Not just in Japan either. There have been cases of crumbling historic villages in Italy promising very cheap housing provided that the buyer commits to renovating and living within a certain period.
I think stories like this couple well with one also from this week on HN:
Why Cities Boom While Towns Struggle
https://archive.is/9yDHx
There's a reason for this. People love to go to the countryside for a weekend trip, but nobody live there. Why? Because there are no jobs and no people (or very few of them). Many families would be glad to escape to the countryside once they grow older and bigger, but they usually don't, because these problems still exist.
Would you give up your carreer and your disposable income when you start a family, just to move to a village? Can you even find a job there? What about your social circles? What about when your kids need to go to university?
I remember hearing a lot of talk about "the need to promote de-centralization" when I was a kid, but I don't remember hearing a single valid reason for it. It's always someone else that needs to move back to the countryside, not the speaker.
I read last year that some towns will actually GIVE foreigners a house if they promise to live there a certain numbers of years.