By Rina Chandran
CHIKATSUYU, Japan, June 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Yoshifumi Yano was tiring of the high cost of living and long hours of work at a travel firm in Osaka, Japan’s second largest city, when he heard of a hotel for sale in a small town nearby that was known for its onsen, or hot springs.
On a whim, he visited Yunomine, where the property was located, and after a night’s stay, decided to take it over. That was 18 years ago, and Yano became one of the first “I-turners” there – a city dweller who has moved to a small town.
Since then, the town has received World Heritage status from the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO and seen a steady rise in tourist numbers every year.
It has also seen a gradual trickle of people moving in from the city, as authorities hand out cheap homes and cash incentives to stem the emptying of the countryside, where fertility rates have fallen and many young people are long gone.
“I have young people on my staff who have moved here from the city for the same reasons that I did,” said Yano, sitting in the lobby of his hotel that is done up like a Swiss chalet.
“They can live more cheaply, have more time for themselves, and get more recognition for their work. They have changed their mind about life in a small town,” he said.
Changing the attitudes of young people towards the countryside is a priority for authorities in Japan, which has the most aged society in the world.
A declining birth rate and among the highest life expectancies made Japan the first country with more than a fifth of its population aged 65 or older by 2006. By 2050, that number is projected to exceed 35 percent.
The most visible impact is in the countryside, with millions of empty homes and swathes of unclaimed land. At this pace of depopulation, nearly 900 towns and villages across Japan will no longer be viable by 2040, according to economists.
So Japan is trying to encourage internal migration: a “U-turn”, when someone returns to their hometown, or an “I-turn”, for those who move to the country from a city, like Yano did.
“A move from Tokyo to the countryside can be very attractive, but the challenge for the I-turn or U-turn family is to be sure that their employment prospects will be stable,” said Brendan Barrett, a professor at the Osaka University.
“Sadly, in a situation where the population of rural communities is rapidly shrinking and ageing, the local tax base will continue to decline and public services contract and job opportunities will disappear,” he said.
