Nearly half the people surveyed living in the metropolitan area encompassing Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures have some interest in living in regional or rural areas.
The central government plans to set up a website regarding moving to such areas to help promote internal migration after the end of the pandemic. Currently, the spread of the novel coronavirus has led to calls for voluntary restraint from traveling between prefectures.
The survey of about 10,000 people found that 49.8% have some interest in moving to regional or rural areas. The Cabinet Secretariat initially conducted the survey via the internet in January and February among people aged 20-59.
Of these respondents, 15.6% said they were "interested" in rural life, 15.5% said they were "somewhat interested" and 18.7% said they were "a little interested." Among those who originally came from regional or rural areas, 21.5% responded that they were "interested," which is 7.8 percentage points higher than the 13.7% of those originally from the metropolitan area.
When asked for reasons, the most common one was that "rural areas have a rich natural environment" (54.8%), followed by "want to live in the area where I was born and raised" (16.2%). However, only 13.7% of the respondents are actually considering or planning to move, so the issue is how to translate their intentions into action.
The Cabinet Secretariat later conducted group interviews with about 100 people aged 20 to 39 in February and March to find out why those who moved to the Tokyo area for higher education or employment did not return to their hometowns.
Those from rural areas said that they wanted to have jobs where they can use English, but there are none in their hometowns and the pay is low. Many of those interviewed also said that in those areas, the idea that women must stay home and take care of the house is strongly rooted. The key to promote moving will be whether local governments can come up with measures that take these voices into account.
Based on the results of the survey, the central government will focus on publicity about living in regional and rural areas, and this fall it plans to set up a dedicated website featuring success stories.
An official at the Cabinet Secretariat said, "Once the spread of the new coronavirus has come to an end, we would like to disseminate information so that people interested in moving can make concrete plans and consider them."
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