Elderly Migration in Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Japan

As the largest metropolitan area in Japan, the Tokyo Metropolitan Area (TMA) was one of the earliest areas to observe an elderly migration, and both the rate and volume of migration continue to surpass the national average, as will be described in detail later. The TMA is, therefore, the area with the most active elderly migration in Japan. This chapter describes the characteristics of elderly migration in the TMA. Elderly migration in the TMA is characterized by a comparatively high rate of inter-prefectural migration than in other areas and greatly impacts the distribution of the elderly population in Japan as a whole. Inter-prefectural migration in the TMA is high for both in- and out-migration, but trends change according to migrant age. Compared to the young-old migrants who migrated more often from the TMA to non-metropolitan areas such as the Tohoku or Kyushu regions, the reverse movement of non-metropolitan areas to the TMA was notable among old-old migrants. This is thought to be related to the characteristics of the TMA that have traditionally drawn in a large population and are the very characteristics of elderly migration in the TMA.