Report: Tokyo Population on the Rise

Apr 01, 04:22 PM

Current Headlines: Japanese migration statistics show Tokyo had the largest population hike in more than four decades last year with 90,079 new residents.

Up from its 2005 total of 86,562 new residents, Tokyo's remarkable population growth in 2006 rivaled the 1963 increase the city saw during an unprecedented period of economic growth, the Kyodo News Agency said.

While the statistics revealed a positive trend for Tokyo, they also represented a troubling new trend in Japan as more people flee the economically troubled provincial regions for larger cities, the report said.

With population and economic gaps between those cities and provincial towns increasing dramatically, the Japanese land ministry said up to 2,600 villages are now facing extinction.

The news agency said not all cities enjoyed a population rise in 2006 as Nagasaki lost 9,600 residents, Aomori lost 9,465 and the island prefecture of Hokkaido lost 18,386.