More than 70% of the people in Japan live here (life, country, move)

[Davy-040]

[jvalens]

The wonders of rice agriculture.

[Ice_Major]

Not too surprising when considering the geography of Japan. Japan is comprised of 4 main (big) islands and thousands of smaller ones. The topography is very mountains (75%) with thick forest growth. The areas highlighted by the OP contain the flat and fertile land suited for large scale agriculture.

[Tomboy-]

That's why Japan had to invade others because flat land is scarce in the country.

[Humphrey_C_Earwicker]

Japanese gummint paying families $7,500 per child to move out of greater Tokyo.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...er-to-families

[aypn]

Originally Posted by Tomboy-

That's why Japan had to invade others because flat land is scarce in the country.

England and Spain are flatter but invaded way more than Japan

[AntonioR]

Hopefully no one is bothered by this. I have an issue with people thinking that it's some sort of problem if the population gathers in one area and leave alone the rest. As if people need to be everywhere in large numbers.

The first time I read about Brazil's attempt to get people away from the coast to settle the sparsely populated interior (in part that's one of the reasons Brasilia was built where it was built), my question ever since has been why? What is wrong letting much of the interior of Brazil to nature with little or no human impact?

Now, contrary to Brazil, Japan is grossly overpopulated. Imagine the horrors if its population lived more dispersed in the Japanese geography, not withstanding the mountain ranges. Japan is fine as it is on this front. If anything, they should encourage more Japanese to leave the less dense populated areas to the more dense parts.

[ion475]

That percentage will only increase with the extreme aging problem in more rural part of Japan. Tohoku (Northeast) in particular had been losing population left and right with basically only Sendai seeing moderate growth, same for Hokkaido (Sapporo is doing decent but even cities like Hakodate or Asahikawa are heading nowhere).

Originally Posted by Tomboy-

That's why Japan had to invade others because flat land is scarce in the country.

Truth is flat land alone is not everything - Japanese economy (whatever left of it from the bubble collapse) is highly Tokyo-centric. The Osaka Plain is a large plain but Osaka (along with Kyoto and Kobe) had also been losing population with the industrial shift.

[Davy-040]

Originally Posted by AntonioR

Japan is grossly overpopulated.

If anything, they should encourage more Japanese to leave the less dense populated areas to the more dense parts.

Only in the urban area's.

Wait, why? Quality of life would go down and rent would sky rocket.

[Davy-040]

I understand that not many people live West of Tokyo because mountains but what about Northeast Chiba and South Ibaraki? You would think more people would live there.
Also why not more people in Mie in the area between Nara and Nagoya?