Nagano City and JLL team up to drive UIJ-turn migration back to the region
- Adam German
- 21 minutes ago
- 3 min read
On March 10th, the Nikkei Shimbun reported that Nagano City’s partnership with global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) forms part of a broader strategy to stimulate UIJ-turn migration, a Japan-specific policy framework describing how people relocate from large metropolitan areas to regional cities.
For decades, the Greater Tokyo Area has attracted a disproportionate share of young workers and university graduates from regional prefectures. The resulting concentration of population in the capital has contributed to labor shortages, aging demographics, and slower economic growth in regional cities.
In response, national and local governments have promoted migration back to regional areas through policies designed to encourage U-turn, I-turn, and J-turn migration.
Collectively abbreviated as UIJ-Turn migration, these terms describe the shape of the migration path on a map, which determines the letter used to classify the movement.
U-turn migration refers to individuals who leave their hometown to study or work in a major city - most commonly Tokyo - and later return to that same hometown. The movement resembles the shape of the letter “U,” traveling from the hometown to a metropolitan area and back again.
I-turn migration describes people who relocate from a major metropolitan area to a regional location where they have no previous personal connection. The path resembles a straight line like the letter “I,” reflecting a direct move from a large city to a new regional destination.
J-turn migration occurs when someone leaves a rural hometown for a major city but later relocates to a regional hub city near their hometown rather than returning to the original town itself. The resulting path resembles the curved shape of a “J.”
Regional hub cities such as Nagano often benefit from this pattern because they offer more employment opportunities and urban amenities than smaller towns while still remaining close to rural home regions.
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Nagano City’s agreement with JLL is intended to reinforce the economic conditions needed to attract these migrants. In November 2025, the city signed a Corporate Location Demand Survey Services Agreement with JLL’s Japan arm, commissioning the firm to analyze corporate location demand and help shape a more targeted investment attraction strategy.
Leveraging JLL’s network of domestic and international corporate clients, the initiative focuses on four areas: assessing office demand around Nagano Station and developing attraction strategies; supporting the development of industrial land; gathering information on potential relocations and business continuity planning (BCP) among companies headquartered in the Greater Tokyo Area or overseas; and identifying specific target companies for outreach.
The partnership also includes direct corporate engagement, with JLL using its network to connect Nagano City with companies considering expansion or relocation. As an early step in this process, the city is hosting its first standalone corporate location seminar in Tokyo on March 12th, inviting roughly 50 companies to learn about the city’s investment environment and industrial development plans.
At the same time, Nagano City is expanding its supply of industrial land to accommodate potential investors. The city has identified eight candidate areas for future industrial park development and aims to begin development on 60 hectares of new industrial land by fiscal 2029.
Officials see these efforts closely linked to the city’s migration strategy. By attracting factories, offices, and research facilities, Nagano City hopes to create the employment opportunities needed to support UIJ-turn migration, drawing new residents from major metropolitan areas while also encouraging former residents who moved to Tokyo to return to the region.
Source:
Nikkei Shimbun (Japanese only; paywalled)
