Residency statistics show that the population flight to Tokyo and its environs continues unabated — despite the Abe administration's regional revitalization efforts to halt the trend. The net gain in the combined population of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures — the greater Tokyo area — in 2016 slowed down a little bit for the first time in five years, but that can hardly be called an achievement attributable to government measures.

True, regional revitalization may not be an area where policy steps can be expected to bring immediate results. Still, achievements so far have been meager, and the goal set by the administration to balance the greater Tokyo area's population influx and outflow by 2020 appears nowhere in sight. If the administration is still serious about pursuing this agenda, it needs to review the effects so far.

According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, the net population inflow to the greater Tokyo area hit 117,868 last year — 1,489 fewer than in 2015 but marking the 21st straight year of net inflow. Of the nation's 47 prefectures, only seven — the greater Tokyo area plus Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka — saw net gains, with all remaining 40 prefectures suffering population drains. More than 70 percent of the nation's municipalities saw a net population outflow.