The shrinking town of Kainan in Wakayama prefecture is offering money to people who relocate there – but there’s a catch

A town in Japan is offering millions of yen to relocate there as it tries to arrest the fall in its population. The catch? New residents must live in Kainan, in Wakayama prefecture on the west coast, for five years to keep the cash. And their surname must be Suzuki.

As the “birthplace” of Suzuki, the town decided to tap into its association with Japan’s second most common surname when it launched the campaign in 2021, by targeting the estimated 750,000 Suzukis who live in Tokyo or the neighbouring prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa.