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The story
A “Population Strategy Forum,” where governors from three Hokuriku prefectures and experts were set to discuss countermeasures for population decline, was abruptly switched to an online-only format after a bomb threat was made against the venue. Ren Yamamoto of the Regional Women’s Project cited “no jobs they want” and “pressure to marry” as reasons young women leave their hometowns. The 5ch thread that followed saw a clash between posters arguing that moving to the city just means a poor life of high rent and non-regular employment, and those pointing to low wages, car-ownership costs, and gender gaps in rural areas — sparking a debate over whether the city or the countryside is actually easier to live in.
“There’s no job I want back home.” “I feel pressure to get married.” These are the voices of women leaving their hometowns. As population decline continues, a “Population Strategy Forum” was held online to discuss how to build communities that young people and women will actually choose to live in.
At the forum, which was hastily switched to an online broadcast after a bomb threat was made against the venue, governors from the three Hokuriku prefectures and experts exchanged views.
During the forum, Ren Yamamoto of the “Regional Women’s Project” — which interviews young women about their outflow from rural areas to the greater Tokyo region and makes policy proposals to the national government and local municipalities — cited a lack of desirable jobs and pressure around marriage and childbirth as factors behind young women leaving rural areas.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
It's not a place soft enough to survive on guts alone.
You'll end up selling your body and that's that.
I just wish people would live a little smarter.
Even so, doing elder care or cleaning work in Tokyo is probably still better for them.
Because out in the countryside, the middle-aged and elderly are just waiting to work young women to the bone as free slave labor.
Because the outflow rate is higher for women, which leaves a surplus of men back home.
You'd better not say that.
Fukuoka is where women from all over Kyushu converge —
apart from Tokyo and Fukuoka, everywhere else is going to disappear sooner rather than later.
but rent's high too — all that's really waiting is a poor life, a far cry from the dream of glamorous city living.
You don't strictly have to live in central Tokyo.
Also, online everyone talks like "Tokyo" means the central six wards, but even within the 23 wards, places like Kameari or Koiwa are pretty cheap.
No matter how cheap rent is in rural areas, you can't live without a car, so you're stuck paying its upkeep on top of that — and on top of THAT, the only jobs available pay a take-home in the low hundred-thousands a month.
In the "low-status men" corner of X (Twitter), someone said even full-time regular employment as a caregiver in Akita only brings a monthly take-home of around ¥160,000.
Cheap rent just gets canceled out by the cost of buying and maintaining a car.
Better to have a job market that guarantees both pay and variety.
but please don't go marriage-hunting after your prime years and then end up needing fertility treatment.
Fertility treatment is covered by insurance now, you know.
Women are just as bad there too.
so of course country kids who grew up smelling like dirt end up idolizing it.
I think morning TV dramas (asadora) do the same thing — the lead is always a woman who moves to the big city, finds happiness there, and then for some reason moves back home.
It's basically become a cliché that she has to go to the big city at least once.
But what's actually waiting in Tokyo is a poor life in a cheap apartment.
Low pay would be fine if they were good-looking, but there are too few good-looking guys, so you end up not finding anyone anyway.
Even 8 years into full-time regular employment as a caregiver in Akita, the monthly take-home is ¥160,000.
On that salary, finding a spouse is out of the question — just surviving on your own is already a struggle.
Even so, I doubt a young rural woman with no real education or work history can earn enough to live comfortably.
In the vast majority of cases it still ends up better than the countryside.
Since there's so little housing stock out there, rent in rural areas isn't actually all that cheap either, and in Hokuriku utility bills run high too.
5ch posters (nerā) mostly don't drink and absolutely hate packed trains, so most of them think cars are just plain convenient — but a lot of women aren't confident drivers.
There's no way you can rent a place on your own and keep a car on a ¥160,000 take-home.
Then around age 30 you move back in with your parents and go full feminist.
Happens a lot in Chiba too.
In rural areas there are basically zero jobs that pay enough to save money, even as a full-time regular employee.
On top of that, there's hardly any number or variety of jobs.
And it's inconvenient besides.
So does that mean everyone in rural areas has zero savings? In that case they normally shouldn't be able to own a house or a car either, right?
Guess they're all living in dirt-cheap wooden apartments and walking everywhere — impressive, rural folks (lol).
"People in rural areas" = just old men, right (lol)
Are there even jobs out there that let women be financially independent and earn more than in the city? (lol)
Tokyo actually has a higher aging rate.
At least look at the data before you say stuff like that…
People like you are exactly the type who fall for conspiracy theories right away.
Show me the data then (lol)
Also, are you just going to completely ignore "Are there even jobs out there that let women be financially independent and earn more than in the city? (lol)"??? (lol)
Disposable income is actually lower in Tokyo than in rural areas.
There are way more poor people there than in rural areas too.
Even if you bring in a bit more money, you just end up a rent slave.
It's basically like working just to feed your landlord.
And then there's all the patience the commute demands (lol) — a total waste.
If it's all supposedly "swallowed up by rent," then why don't young women just live in rural areas instead? lmaooooo
> The city has entertainment, chances to meet people, and cultural options
In your younger years, life outside of work matters too.
City
* Hobby events
* Shopping and restaurants
* Concerts and live shows
* Meeting a wide variety of people
* Lessons and places to socialize
Countryside
* Natural surroundings
* Spacious housing
* Quiet living
* Local community
* A car-centered lifestyle
Which one makes you happier depends on the person.
But for someone who wants to experience a wide range of work, hobbies, and romance in their 20s, the convenience of the city can be worth more than what it costs in rent.
Background and key points of the debate
The “lack of jobs” and “pressure to marry” cited by the forum are points frequently raised in discussions of population decline, where the share of young women moving from rural areas to cities is said to exceed that of men. The figure that came up in the thread — “a ¥160,000 take-home for a caregiving job in Akita” — is based on one poster’s personal experience, not official wage statistics, so it’s worth treating with caution. Claims like “disposable income is actually lower in Tokyo” or “there are more poor people in rural areas” can also look very different depending on which numbers are cherry-picked to favor the city or the countryside, so neither side can be said to be simply right. Where the thread’s opinions really split was over whether the city or the countryside wins out on real cost of living — including rent and car-maintenance costs — and how to weigh the economic standing and attitudes of the men who stay behind in rural areas.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread ““There’s no job I want back home,” “I feel pressure to marry” — young women leaving rural areas, Population Strategy Forum held in three Hokuriku prefectures.”
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