From our other sites
The story
Estimated population figures released by the Niigata Prefecture Statistics Division on October 30 revealed that the prefecture’s population stood at 2,039,408 as of October 1 — the first time it has fallen below 2.04 million since the current survey method was adopted in 1965. That’s a decrease of 1,565 from the previous month, with 759 births recorded, down 63 from the same period last year. On 5ch threads, users traded various takes on the reasons behind the decline: surprise that Niigata once boasted the largest population of any prefecture in Japan, comments about the hardships of life in snow country, and the situation in Minamiuonuma City, where an influx of foreign residents has stood out.
A prefectural survey has found that Niigata Prefecture’s population as of October 1 stood at just over 2,039,000, dropping below 2.04 million for the first time.
According to the “Niigata Prefecture Estimated Population” report released by the Prefectural Statistics Division on October 30, the prefecture’s population as of October 1 was 2,039,408 — down 1,565 from the previous month, marking the first time it has dropped below 2.04 million since the current survey method was introduced in 1965.
The number of births was 759, down 63 from the same period last year.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
so it's dropped by 300,000 since then?
That's a wild rate of decline
I mean, there was a time it had the biggest population of any prefecture in the whole country, you know
We're talking about the rate of decline here
I hate idiots like this
Niigata folks always bring up "we had the biggest population in the Meiji era" even when nobody asked
So what rank are you now, lol
I think as long as it's about a quarter real, they could label it as such.
Though I'm sure plenty of other shady stuff goes on too.
There are all kinds of weird "tolerance ranges" like that — like how if you bury baby clams on the shore for a year and then dig them up, you can call them domestically produced Seta shijimi clams.
You'd think it would be pulling people in from the surrounding towns.
Isn't it because the surrounding towns got merged into Niigata City?
What used to count as moving in now just counts as moving within the city,
while outflow from the old Niigata City core stays the same
Calories basically equaled population back then
With the accelerating birthrate decline, running near-empty trains will be the norm in 20 years
The Tokyo-Takasaki stretch might limp on by getting folded into the Hokuriku Shinkansen
If it weren't for Tanaka Kakuei, the Joetsu Shinkansen never would have existed
Just make it its own prefecture already — "Yokohama Prefecture"
Even Yokohama's population has started shrinking, though
It's 3.75 million
Yokohama City alone has more people than all of Shizuoka Prefecture
Despite all the snow, Niigata already has self-driving buses running as a matter of course
https://youtu.be/_NIFksAyboM
Minamiuonuma, which gets the most snow, is actually growing, while Niigata City, which gets nowhere near as much, barely is
Of course the same should apply to every other prefecture too
And then only allow moves within the prefecture — like from Joetsu to Niigata City, say
This is exactly why any sane person who leaves Niigata for college never comes back
It'd be fine even as a non-contiguous merger
I once read an article claiming 40% of settlers in Yokohama — or was it Kanagawa — traced their roots back to Niigata, lol
Nearly all population-declining prefectures, so the two-seat Upper House districts are shrinking too
Even within that group of prefectures,
factoring in the boost from station-front redevelopment, keeping public transit running, and disaster risk
Mild decline: Gunma (Takasaki), Okayama (Okayama)
Severe decline: Tochigi, Kumamoto
Decline unavoidable: Niigata, Fukushima, Kagoshima, I'd guess
Hokkaido just won't let it go, huh
Background and key points of this discussion
In the early Meiji era, Niigata was for a time the most populous prefecture in Japan. This reflected a society still centered on agriculture, where rice output (measured in koku) directly determined economic scale and population, before industrialization and urban concentration took hold. Today’s decline is the result of young people moving to urban centers, shifts in industrial structure, and falling birth rates all compounding together — a trend common to rural regions generally, not a problem unique to this one prefecture. Meanwhile, the thread’s discussion of population growth in Minamiuonuma City reflects a trend that includes an influx of foreign residents, and doesn’t necessarily signal a reversal for the prefecture as a whole. The figure of dropping below 2.04 million looks shocking on its own, but it’s easy to overlook that it’s simply an extension of a long-term declining trend.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Topic] Niigata Prefecture’s Population Decline Shows No Sign of Stopping… Falls Below 2.04 Million as of October 1, With Minamiuonuma City Standing Out for Monthly Population Growth
Leave a Reply