by Erik Rimkus

One of Japan’s biggest challenges today is demographic change. This includes, first and foremost, the rapid aging of the population, with nearly one-third of the population (29%) aged 65 and older (Statistics Bureau of Japan 2022). But Japanese demographics also pose a second, rapidly growing problem: hyper-urbanization. Nowhere is this more visible than in Tokyo. To this day Japan’s capital has been continuously growing, even beyond its own prefectural borders. The greater Tokyo area or “National Capital Region“ (jap.: Shutoken), consisting of the Kanto region and the neighboring Yamanashi Prefecture, is considered to be the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with a total population of 44.37 million people as of 2021 (Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism 2022: 42). Even though Tokyo’s population influx died down a little during the pandemic (The Japan Times 2022), due to a strong continuous flow of (esp. young) people moving to the capital, Tokyo is expected to grow even more. Now over one-third of Japan’s population (apx. 35%) is living in this metropolis (Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism 2022: 42).

Tokyo, Ueno
Copyright © Cornelia Reiher 2023

On the other hand, this naturally leads to most other parts of Japan becoming increasingly underpopulated and over-aged, causing a variety of problems. These problems range from a shortage of skilled workers to the disappearance of entire towns and villages, with “869 municipalities – nearly half of Japan’s total population – […] at risk of disappearing [by 2040]” (Richarz 2019). However, although seemingly all of Japan is migrating to Tokyo, a counter-movement of people fleeing the megacity is slowly taking hold. Whether people frustrated by their hectic lives are being pushed away from living in this hyper-urban area or are being drawn to the countryside by the promise of affordable housing, closer contact with nature, or a more thoughtful and slower-paced lifestyle, these intra-national migrants, often referred to as ijūsha, are exactly what many rural areas are counting on.

Shirakawa, Gifu
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To inform and support potential newcomers, many prefectures and municipalities promote their areas in newsletters and magazines. One example is the magazine “Turns“. This magazine often reports about people who moved to the countryside and their stories of success. The magazine’s official subtitle is: “Connecting with rural areas in the Future “ [Kore kara no chiiki to no tsunagarikata]. But, despite what it sounds like, Turns is not only about successfully growing strawberries in small rural towns Miyagi. One article for example describes the relocation of two young people from the greater Tokyo area (Tokyo and Yokohama) to Nagasaki, the capital city of the prefecture of the same name (Fukami 2021: 100-101). This is not the only case of major cities being described and categorized as chiiki or “rural areas“. In fact in the discourse surrounding “rural revitalization“, many places presented as “rural areas “ are in fact large cities like Nagasaki with a population of close to 400.000 people (Nagasaki City 2023). This perception of almost every place outside of Tokyo as rural seems to have become a common view in Japan. I have also made this experience while in Japan.  A good friend of mine, who grew up in Gifu-City and moved to Tokyo to study, once told me how people react when they find out, where she is from. Questions like: „Did you even have Starbucks or MC Donalds there?“ illustrate very vividly how people from Tokyo view places outside their megacity.

Nagasaki, Japan
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Tokyo’s hyper urbanization has far-reaching implications for Japan. For one thing, it may change the way people see and experience “big” and “small rural areas.” There is simply no other place in Japan that compares to the “megacity” of Tokyo. I believe that demographic changes in Japan and the hyper-urbanization of the capital are leading to a new dominant view of Tokyo and non-Tokyo, as opposed to the previous distinction between “rural areas” and urban areas. However, these small and large rural areas do not necessarily share the same problems, and little or no differentiation could fuel rivalries in attracting new residents, for example. If Japan does not want to lose more and more communities in the coming years and decades, it must successfully promote rural areas and revitalize its rural areas. But to do so effectively, it may need to acknowledge the differences between towns and cities of different sizes and the changing perceptions of rural areas.

References:
Fukami, Hiroshi (2021) „Nagasaki-shi de mitsuketa watashitachi no ‘saikō no kurashi’“ [„The best way of life“ can be found in Nagasaki], in: Turns, 43 (10), p. 100-101.
Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism (2022), „Reiwa sannendo shutoken Seibi ni kansuru nenji Hōkoku“ [2021 Annual Report on the Metropolitan Area Development], https://www.mlit.go.jp/toshi/daisei/toshi_daisei_fr_000063.html (Accessed on July 06, 2023).
Nagasaki-shi (2023), „Kongatsu no ugoki (Suikei jinkō nado saishin no shuyō tōkei)“ [Movement of the Month (Latest Major Statistics such as Estimated Population)], https://www.city.nagasaki.lg.jp/syokai/750000/751000/p007001.html (Accessed on July 09, 2023).
Richarz, Allan (2019), „In Japan’s vanishing rural towns newcomers are wanted“, in: Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-15/in-japan-s-vanishing-rural-towns-newcomers-wanted (Accessed on June 26. 2023).
Statistics Bureau of Japan (2022), „Current population estimation as of October 1, 2022“, https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/jinsui/2022np/ (Accessed on June 26, 2023).
The Japan Times (2022), „Net population influx into Tokyo hits lowest point in 2021 amid pandemic“, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/01/28/national/tokyo-population-influx-lowest/ (Accessed on July 09. 2023).

Erik Rimkus is a student in the BA program in Japanese Studies at Freie Universität Berlin