10% Of Japan In Tokyo

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Tokyo population hits 10% of natl figure
The population of Tokyo reached 10 percent of the national figure last year for the first time in 28 years, showing an acceleration of the trend of overconcentration in the capital, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry announced Tuesday. The ministry's figures for the estimated populations of each prefecture as of Oct. 1 showed the capital had a population of 12.76 million compared with the national population of 127.77 million...The population of the area in and around Tokyo, which takes in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures, increased to 34.83 million--27.3 percent of the national figure. The ministry's findings also showed that 64.61 million people--50.6 percent of the country's population--lived in the metropolitan areas in and surrounding Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka...more...

[D-San]

Just gonna bring housing prices up higher and higher huh? FUCK!:cry:

[james]

we should get some of these people to come out here to shimane. i can't imagine wanting to live in tokyo.

[IkemenTommy]

So much for the decreasing overall population.

I am waiting for Takechan's usual xenophobic opinion about all the gaijins pouring into Tokyo, but the biggest contributing factor is the migrant workers coming from the bum fucked inaka regions of Japan.

[Bucky]

I always catch my wife (born and raised in Tokyo) saying "well, in Japan. . ." and I know full well that she only knows and means "well, in Tokyo . . ."

After having lived somewhere in Japan other than Tokyo (Hokkaido) as well as Tokyo, it is always interesting to me how people from Tokyo have their perochial concept of what is Japanese. Many Tokyo-ites have no clue what the rest of Japan is like.

"Oh, in Japan you can just get on the subway and go anywhere."

Well, sister, not in rural Hokkaido, you can't.

[Adhesive]

I always catch my wife (born and raised in Tokyo) saying "well, in Japan. . ." and I know full well that she only knows and means "well, in Tokyo . . ."

After having lived somewhere in Japan other than Tokyo (Hokkaido) as well as Tokyo, it is always interesting to me how people from Tokyo have their perochial concept of what is Japanese. Many Tokyo-ites have no clue what the rest of Japan is like.

"Oh, in Japan you can just get on the subway and go anywhere."

Well, sister, not in rural Hokkaido, you can't.

That is VERY true, but it also applies to many foreigners who talk about Japan.

[canman]

I remember when I first was getting ready to come to Japan and my trainer was explaining things to me. I was reading my guide book and had a lot of questions about things, for example getting a hanko, which the trainer said, oh you don't need one in japan. Also I asked setting up a bank account, and she told me that I should use Citibank and I could use English, and not worry about Japanese. Well I can tell you that up here in Aomori, the first day I needed a hanko for the bank and nobody spoke a word of English. So yeah I think a lot of foreigners have no clue what life is like outside of Tokyo.

[Buraku]

So much for the decreasing overall population.

No, the population is stagnating all right maybe even decreasing but this has little overall effect on Tokyo's numbers - Why ?

Centralization

Japanese tend to gather around a money source like bees around a honey pot, its been happening since the 60s. People looked to Tokyo because at times of crisis Tokyo was getting lots of support while other areas of Japan got neglected. Masses of people, usually from the J-countryside numbered in the tens of thousands have been coming to Tokyo looking for housing, education, work etc every month.
The whole thing started putting huge pressure on Japan's roads, hospitals, services infrastructure etc but the J-government could weather the storm during the bubble years

Ever since the bubble burst, migration into Tokyo became a big issue because the government couldn't just throw money at the problem
the government started selling a new buzz word
"De-Centralization" so the Japanese could spread out a little more like the Aussies, Americans etc. Have your political capital separate from the nations financial capital and separate from your production capital...the only problem was the J-government never got off its fucking ass and "De-Centralization" remained just a buzz word despite the millions of yen spent on studies, reports etc

[Ketou]

...the only problem was the J-government never got off its fucking ass and "De-Centralization" remained just a buzz word despite the millions of yen spent on studies, reports etc

Studies, commissions, reports etc ARE action in Japan. What other way to ensure you spend all of the allocated budget...

[Greji]

So yeah I think a lot of foreigners have no clue what life is like outside of Tokyo.

The village I reside in when I ever do drop by the homestead, is a little burg that only has 5,000 people, but it occupies 1/8 of the total land mass of Tokyo. It is in fact Tokyo, but it you mention Shinjuku, or God forbid, Roppongi to any of the indigenous folks, you draw a blank. I think they believe they need a passport, or permission of the Tonosama to travel down the mountain.

But, the interesting point is that a lot of the shichoson in Nishitama take-up the majority of Tokyo's land area, but a very small proportion of the population, which tells you a lot about crowded living "downtown."

