photo by Vincent Chien
Japan’s capital city Tokyo is not just the center of government, but also the economic hub of Japan. Job opportunities gather in Tokyo and surrounding areas; therefore, all these areas are densely packed. Since many years ago, the overpopulation in the metropolitan and surrounding areas has been a major social problem. In recent years, the national government and local cities are cooperating and implementing “Formation of province: start-up/relocation assistance project”, in order to support those who want to move from Tokyo to a provincial city. Foreign nationals can have this assistance if they meet the criteria.
About “Formation of province: start-up/relocation assistance project”
The “Formation of province: start-up/relocation assistance project” is run by the national government in order to relieve the overconcentration of population, job opportunities and business activities in the metropolitan area. If a person who live in or commute to the 23 wards of Tokyo (for 5 years or longer) moves to a provincial city (including rural areas of Tokyo) that participates in the project, the person can receive allowance from the government. There are three types of allowances: “start-up assistance”, “relocation assistance” and “start-up and relocation assistance”.
- Start-up assistance: for those who launch a new business in order to address a problem in the area. (Up to 2 million yen)
- Relocation assistance: for those who moved to a provincial city for the reason of job changing or new employment. (Up to 1 million yen for a person with family, up to 800,000yen for a single)
- Start-up and relocation assistance: for those who move to a provincial city to launch a new business in order to address a problem in the area. (Up to 3 million yen)
Among these three options, the second one, relocation assistance, would be most accessible for foreign national residents.2
Formation of province: start-up/relocation assistance project
As mentioned earlier, “relocation assistance” is granted to a person who found a job through a recruitment site run by a local government and moved to the local city.
Eligibility
A person who lives in or commutes to any of the 23 words of Tokyo: A person must have lived in Tokyo area*1(except for rural areas*2 of Tokyo) and commuted to any of the 23 wards of Tokyo for total 5 years over the nearest 10 years before moving. In addition, the person must have commuted to any of the 23 wards of Tokyo for more than 1 year immediately before moving.
*1 Tokyo area: Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa
*2 Remote of areas of Tokyo: towns and villages with small population or remote islands
Applicable destination
Prefectures other than Tokyo or rural areas of Tokyo (limited to prefectures, cities, towns and villages that conduct the relocation assistance project). Applicants must meet all of the following conditions.
An applicant must:
- move to the destination prefecture after such a prefecture announced the details of the relocation assistance project.
- apply to relocation assistance 3 months after and within 1 year from the moving day.
- intend to live in the destination city, town or village for next 5 years or longer.
Job criteria
An applicant must newly find employment from designated positions posted on the recruitment site operated by a prefectural government that participate in the relocation assistance project, or be qualified to receive stat-up assistance. (Permanent employment contract of 20 hours or longer per week with a company selected by a prefecture from the perspective of formation of province)
Procedures
- Prefectural government announces the details of their relocation assistance project.
- Recruitment information is posted on the recruitment site.
- Apply for the job through the recruitment site.
- Find employment, start work.
- Apply for relocation assistance after 3 months from the start date.
- Once passed an assessment, relocation assistance will be paid.
Use portal websites by prefectural governments
Prefectural governments have their own portal websites for the formation of province project. In addition to recruitment information for the formation of province project, many other notifications about relocation assistance conducted by each local government, housing information and other useful information is posted on these portal websites. Prefectural governments’ portal websites are the best information source to research about the city, town or village to which you wish to move, as well as to look for job opportunity.
Examples of portal websites
Hokkaido, Akita, Tochigi, Niigata, Wakayama, Tottori, Kochi, Kumamoto, Okinawa
*Prefectures other than above also have their portal websites.
Let’s move to country side!
Because Tokyo is the center of Japanese economy and government, the population of foreign residents is also heavily concentrated in Tokyo. The formation of province project is implemented in order to ease the overpopulation in Tokyo and vitalize other prefectures. Recently, more and more companies accept foreign national employees, and the number of foreign residents who moved to other prefectures is increasing. As you know, changing jobs and moving to another place is costly. If you have been working in Tokyo for a long time but wish to move to somewhere else, why don’t you use this formation of province project to find a new job.
