The government proposes controversial measures to curb the rural exodus of young people

The Japanese government has introduced subsidies to encourage families to move back to the countryside and has even considered paying bonuses to young women who agree to marry in rural areas.

Japan has made a simple observation: the demographic crisis is more serious in rural areas than in metropolitan areas. For example, in 2023, the city of Tokyo gained 68,000 new residents, who were added to the 14 million inhabitants of the municipality. This increase occurred despite a collapse in the population on a national scale.

The government would like to slow down this movement, and even push young people to take the opposite path and go and settle in rural areas where there is a shortage of workers and families. There is already a subsidy program for young city dwellers who go to work in rural areas. If they find a job in certain provinces in difficulty, the central government gives them a check for 600,000 yen, that is, almost 4,000 euros.

The conservative government’s new idea is to expand this program by promising to pay the same amount to young women from Tokyo who agree to go to the countryside, not to work, but to get married. Statistics show that the rate of single men is particularly high in rural areas, much higher than in cities.

The government has said it is even willing to pay for Tokyo girls to travel to singles gatherings in the provinces to find their soul mates. However, the idea has caused a huge uproar in the country. As the government prepares to vote on its bride subsidies, social media has gone wild against the program. It has been accused of being backward, ultra-sexist and nothing more than a wife-buying scheme.

The Minister for Territorial Revitalization, a woman, has therefore asked her teams to completely review their project. They will have to work on another solution, which will take into account everyone’s sensitivities.