Reuters
- A total of 401,805 people moved out of Tokyo in 2020, seeking cheaper, less crowded cities.
- This number was 4.7% more than 2019, and the highest outflow of people moving out of the capital since data became available in 2014.
- This mirrors a similar trend in US cities like New York and California, which saw people leaving en-masse for cities like Idaho and North Carolina.
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The glittering streets of Tokyo may be losing their shine for its residents,; more than 400,000 of the capital's residents chose to move away in 2020.
According to a Nikkei Asia report, concerns over the coronavirus pandemic coupled with options provided for remote work prompted hundreds of thousands of people to move out of the city in search of cheaper, less crowded places to live.
A total of 401,805 people left Tokyo in 2020, the largest number of people to leave the city since data first became available in 2014, according to the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication.
All in all, the number of people choosing to move away from the capital city was a 4.7% increase in comparison to the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of people choosing to move into the city also saw a record 7.3% dip, with the net inflow of people moving into the city plunging 62% to 31,125.
Nikkei Asia cited areas like Kanagawa, a neighboring coastal prefecture just south of Tokyo, as a top choice for those who want a change of environment, but wish to maintain their employment in the city.
But for some, their time spent working and living in Tokyo is done and dusted. Yoshiko Akiyama, 32, is employed in the art and design industry and has been working remotely for over a year. Six months ago, Akiyama packed her bags and moved across Japan to Himeji, a city in the mountainous Hyogo prefecture.
Before her move, she had been living in Tokyo for close to fifteen years.
"During the pandemic, I was living alone in Tokyo," she told Insider. "Being trapped in my apartment all day long made me reconsider my priorities. I wondered why I paid so much rent to stay in such a tiny place when other options in other cities were available,"
She currently lives in an apartment that is twice the size of her Tokyo pad, and now has "room to keep a cat."
Japan has actually been encouraging people to move out of Tokyo for some time. In 2018, it considered issuing grants to people who would relocate to other prefectures.
This significant increase in inter-city migration that mirrors similar trends in the US. The COVID-19 pandemic is said to have been a chief cause for mass migration out of cities like New York and Los Angeles, as many workers chose to shift back to their home states or less crowded cities.
A CNN Business report in February of this year attributed the cause of moving away from major cities to high costs of living, tax rates, and the political climate.
The report also projected that states like New York, Illinois, and New Jersey could continue to see people moving away en-masse, as more people consider moves to lesser-populated states like Idaho, North Carolina, Maine, New Hampshire, and Alabama.