The capital can still boast of a net inflow of residents, but more men moved out than moved in last year for the first time in 25 years. This took place while more women came to live in the city.
The net inflow of residents into the megalopolis came to 5,433 in 2021, nearly one-sixth the level of the preceding year, according to the internal affairs and communications ministry.
But the trend is clear, as 1,344 more men moved out while 6,777 more women moved in.
Similar trends can be seen in other urban areas. Kanagawa Prefecture, where Yokohama is located, marked the biggest net inflow of women at 17,555. As for other Tokyo neighbours, Saitama Prefecture gained 14,535 women and Chiba Prefecture 8,473.
Prefectures lacking big urban centres, meanwhile, logged net outflows of women. Hiroshima experienced a net loss of 3,580 women. The corresponding number for Fukushima was 3,572.
The latest national census, conducted in 2020, found an increase in the ratio of women in big cities during the past 10 years. In greater Tokyo, Yokohama’s female ratio gained 0.71 of a point, Saitama’s grew by 0.69 and Kawasaki’s added 0.67.
In rural areas, the ratio fell sharply.
Japan’s population is more concentrated in big cities compared to other countries. Urban areas accounted for 92% of the country’s population in 2020, up from 53% in 1950.
Japan is the only major developed economy with a figure higher than 90%, according to the United Nations. The comparable ratio for the US was 83%. In Germany, it was 78%.
In 2050, urban residents are forecast to account for 95% of Japan’s population.
So why are big Japanese cities attracting young women while men find them less desirable? Opportunity.
When a state of emergency linked to the pandemic was lifted in October, a 23-year-old woman left her hometown in the Kansai region to work in Tokyo. “Tokyo has many companies where women can advance their careers,” she explained.
Many females in their late teens and early 20s head to Tokyo to find work or study.
“Young women are clear about what they want, but jobs they desire are often unavailable or limited to men in rural areas,” said Kanako Amano, a research fellow at the NLI Research Institute.
Many young women are also weary of traditional gender bias in rural Japan.
A survey conducted in 2020 by the land, infrastructure, transport and tourism ministry found that 15% of women who had relocated to Tokyo from the countryside said people in their hometown still believe that “wives stay home while their husbands win the bread”, nearly double the figure for the entire nation.
“The outflow of young women will lead to a sharper decline in the number of children in rural areas,” Amano said. Once accustomed to convenient urban life, women are less inclined to return to their hometowns, one observer said.
Some rural municipalities are taking action. In Toyooka, a city located in the western prefecture of Hyogo, joint public and private efforts are underway to improve working conditions for female employees.
Toyooka’s female ratio has fallen by 0.48 of a point over the past decade.
At Yuraku, a lodging company in the city, 56% of its supervisors are now women, thanks to efforts to cut irregular work hours.
Meanwhile, the municipal office of Nichinan in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki, has succeeded in increasing job opportunities for women by attracting more than 30 information technology and other companies from Tokyo and elsewhere.
It hired a marketing specialist from the private sector to promote the project.
It is vitally important, one expert said, for rural businesses and governments to make workplaces more attractive to women as they hold the key to revitalising local economies.