TOKYO - The number of children born nationwide last year fell for the tenth straight year to a record low, but Tokyo saw a year-on-year increase for the first time in nine years, highlighting how local support measures and job opportunities may help counter Japan’s declining birthrate.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said last week that the number of births in the capital, including foreign residents, had risen after nearly a decade of decline. The metropolitan government has introduced a range of child-rearing support measures, including cash benefits and free childcare, earning Koike the nickname “the residents’ mother-in-law” on social media. When asked about the nickname, Koike joked that “grandma” would also be acceptable.
Births in Tokyo last year rose by about 1,000 from the previous year. Metropolitan officials said that while some couples remained financially anxious, support policies have spread and more people now feel that “it’s okay to have children.”
Some families have even moved into Tokyo for better child-rearing support. Across the Tamagawa River in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, one mother who moved to Shinagawa Ward last year with her eight-month-old daughter said she relocated after hearing that childcare assistance in Tokyo was more generous than in Kanagawa.
Under the national system, childcare for children aged three to five is free, but families in Kawasaki still pay fees for children aged zero to two, except in certain cases. In Shinagawa Ward, however, childcare is free for all children from zero to five under Tokyo’s system. The mother said her family would have paid around 50,000 yen a month in Kawasaki, whereas it is now free in Tokyo, making it easier to consider having a second child.
Nationwide, however, births last year fell to a record low for the tenth consecutive year. Still, some municipalities outside Tokyo have also seen increases.
Ami Town in Ibaraki Prefecture, just over an hour by car from Tokyo and known for the nearby Ushiku Daibutsu statue, has attracted many households in their 30s through expanded housing developments and child-rearing support. Births in the town have risen by about 30 over the past five years, and one elementary school was expanded eight years ago, with more than half of its students coming from outside the town.
In Ami, school lunch fees are free for second and subsequent children, school bags are provided, and medical expenses are covered through high school. The town also subsidizes up to 20,000 yen for junior high school uniforms and gym clothes. Residents say the support is helpful, especially given the high cost of preparing for school, and note that convenient access to Tokyo within about an hour is another draw.
Experts say that in addition to child-rearing support, creating places where people in their 20s and 30s can work is key to increasing births nationwide. Kanako Amano of the NLI Research Institute said regions where the decline in births has been relatively restrained share common features, including accessible labor markets for both men and women and reasonable commuting distances of around an hour by car or public transport. She said employment conditions must be reformed to match the preferences of Generation Z and that areas must become places where such workers want to live.
Source: TBS
