日本东京是一座怪物一般的城市，容纳了全日本三分之一的人口。东京人口最多的地区非常拥挤，涩谷著名的全向十字路口每分钟可以看到上千的人流量，百货商店和地铁在周末和高峰期间塞满了人群，有时甚至连站的地方都没有。想想东京地铁玻璃上挤到变形的脸，就知道人口密度有多恐怖了。

为了减少东京人口，日本政府决定给愿意离开东京的人每人支付近300万日元，这种办法真的能奏效吗？

Japan’s government is considering a new way to get people to consider life outside Tokyo: Pay them to leave.

日本政府正考虑用一种新方法让民众离开东京去其他地方生活——那就是，花钱请他们走。

According to a report by national broadcaster NHK on Nov. 22, the government is mulling giving as much as 3 million yen¹ to people who decide to relocate from the 23 wards² of Tokyo and find jobs elsewhere, starting in the next fiscal³ year.

根据日本国家广播机构日本放送协会11月22日的报道，日本政府正考虑从下一个财年起，给那些决定搬离东京23个区去其他地方找工作的人多达300万日元（18.4万元人民币）的补助。

Tokyo and the greater metropolitan⁴ area surrounding the capital, with a total population of some 38 million, have long bucked⁵ the trend in Japan when it comes to demographics, even as Japan’s overall population shrinks. That’s often been at the cost of other cities.

东京和周边的大都会区总人口多达3800万，长久以来在人口统计数据中一直逆势而上，即使日本总人口缩水，东京人口却一直在增加。但这通常是以其他城市为代价的。

Tokyo and the prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama posted significant population growth in 2017. According to NHK, the number of people moving to Tokyo has exceeded the number moving out for 22 years and counting. Nearly one out of every three people in Japan lives in the Tokyo area.

2017年东京和千叶县、神奈川县、琦玉县都报告了大幅度的人口增长。根据日本放送协会的数据，搬到东京的人数已经连续22年超过搬离东京的人数，而且超出数量还在不断增加。日本近三分之一的人都生活在东京地区。

The government added that as more people leave other major cities such as Sendai and Sapporo in the north of Japan for Tokyo, it will encourage people to relocate to those places, for example through tax benefits.

日本政府还表示，随着更多人离开仙台市、札幌市等北部城市前往东京，政府将通过税收优惠等措施鼓励人们搬到这些地方居住。

One prefecture that saw a population increase last year is the industrial hub of Aichi in central Japan, which experienced an influx⁶ of foreign migrant labor. Every prefecture in Japan except for Nagasaki posted a rise in the number of foreigners last year. Only the Okinawa prefecture experienced a population increase due to the number of births exceeding the number of deaths.

由于外国移民劳动力的涌入，日本中部的工业中心爱知县去年人口出现了增长。除了长崎市以外，日本每个县的外国移民数量都有所增加。只有冲绳县的人口增长是因为新生儿数量超过了死亡人数。

Japan’s government has for decades tried to lure⁷ people away from the capital and help rebuild depopulated and dilapidated areas, in a program broadly known as “revitalization of regions”. Some local governments have used tax cuts to encourage companies to leave the Tokyo area, while others will subsidize relocation costs.

几十年来，日本政府一直试着吸引人们离开东京，去帮助重建人口凋零的衰落地区，这个项目也被称为“地区复兴”。一些地方政府已经通过减税来鼓励企业离开东京地区，而其他地方政府则选择发放安置补助费。

One island in the Seto Inland Sea crowdfunded money to repurpose an old house into accommodation⁸ for new arrivals, and managed to attract a few newcomers, according to the Japan Times. The central government has even considered relocating some of Tokyo’s rapidly growing elderly population outside of the capital.

据《日本时报》报道，濑户内海的一个岛用众筹的钱将旧房改造成新居民的安置房，也确实吸引来了一些人。日本中央政府甚至考虑将快速增加的老年人口从东京迁出一部分。

There is, in fact, a growing trend of young Tokyo-dwellers who want to leave behind urban life in the capital to move to smaller, cheaper, and quieter parts of Japan. And some areas are enjoying success in attracting people and businesses to leave Tokyo, such as Fukuoka, a mid-sized city in Kyushu which has seen a large influx of tech workers and start-ups, drawn⁹ to the city’s lower costs and proximity¹⁰ to talent and markets in other parts of Asia.

事实上，越来越多的东京年轻居民想要远离东京的都市生活，搬到更小、物价更低也更安静的日本城镇。日本一些地区已经成功吸引了一部分人和企业离开东京，比如九州的福冈市，这个中型城市涌入了大量技术人员和初创企业，吸引他们的是较低的物价，而且对亚洲其他地区的人才和市场可以近水楼台先得月。

The small ski town of Niseko in Hokkaido is also enjoying a small increase in population, thanks to an explosion of interest overseas in Japan’s ski slopes. But with Japan’s vast government bureaucracy, its top schools, as well as companies all concentrated in Tokyo, escaping the capital looks set to remain a pipe dream for most.

由于外国游客对去日本滑雪兴趣猛增，北海道的滑雪小镇新雪谷町的人口也有小幅增长。但是考虑到日本庞大的政府机构、顶尖学校和公司全都集中在东京，离开东京对大多数人来说恐怕只能是个白日梦。