Young women across Japan are leaving their rural hometowns bound for Tokyo in search of improved job prospects.

This increasingly rapid trend attracted attention in 2021, when the capital first topped the list of prefectures with the highest proportion of women ages 20 to 24.

Kagoshima Prefecture held the top spot until then, according to basic resident registers kept by local authorities.

Basic resident registers show that the proportion of female residents ages 20 to 24 had previously been lower in the Tokyo metropolitan area, where young men had moved for work en masse, but higher in western Shikoku, Kagoshima and other parts of southern Kyushu.

BREAKING FREE

Among these statistics, Kagoshima in particular stood out. This was attributed to the prefecture’s distance from Tokyo, as well as a deep-rooted stigma against women leaving their hometowns to pursue education and employment.

A 22-year-old female college senior living in Kagoshima said she plans to take a job in the capital.

Her parents had always told her that “women should look after the household” and asked “who will take care of us if we get sick?”

Her grandmother was outspoken in her belief that “women don’t need to go to school.”

Her father rarely helped with any household chores and her mother was always preoccupied with neighborhood gossip. The student felt suffocated by her local community.

Despite this, as her family watched her prepare for recruitment exams and work part time to cover moving expenses on her own, their views about her plans to move softened into acceptance.

The young woman felt relieved—but a bit guilty as well. Her mother was frequently ill.

“I wonder what will happen to my parents if I leave them behind here,” she explained, thinking about her mother's health.

Rin Murayama, 22, who just graduated from a private college in Kagoshima Prefecture, had narrowed her job search to businesses in major cities.

Murayama was inspired by a post from a student group on social media.

The post invited university students nationwide to apply to a contest for unique ideas about solving local social issues. Its slogan was, “Try to push yourself a bit further.”

She applied immediately.

However, Murayama was quickly stunned by how far behind she was in technology and informatics compared to others at the first online meeting.

Students from schools in urban areas were exchanging meeting notes and documents via file-sharing software.

“Oh my goodness! I have to get better at this,” Murayama thought.

Interested in video production, information technology and marketing, Murayama discovered that internship opportunities in these fields were mainly concentrated in Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi and other cities.

Although her grandparents advised her to work at a government office or bank for a “stable future,” she joined an IT company in Nagoya this spring.

BETTER CHOICES, WAGES

Broader job opportunities and higher salaries in cities are driving a large-scale relocation of young women to these areas.

The 2022 Employment Status Survey found that in Tokyo, 80 percent of women age 25 to 29 had secured full-time employment—the highest proportion of anywhere in the country.

The ratios were dramatically lower in Okinawa, Kagoshima, Hokkaido, Wakayama and Fukushima, ranging from 50 to 60 percent.

The capital also had the highest percentage of workers in the information and communications technology field, increasingly attracting students interested in that industry.

DEMOGRAPHIC DAM COLLAPSES

Kanako Amano is a senior demographic researcher at the NLI Research Institute. She is studying the population trend to move to Tokyo.

Amano pointed out the variety of large companies and employment opportunities available in the capital.

“It is only natural for young women with diverse values to move to Tokyo for more comfortable working conditions,” Amano said.

She continued, “Young women who had never imagined working outside their home prefectures are starting to realize it’s possible for them, as they see older female friends and relatives actually leave their hometowns.”

Building careers in urban areas is becoming a realistic option for women.

Amano called for gender equality in employment to combat the dwindling birthrate.

“While some have feared that the birthrate could decline further if more women enter the workforce, national census data actually shows that dual-income households are more likely to have children than households with stay-at-home moms,” she explained.

The so-called “demographic dam,”—the social barrier that once forced women to remain in their rural hometowns—is collapsing, she said.

“The recent trend can no longer be hindered,” Amano said. 

(This article was written by Ryoma Komiyama and Misato Nakayama.)