Ten years ago, Tokyo’s Toshima Ward was the only one in Tokyo’s 23 wards that was pointed out to have a significant decline in the number of young women and could disappear in the future, according to this analysis published by the Population Strategy Council, a group of private experts. Now, we have broken away from the status of “municipality that is likely to disappear.”
On the other hand, it was criticized as a “black hole municipality” due to its low birth rate and dependence on population influx from other regions.
In response to the findings made 10 years ago, Toshima Ward launched the Toshima F1 Conference, which is made up of women in their 20s and 30s living in the ward, childcare support groups, etc. in order to reflect women’s voices in measures. .
The conference was held six times in 2014, and 11 projects related to child-rearing support and improving the working environment were realized based on the ideas presented.
Among these, the project employs specialized staff called “Child-rearing Support Navigators,” who are stationed in a space set up within the ward office to provide consultation on a wide range of topics, from pregnancy and childbirth to child-rearing, as well as connecting people with related counters and organizations. We are making efforts.
In addition to the 11 projects, we have also set up a system to subsidize the rent for families with children to encourage young women to move in.
According to the ward, the number of women in their 20s and 30s living in the ward was 48,103 as of January this year, an increase of over 2,500 compared to 10 years ago.
On the other hand, in this analysis, the city was called a “black hole-type local government” because of its low birth rate and dependence on population inflows from other regions, likening it to a black hole that sucks everything in.
Kenji Sawada, manager of the Toshima City Planning Division, said, “This may be due to the fact that young families have been moving in as a result of our efforts to create a town that is easy to raise children.After receiving these results, many people who had hoped to have a child but gave up on it may have had an effect. I want to put even more effort into supporting people in need.”