TOKYO: A widely ridiculed Japanese government idea to woo Tokyo women into marrying men in rural areas by offering cash payouts and train tickets to matchmaking events has been scrapped, officials said Friday.

Bureaucrats had envisioned payments of up to 600,000 yen (US$4,140) for women who got married and settled outside of Tokyo as part of efforts to reduce a yawning countryside gender gap, local media reported.

Hanako Jimi, minister of state for regional revitalisation, said Friday she had instructed officials to "review" the plan, and insisted that reports about the size of payments were "not true."

Media leaks about the scheme this week drew scorn on social media, where critics saw it as typical in a country where men dominate politics and other areas, more than in any other major industrialised economy.

"Did they think independent, motivated and educated women in the city would think, 'What? If I marry a local man and move to a countryside, I'll get 600,000 yen! I'll do it!'? ... Are they serious?" said one user on X.

Another said: "Do they still not get it? This is something people who see women as valuable only if they give birth would come up with."

As they age, many rural areas in the world's fourth-biggest economy are facing a depopulation crisis, with some small towns having hardly any - or even zero - children.

One cause is that more young women than young men leave the villages and small towns they grew up in and move to big cities, especially Tokyo, for better opportunities in higher education and work.

More than 40 per cent of Japanese municipalities are at "risk of disappearing" due to the expected drop in the number of women in their 20s and 30s, a study by a private-sector expert panel suggested in April.

  - AFP