Both ruling and opposition parties are offering ideas for stopping population outflow from regional communities in their campaigning for the Oct. 27 general election.
The central and local governments have failed to revitalize regional communities since they started implementing measures to alleviate the overconcentration of people and authorities in Tokyo a decade ago.
The "Digital Garden City Nation" initiative of Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's predecessor, and the spread of remote work amid the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to population recoveries in some areas. But with socioeconomic activities getting normalized, people are returning to the capital.
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