the government up on its offer of financial help.
The local outlet also stated that this new amount will be pushed through in the coming fiscal year that starts in April, as explained by another source.
The people eligible for the financial boon include the resident of the 23 wards in Tokyo and those that commute into the area from nearby regions. If people choose to go through with the program and get money for moving, they are going to be required to live in one of the participating regions for a minimum of five years and have a job. If they choose to depart the new region before the required period is done, the group will be required to reimburse the funds originally given. The money also only applies for any kids who are under eighteen or those who are eighteen but still in his or her final year of high school.
Additionally, this program could wind up encouraging people to create businesses and be entrepreneurial in the new areas that they are moving to. Couples who have at least two kids under the age of eighteen and choose to leave and start their own business in the new region they move to will get an additional sum of up to five million yen, or roughly $38,157.
People that want to participate in this new program have to make an appointment with the local government in the area which they move to after three months to one year after they move and say they plan to stay for a minimum of five years, as reported by local outlet Nikkei Asia.
This new plan seems to be just a piece in the overall effort by government officials to assist the smaller areas which are struggling with populations that are starting to get much older and smaller.
