Japan's government hoping to stop net population inflows into Tokyo by 2024

The central government aims to stop net population inflows into the greater Tokyo area by fiscal 2024, it was learned Tuesday. The goal was included in a draft of the government's second five-year comprehensive strategy for regional revitalization, set to run from fiscal 2020. The government hopes to gain Cabinet approval for the new strategy, a successor to the first strategy that covered fiscal 2015-2019, by the end of this month. In the second strategy, the government will scrutinize steps taken under the first strategy and indicate a direction for new measures to accelerate regional revitalization. To alleviate the concentration of people in Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, the government will make efforts to increase the number of people who have side jobs in rural areas or visit the countryside while living in urban areas.