An internal affairs study panel has called for the creation of "autonomous permanent settlement areas" around core cities in the countryside. The idea, submitted in a report to internal affairs minister Hiroya Masuda, is aimed at stemming population outflows from rural areas.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda plans to include the idea in the government's basic reform policy in June. The government should pay heed to the panel's assessment that general population decline and the rapid graying of society are pushing rural municipalities to the brink of permanent decline.
The ministry estimates that, compared with 2005 levels, the respective populations of rural areas, and the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka areas, will be 11.78 million and 5.3 million lower in 2035. Under the panel's proposal, a city with a population of more than 50,000 and whose daytime population is larger than its nighttime population, will serve as a core city. The core city and surrounding municipalities — where 10 percent or more of the population commute to or work in the core city — will form an autonomous permanent settlement area through agreements.