As the nation's population rapidly ages with ever-fewer births, the decline of Japan's outlying regions continues. The population exodus from rural regions to the Tokyo metropolitan area — mainly involving youths — remains unabated. It almost appears that the nation's key public functions are being concentrated solely in Tokyo.
Under such circumstances, regional revitalization has been put on the nation's key policy agenda to stop the concentration of population and resources in the capital. However, policy challenges confronting Tokyo itself are rarely discussed, as if they exist in a vacuum. This situation is hardly tenable when we consider the long-term interests of the nation.
Tokyo has three major problems that must be overcome.