However, I still believe that the 12.whatever Million figure they are throwing around is the daytime population only.

Still it is one crowded piece of real estate!

[Mulboyne]

It's a steep price tag, so probably not worth buying, but "Tokyo Nobody" by Masataka Nakano is an interesting collection of Tokyo photographs without a soul in them. They aren't photoshopped, he set up during major holidays and snapped away.

[ichigo partygirl]

It's a steep price tag, so probably not worth buying, but "Tokyo Nobody" by Masataka Nakano is an interesting collection of Tokyo photographs without a soul in them. They aren't photoshopped, he set up during major holidays and snapped away.

I am a big fan of his and own most of his books including this one. This book really gives me the creeps, its just so hard to get your head around the fact he took these for real.

[Mulboyne]

I am a big fan of his and own most of his books including this one.

Did you ever find "Shadows"?

[ichigo partygirl]

Did you ever find "Shadows"?

i found it on yahoojapan auctions a few times but was never able to win the auctions (selling for 3-6times the original price), so sadly i do not own a copy yet.

[ichigo partygirl]

Did you ever find "Shadows"?

Mulboyne i finally got a copy! A few popped up on Amazon.jp and i managed to get one in mint condition for a little less than the original price. I guess now its been out a while less people are trying to find it. Very happy

[FG Lurker]

They aren't photoshopped, he set up during major holidays and snapped away.

I'm guessing from the color of the sky that he set up on a major holiday at about 5am and took the photos. Osaka is that way too at dawn during major holiday periods.

[Mulboyne]

Mulboyne i finally got a copy! A few popped up on Amazon.jp and i managed to get one in mint condition for a little less than the original price. I guess now its been out a while less people are trying to find it. Very happy

Great news. Glad you didn't have to pay through the nose for it. I was lucky enough to get a free copy of Naoki Honjo's "Small Planet" recently. I'd never heard of him before but he has an interesting technique too: he uses a "tilt-shift" which makes real places look like models.

[Behan]

I wonder if there is any water among those people?

[Gilligan]

Great news. Glad you didn't have to pay through the nose for it. I was lucky enough to get a free copy of Naoki Honjo's "Small Planet" recently. I'd never heard of him before but he has an interesting technique too: he uses a "tilt-shift" which makes real places look like models.

Wow! If you're telling me those are pics of real places and people, that's all I can say.

[Mulboyne]

Japan Times: Tokyo's population may top 13 million in '09

The population of Tokyo might break 13 million as early as next year, five years earlier than estimated by the national population research institute and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, because the capital has become a magnet for people fleeing sluggish economies in the rest of Japan. According to estimates made in May 2007 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the population of Tokyo will climb to 12.9 million in 2010 and peak at 13.1 million in 2020 before sliding back to 13.04 million in 2025. In March, the government of Tokyo predicted the population would grow to 13.08 million in 2015 before falling to 12.94 million in 2020.

But the actual population has been increasing at an annual rate of around 100,000 since 2000. As of Dec. 1 this year, it stood at 12.9 million, the same as the institute's earlier estimate for 2010, due to a net yearly increase of some 70,000. "We may have underestimated the pace of the population growth," said a statistician at the Tokyo government. While Japan's overall population is decreasing with the aging of society and a fall in the birthrate, the accelerating concentration of people in Tokyo could sap local economies of vital energy.

Okinawa, located far from the four main islands, used to attract a significant number of new residents from the rest of Japan, including baby boomers born in the late 1940s, because of its unique culture and for other reasons. But the prefecture saw a net decrease in its population in 2006. In light of this, Moritake Tomikawa, president of Okinawa International University, believes that the population of Okinawa will decline after peaking in 2010, 15 years earlier than forecast by the national institute. Because of the high unemployment rate in Okinawa, young people are leaving, Tomikawa said. "We urgently need to promote tourism and other local industries."

[omae mona]

I'm equally curious to know what the trending is in the general Tokyo metropolitan area. When you count neighboring Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa, the figure's way larger than twelve million, of course. Wikipedia actually has a very good page with the population statistics (between 33 and 36 million depending on which definition you use). But those statistics are only up-to-date as of 2000. Anybody have anything newer?

[Mulboyne]

I'm equally curious to know what the trending is in the general Tokyo metropolitan area. When you count neighboring Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa, the figure's way larger than twelve million, of course. Wikipedia actually has a very good page with the population statistics (between 33 and 36 million depending on which definition you use). But those statistics are only up-to-date as of 2000. Anybody have anything newer?

The original article in this thread says:

The population of the area in and around Tokyo, which takes in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures, increased to 34.83 million--27.3 percent of the national figure.