Research & reports

Katakami T. · 観光研究 (Journal of the Japan Institute of Tourism Research) · Japan

Using Yamato traditional vegetables, examines the process by which place-specific food culture becomes a tourism resource, stressing the role of key persons creatively managing how the culture is supplied to others.

Takao Koyama, Takayuki Minagawa, Tsutomu Hanai, Hideki IDOTA · Journal of Structural and Construction Engineering (Transactions of AIJ) · Japan (Tokyo)

The validity of using residential design live loads for rooftop gardens has not been confirmed. This study proposes new design live load values for rooftop gardens based on building survey results from 24 steel-framed houses in the Tokyo area. The proposed design live load value will enable rational structural design for residences with rooftop gardens.

幸治 江口 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

The Santome Area in Saitama Prefecture has practiced circular urban agriculture utilizing plain woods for 300 years, but urbanization, particularly in Kawagoe City and Tokorozawa City, is causing a significant decline in farmland and plain woods. While the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Saitama Prefecture promote urban agriculture and plain wood preservation, the plain-wood-utilizing circular urban agriculture in Santome Area faces specific problems. This paper identifies land systems, including taxation, as a central issue among these problems and examines the possibility of integrated preservation for farmland and plain woods.

Hiroaki Murase, Takashi Maéno, Kiyohiko Sakamoto · The International Journal of Environmental Cultural Economic and Social Sustainability Annual Review · Japan

This is a scholarly article by Hiroaki Murase, Takashi Maeno, and Kiyohiko Sakamoto, published in The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability: Annual Review.

Shinichi TAHARA, Sayaka SHIOYAMA, Hideharu KURITA, Toru Terada · Journal of The Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture · Japan

This study in Japan aimed to identify the actual amount of agricultural production by measuring harvested products from two urban agricultural gardens. It found that production from an 'experience farm' was sufficient for annual household consumption, while allotment gardens could not reach these amounts. At the district scale (500m radius) in this study, urban agricultural gardens could cover more than 10% of all vegetable consumption by urban residents.

知弘 岡田, 大介 小山 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

This paper is part of a special issue on the "Possibility and problem of 'coexistence of agriculture and housing' in suburban agricultural region of big city," presenting an overview of the urbanization process and contemporary challenges of town planning in the Kuga-Hatsukashi area of Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City.

NPO法人イノプレックス, 野村アグリプランニング アドバイザリー株式会社, 正一 佐々木, 巖根 米田 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

This report proposes a system to support city farmers' businesses by bridging the information gap between consumers and farmers, aiming for international export. The system provides consumers with information on city farmers' locations, vegetable quality, and production processes, while enabling feedback for farmers. The proposed system is projected to yield a net present value (NPV) of 5,300,000 yen in four years, starting in Tokyo and expanding to other regions and developing countries.

· ランドスケープ研究（日本造園学会誌）73巻5号 pp.469- · Japan

A field study of how danchi outdoor (open) spaces are actually used, examining directions for regeneration through stock utilization; it found demand was highest for children's play, followed by walking and resting, pointing to the need for regeneration plans that promote diverse outdoor uses, including gardens.

規宏 小原, Norihiro Obara · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Kasama)

This study analyzed the development factors of Kasama Klein Garten, an extended-stay allotment garden in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture, focusing on "rurality" as represented in rural areas by external actors. The findings revealed that the development of Kasama Klein Garten is driven by diverse agriculture-related events and workshops offered within the facility, which promote the reconstruction of users' rurality, and this reconstructed rurality encourages continued use of the Klein Garten.

Makoto Yokohari, Marco Amati, Jay Bolthouse, Hideharu KURITA · disP - The Planning Review · Japan (Tokyo)

This paper advocates for re-establishing mixed land-use garden zones in and around cities, conceptualized as spaces for urban residents to develop local food cultures. It outlines post-war planning policies that separated urban and agricultural uses, investigates demographic shifts threatening domestic agricultural production, and examines Edo's urban agricultural heritage for a new planning paradigm. The paper demonstrates the need for multifunctional green spaces with examples from the greater Tokyo area and concludes by discussing the need for hybrid garden zones that encourage mixed urban and agricultural uses.

Satoru USHIROZAWA, Masao Makiyama, Takaaki Takahashi · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Japan

This study evaluated the benefits of Kleingartens (stay-type allotment gardens) for local municipalities in Japan, using data on investment, maintenance costs, and user fee revenue. A main finding is that municipalities, on average, incur a considerable deficit, with a typical Kleingarten having an estimated annual deficit of approximately 240,000 yen. The study concluded that it is difficult for municipalities to achieve profit by providing Kleingartens, even with marginal improvements from increased user fees.

Hideharu KURITA, Tokuji Yamamoto, Tetsushi Shigeoka · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Japan

A case study of an allotment garden for kitchen garbage recycling in Kitamoto City, Japan, examines the potential for agricultural land management by user organizations of allotment gardens in peri-urban areas. Analyzing the management system of an allotment garden with a garden user organization, the study finds that such organizations can potentially play a role in managing agricultural land in peri-urban settings, and that garden user organizations and their networks contribute to resolving problems related to urban residents' use of agricultural land.

埼玉県 · 埼玉県 · Japan

This Saitama Prefecture guide on rooftop and wall greening methods cites the Building Standards Act Enforcement Order's live-load table and explains that an existing ordinary house roof can carry roughly only 60 kg/sqm once seismic force is factored in. Covering a roof with 10 cm of natural soil (specific gravity 1.6-1.8) would add 160-180 kg/sqm, exceeding that limit, so it recommends lightweight artificial soils (specific gravity 0.6-1.0) and notes the need for root-barrier sheets to protect waterproofing layers and for automated irrigation.

