99 Banks, Shrinking Japan
When an elderly woman dies in Akita Prefecture, her savings do not stay in Akita. Her children live in Tokyo or Sendai. The inheritance closes a regional bank account and opens one at MUFG, or flows into a NISA brokerage account, or both. Multiply this by 912,000 — last year’s record natural population decline — and you have the regional banking problem in a single transaction. Japan has 99 listed regional banks. Sixty-two tier-one, thirty-seven tier-two. It has five city banks. The country’s population fell by 908,574 Japanese nationals in 2024, the largest annual decline since records began. Only Tokyo grew. All other 46 prefectures shrank. Akita lost 1.91%, Aomori 1.72%, Kochi 1.71%. In Akita, more than 40% of residents are already over 65. By 2050, its population is projected to be 60% of what it is today. ...