A、Its prosperity is still a great appeal for the young people. B、It has attracted many people from the countryside for years. C、

The bright lights of the big city have been a draw for decades, pulling people into Tokyo from the countryside. But for some young Japanese, the city with its skyscrapers and neon lights is losing its appeal. Like millions of others from her generation Megumi Sakaguchi cannot find a permanent job, just contracts. Temporary workers now make up a third of the workforce, and a greater proportion of them are young. The certainty of the job-for-life tradition enjoyed by earlier generations has passed her by. “I never know if I’m going to lose my job,” she says. “Financially my anxiety levels are very high.” One weekend in October Megumi Sakaguchi joined a bus tour through the Japanese countryside. Like her fellow passengers, who were also from the cities, she was getting a taste of what life would be like as a farmer— trying out working the land for a day. Excursions like this around apple orchards and greenhouses full of strawberry plants, talking to farmers in their fields, take place pretty much every week somewhere in rural Japan. They are organised and paid for by local authorities that are desperate to repopulate the countryside. After years of young people heading for the cities the average farmer in Japan is now 65.8 years old and that figure is rising steadily. But now some are considering making the journey back. “There are more people who want to be farmers now, and the numbers are increasing,” says Naoko Maruyama, a local government official who uses a website to attract potential recruits.
23. What does the speaker say about Tokyo?
24. What’s the main reason for Megumi Sakaguchi’s leaving the big city for the countryside?
25. Why do the local authorities organise farm work in the countryside?