Challenges in Japan’s “Regions” and Young People’s Life Course:

<p>This paper discusses the challenges facing Japan’s “regions,” especially, the regional disparities in employment as a factor in young people’s migration. The existence of economic disparities between major metropolitan areas and regions has been seen as a problem for Japan, and regional revitalization has frequently been positioned as a policy issue. Moreover, migration (movement from the regions to cities), particularly the movement of young people, has garnered attention as a phenomenon associated with the disparities in economic conditions and employment opportunities.<br><br>What kinds of disparity are problematic? Certainly, if one only looks at the quantity of job opportunities, it does not presently seem to be the case that simply being in an outlying region means that jobs are scarce. However, a look at employment opportunities in terms of their “quality”—in other words, from the standpoint of the kinds of employment that are available—shows that large disparities exist between the large cities and the regions. Under such circumstances, stopping the outflow of young people to large cities presents a serious challenge for Japan’s regions. Of course, the regional disparities in educational opportunities (e.g. universities) are also a major factor behind young people’s leaving their home regions, but the above-mentioned regional disparities in employment opportunities cannot be overlooked.<br><br>It should be noticed that, even though collectively called “regions,” these areas are diverse and there exists a hierarchy among them. According to our survey, in regional small and medium-sized cities, an employment mismatch is emerging in terms of wages, working hours, and other labor conditions, and many companies there, particularly SMEs, have low general recognition among the public. In the case of districts that are far from urban areas (i.e., rural areas), at the core of the problem is the limited variation in job opportunities.<br><br>Meanwhile, survey data shows that slightly less than half of the people who reside in another prefecture want to return to their home municipality. An analysis of the kinds of people who wish to return to their home area revealed that many had a strong attachment to the area or possessed a good knowledge of local companies prior to leaving. The former result is reasonable, as attachment to one’s home area is key. In the case of the latter, it is thought that having opportunities to learn about the existence of local companies before leaving the area will help people feel that they can get along even if they return, and this helps to generate a desire to return later on.<br><br>One consequence of regional disparities in employment is inadequate U-turn migration (the return of people who are originally from regions to those regions or prefectures) of new graduates, partly because local businesses are not sufficiently recognized as possible employers. Some areas are addressing this problem by improving labor conditions, on the one hand, and by disseminating information on local businesses and building local people’s awareness on the other.</p>