Yamane Kyoko, Lü Ning, Ohnishi Ohmi · Breeding Science, 59(1): 55-65 · Japan

Analyzing 25 chloroplast SSR loci across 59 cultivated radish accessions and 23 wild Raphanus accessions, the study found evidence for at least three independent domestication events and high genetic diversity in cultivated radish.

大阪産業大学 · 大産大論集 第30号, 51–60 · Japan (Kobe)

An empirical analysis of agricultural change in urban Hyogo Prefecture (including Kobe) since the 1990s, statistically tracking trends in farmland conversion and the number of farm households driven by urbanization.

Yutaka Kudo · Journal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ) · Japan

This research examines the development processes of community gardens in Japan and discusses their "publicness" as public spaces. Japanese community gardens were introduced before WWII as a form of urban open space, similar to Kleingarten in Germany and Allotment in England. In the postwar period, they expanded quantitatively through the practical use of urban unused farmland, and are now provided from the perspective of urban environment and rural development. The publicness of community gardens in Japan has been intentionally shaped by various actors throughout their historical transition.

Ping Liu · Xiandai riben jingji · Japan

A discussion piece traces the development of "creative agriculture" among Japanese farmers since the early 1970s, citing Oita Prefecture's One Village, One Product movement as an early representative example. It describes recent Japanese government measures — promoting green tourism, developing urban agriculture, establishing urban gardens, building attractive rural environments and homes, and encouraging urban residents to move to villages for farm work or experiences in an urban-rural "amphibian" lifestyle — that it says have brought Japan's creative agriculture into a new stage of development.

Xu Hong-Xia, Jing Tao, Tomooka Norihiko, Kaga Akito, Isemura Takehisa, Vaughan Duncan A. · Genome, 51(9): 728-738 · Japan

Using 13 SSRs on 616 azuki accessions from eight Asian countries, the study found highly diverse Japanese wild germplasm, supporting Japan as a domestication center, while cultivated azuki from China, Korea, and Japan were genetically distinct.

森ビル株式会社 · 環境コミュニケーション 39巻6号 pp.30-31 · Japan

Official technical literature explaining Mori Building's 'Vertical Garden City' concept, describing pioneering private redevelopment rooftop farming and greening including paddy fields and mochi-rice harvest at Roppongi Hills and environmental community creation.

YU Ju-sheng · Shanghai nongye xuebao · Japan, China

This study compared the course of urban expansion and urban agriculture development in Japan with China's recent urbanization, particularly the economic development of its eastern coastal areas. It noted that both Japan and China share the Oriental agricultural characteristic of separate management on a small scale. The study concluded that it is important for China's urban agricultural development to examine Japan's urban agricultural history and experience.

Ryozo Noguchi, Shuya Abe, Takahiro Saito · Agricultural Information Research · Japan

This study in Japan constructed a design model for Japanese hoes used in community and home gardens, aiming to tailor them to users' physiques, strength, and ease of use, employing Kansei Engineering. Based on three-point task analysis and extracted Kansei elements of usability, a network-structured design model was proposed. The relationships between handle length and ease of work, and moment of inertia and ease of swinging, were experimentally determined using the Magnitude Estimation method, revealing the potential to evaluate commercial hoes and improve designs according to user height and muscle strength.

Norio Hayashi, Teruo Wada, Hiroaki Hirai, Takaaki Miyake, Yoshimasa Matsuura, Norinaga Shimizu, Hiroshi Kurooka, Shousaku Horiuchi · Environment Control in Biology · Japan

A Japanese study examining the psychological effects of horticultural activity on mood state (POMS) among 61 subjects (22 men, 39 women, mean age 46). Active participation involved planting non-flowering pansies, while passive participation involved observing a community garden; one group engaged in 2 hours of active participation, while two other groups completed 6 hours of horticultural activity (with the 6-hour group in experiment 3 also completing a mid-point POMS assessment 2 hours in, alongside before/after measures). The overall POMS score for 2 hours of horticultural activity was significantly higher than for 2 hours of simply observing, and the greatest psychological effects were found among the group that engaged in 2 hours of active horticultural activity, suggesting that 2 hours of horticultural activity induces the best psychological effects among the conditions tested.

· 農林水産省・経済産業省・国土交通省 告示 · Japan

The basic policy under the Act on Promotion of Collaboration between Agriculture, Commerce and Industry — a joint notification of MAFF, METI and MLIT. It sets the criteria for certifying joint projects between small businesses and farmers, fishers or foresters, the support measures available, and the support secretariats placed in each METI regional bureau.

環境省 · 環境省 · Japan

In the Edo period, human waste and ash were stabilized hygienically in 'koidame' pits and traded to surrounding farms as fertilizer, sustaining a regional circular economy that kept cities clean. After WWII, land reform and the spread of chemical fertilizer left human waste with nowhere to go, prompting a shift from the Sanitation Law (1954) to the Waste Management Law (1970); municipal composting facilities built in the 1960s-70s were largely abandoned due to contamination, odor complaints, and the labor burden on aging farmers.

日本都市計画学会 · 都市計画論文集（日本都市計画学会）42.3, 877 · Japan

An empirical analysis of the effects and challenges of urban-rural exchange projects written into district-level plans, critically examining the structural gap between the planning system and on-the-ground practice.