The Japanese government is planning to offer up to three million yen (£20,698) to encourage residents of Tokyo to swap life in the congested capital for a home in the countryside.

With an average of more than 37,500 people living in every square mile of the Japanese capital - one of the highest urban densities in the world - the strain is beginning to tell on public transportation systems, utilities, hospitals and other infrastructure.

At the same time, countless villages and towns in the countryside are today made up of elderly residents, with schools closing and farmland left to go fallow because there are no young people left to work it.

In an effort to at least stem the increasing number of people living in Tokyo, the national government has announced plans for a system of grants for residents of the central 23 wards to encourage them to move out of the city.

The grants are designed to help cover the costs of buying a new home, national broadcaster NHK reported, moving house and finding a new job or setting up a company.