Tokyo to give ¥5,000 monthly per child

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to provide households with children aged up to 18 in the capital with ¥5,000 in benefits per child monthly, Gov. Yuriko Koike said Wednesday.

In her New Year’s speech, Koike instructed officials to consider “bold measures, such as a handout of around ¥5,000, that provide seamless support to child rearing.”

The metropolitan government is expected to include necessary costs for the benefits in its budget plan for fiscal 2023, which starts in April.

The possibility that the number of births in the country may have fallen short of 800,000 in 2022 is very shocking, Koike said.

She said “the metropolitan government will lead others” in addressing the declining birth rate.