The government ofJapanhas been forced toscrap acontroversial proposaloffering cash incentives forurban womento marryrural menafter the initiative was met withpublic backlash.
The plan involved giving single women from Tokyo up to 600,000 yen (around $4,260) to move to rural areas to address the shrinking female population in the countryside due to women moving to the cities for education and work.
HighlightsJapan cancels a cash incentive plan for urban women to wed rural men after public backlash.The plan offered up to 600,000 yen to women to move to rural areas to address female population decline.A survey indicated lack of partner opportunities and financial resources as reasons for low birth rates.Japan’s birth rate hit a record low of 1.2 in 2023, with Tokyo dipping below 1.0 for the first time.
The program covered travel costs for matchmaking events, in an attempt to address Japan’s record-breaking birth rates which, in 2023, reached the lowest in the country since 1899 according to data from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.
“We will carefully listen to the voices of people who are struggling due to income gaps between men and women, gender bias, and other reasons, and take measures,” Hanako Jimi, Japan’s Regional Revitalization Minister, said in a statement.
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Japan was forced to reevaluate their program that offered women more than $4,000 to move to rural areas and marry after public backlash
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The nature of the financial incentive offered to Japanese women in exchange for them moving into rural areas to marry had some Japanese netizens labeling the program as “sexist” and “tone-deaf.”
“Do they still not get it? This is something people who see women as valuable only if they give birth would come up with,” one user wrote on X.
“Do they think money can buy women?” Asked another. “They are trying to ‘utilize’ women.”
Criticism also came fromwithin the governmentof Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
An online survey of around 4,000 men and women aged between 20 to 40 years old tried to find the root cause behind the declining birth rates
Image credits:Artem Podrez
In 2018, the country set a goal ofraising its fertility rateto 1.8 but the trend is making that dream very difficult to achieve.
For reference, the fertility rate is the average number of children born per woman up to age 50.
Very low fertility is anything below 1.3 children per woman, which means that numbers such as Tokyo’s are extreme, but still somewhat far above those of its neighboring country South Korea, which has thelowest fertility rate in the world, at 0.78.
Higher cost of living and uncertainty about the future have led the youth to reevaluate their priorities, opting for a more austere lifestyle
According to Kenichi Ohmae, a well-known Japanese scholar who focuses on socioeconomic issues, the problem goes beyond birth-rates and is a symptom of a deeper problem affecting the youth of the country.
In his 2018 bookHow to Ignite a Low-Desire Society?,the author describes how long periods of low economic growth force the younger generation to reevaluate their goals.
“Low-desire does not mean an absence of it, but a shift towards a more passive existence,” he states, explaining that the inability to financially sustain a more expensive lifestyle or a family leads to people finding happiness in what they can actually get.
Ohmae explains that this “complacency” acts as adefense mechanismand ultimately results in young adults being increasingly hesitant to marry, have children, or even engage in romantic relationships.
On the financial front, it translates into a reluctance to take on debt and a moreaustere lifestylein the face of economic uncertainty.
Netizens took to social media to decipher the reasons behind the phenomenon, with many pointing towards urbanization as the culprit
Image credits:Tùng Sơn
“It really does seem like a high cost of living city thing. I swear Seoul and San Francisco have more dogs than kids,” wrote one user onReddit.
“Housing in the parts of the city where young people want to live are not suited for children,” explained another, pointing out howhostilecertain cities can be towards infants.
“Urbanizationis cratering birthrates all across the world,” one replied. “The countryside is always going to be a much better place to raise children than a major city.”
“Companies in Japan have a nasty habit of moving young people to major cities like Tokyo or Osaka,” a local explains. “These cities are hellishly expensive. Food is expensive, rent is expensive, everything is expensive.”
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