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Japanese government suspends plan to pay Tokyo women 600,000 to move away to get married

Casey Baseel Aug 31, 2024
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Relocation marriage grant going through “reevaluation.”

A few days ago, it came to light that the Japanese government was planning to put in place an initiative that would pay women living or working in Tokyo a large sum of money on the condition that they moved away from the capital to get married. Specifically, women living or working in the 23 wards of Tokyo, which make up the most centrally located and densely populated parts of the city, would be given 600,000 yen (approximately US$4,000) if they relocated to a less populous part of Japan as part of their newlywed life.

The initiative was the latest in a string of financial incentives offered by the national and local governments in Japan aimed at revitalizing regions that are grappling with the effects of long-continuing population shrinkage as the birthrate drops and what young people there are increasingly relocate to big cities for school and work. The politicians spearheading the “relocation marriage grant,” as it became known, had put in a request for the necessary government funding to be included in the budget for the upcoming 2025 fiscal year, which starts in the spring.

However, that budget request has now been withdrawn and the initiative indefinitely suspended. As news of the scheme was met with a less-than-enthusiastic response from the public, Minister of State for Regional Revitalization Hanako Jimi called for a “reevaluation” of the plan, and spoke about the situation in a press conference held on August 30, saying that, after listening to reactions from politicians from various parties and the public, the relocation marriage grant is being reconsidered with extra attention to issues such as gender biases including pay gaps.

Looking at the initiative with a critical eye, one could claim that it’s unfair to offer the grant only to women. With the Japanese legal system not allowing same-sex marriage, every marriage in Japan needs a guy too, so men too would be contributing to the initiative’s goal of redistributing population away from Tokyo and to other parts of the country by moving to get married. Alternatively, one could also say that the grant would, in the long-term, be economically disadvantageous for women. Unlike many other regional revitalization plans that provide grants for moving to the countryside, the relocation marriage grant had no stipulation that the person (in this case woman) relocating need to have a job lined up in her new hometown in order to receive the money. 600,000 yen is a nice little nest egg, but it won’t last forever, and encouraging women to move first, then roll the dice in on finding work in a much smaller job market than Tokyo’s could be something that requires some extra thought, especially in communities where many jobs are in male-dominated fields such as agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, etc.

Whether the relocation marriage grant is an idea that’s gone for good or going to come back after some retooling remains to be seen, but for now it’s at least not going to be happening in 2025.

Source: FNN Prime Online
Top image: Pakutaso
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