“Forced” urban exodus. Japan, a bonus of 1 million yen (€7,300) per child to leave Tokyo! – Insolentiae

I have been sharing with you an analysis and a strong conviction for years.

To sum up and make it simple, I think that the big city, the megalopolis is obsolete, and moreover in environmental terms they are unsustainable here as elsewhere.

The big cities developed with the industrial revolution and the abundant and cheap energy (oil) making it possible to supply them easily and to maintain numerous support services.

Big cities grew because factories needed a lot of hands in one place.

We no longer have a factory, and the big cities no longer have any use, except for the weight of the past, of habits, and the attractiveness of “leisure” and accessible services, without forgetting everything even more jobs.

But the Internet has arrived, and this technological breakthrough makes it possible to work from an attic in Normandy as well as to fill in Excel reporting boxes from one’s hut located in Monédières.

So, in France, we have a fairly natural urban exodus and thanks to Ratatouille, the mayoress of Paris, the little rats of the Opera leave the big city on their own to become little rats of the fields as life in the city becomes painful.

In Japan, the government must push and induce.

In Japan, a bonus of 7,300 euros per child to leave Tokyo

“The capital absorbs the vital forces of the country, to the detriment of the homogeneity of the territory.

Bonus for life in the great outdoors… The Japanese government will offer from the spring up to 1 million yen (7,300 euros) per child to homes in Tokyo and its outer suburbs if they move to a municipality hit by exodus rural, revealed the local press. A measure intended to stop, or even reverse, the depopulation of the countryside towards the capital. Tokyo has hardly ever stopped absorbing newcomers, even though their numbers are dropping year after year.

This provision is in fact the complement of a program with the same purpose, launched in 2019, for which families receive 300,000 yen per child. It had almost no incentive effect: last year, only 2,381 people used it, notes the Kyodo agency. Will this one be more effective? Probably not. The desire to rebalance the population towards the countryside is not new. But Greater Tokyo has more charms than flaws. Illustration: the abortive relocation of the central administration. In 1992, the Diet passed a law intended to promote relocation; thirty years later, only the small Agency for Cultural Affairs has agreed to leave for the very attractive Kyoto.

This is because the great world metropolis, regularly at the top of quality of life rankings, does not have the shortcomings (insecurity, dirt, pollution, etc.) of comparable cities. It concentrates the country’s economic activity, with little competition from Osaka or Nagoya. And telework is too marginal for a return to the countryside ”.

There is therefore a fairly simple solution to help the Japanese encourage the Japanese to leave Tokyo en masse. It is enough that Anne Hidalgo is Mayor of the city for 10 years. Normally the Japanese will run off into their countryside!

More seriously, you see here the first cultural differences, teleworking is very badly seen in Japan where the individual always gives way to the benefit of the collective and where the work culture is quite insane and would drive any trade unionist crazy. French. You also see what makes a city attractive, namely its quality of life. Japan is very industrialized, with many factories which is not our case.

The Japanese example is an excellent mirror in which to compare oneself.

The Japanese will eventually return to the countryside later than us.

Leave the cities as much as you can, totally or partially, trying to find a way out in softer and more resilient places with a more autonomous habitat.

Charles SANNAT

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Source Le Figaro.fr here