Research & reports

内閣（法令） · e-Gov法令検索 · Japan

Article 85 of the Building Standards Act Enforcement Order requires live loads on each part of a building to be calculated according to actual conditions in principle, but allows using tabulated values multiplied by floor area for listed room types. Rooftop plazas and balconies follow the same category-(1) values as residential rooms (1,800 N/sqm for floor structural calculation, 1,300 N/sqm for girders/columns/foundations, 600 N/sqm for seismic force), but for buildings used as schools or department stores, the higher category-(4) values apply (2,900/2,400/1,300 N/sqm).

Shigetomi Y., Ishigami A., Long Y., Chapman A. · Nature Communications, 15:8987 · Japan

Demonstrates that per-capita household food waste in Japan rises with the age of the household head, reaching roughly three times higher for those 70+ than for those under 30, with correspondingly large differences in food-waste-related greenhouse gas emissions. It highlights the need for age-targeted food-loss reduction strategies in an ageing society.

Shimpo N. · Landscape and Urban Planning, 251:105148 · Japan

Analyses how a suburban-Tokyo community garden (Seseragi Garden, Hino City) was managed for resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gardeners proactively set rules through discussion and sustained activity, helping maintain food security, physical and mental health, ikigai and social networks, thereby contributing to community resilience.

· 農福連携等推進会議（内閣官房） · Japan

Government vision (2019, revised 2024) promoting noufuku—agriculture-welfare collaboration enabling people with disabilities to participate in society through farming—as national policy, covering awareness, training, facility support, and market expansion via certification.

· 都市計画報告集 23巻3号 pp.429- · Japan

A report analyzing the potential and operational challenges of community gardens run or entered by private companies, discussing sustainable management models for company-partnered citizen gardens in housing complexes and neighborhoods and their contribution to community formation.

柏の葉スマートシティコンソーシアム, 国土交通省 都市局 · 国土交通省 都市局（スマートシティ実装化支援事業 報告書） · Japan

An MLIT support-program report documenting the implementation of Kashiwanoha Smart City, advanced by Mitsui Fudosan as co-developer through public-private-academia collaboration (UDCK). It covers the implementation and evaluation of resident-participatory initiatives across health, community and data use.

Nath T.K., Inoue M., Yim E.W., Takahashi S. · International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability · Japan

Using empirical data from two Japanese GIAHS sites, documents features of traditional agricultural practices and their values, including conservation of local crop varieties and revitalization of discontinued farming for rural livelihoods.

Mimura Y. · Journal of Ethnic Foods 11: Article 26 · Japan

Reviews the history, preservation, branding, and scientific research on Kyoto's heirloom vegetables (Kyo-yasai), highlighting how farmers, researchers, and municipalities sustain traditional landrace cultivation amid urbanization pressures.

新田 直人, 谷口 守 · 土木学会論文集 80巻11号 論文ID:23-00303 · Japan

Through multiple regression on fees at growing corporate-run kitchen gardens in metropolitan areas, this paper shows pricing reflects urban land-use factors such as rail access, distance from city center, and surrounding population, discussing expansion potential for private rooftop and non-farmland farms.

一般社団法人まちにわ ひばりが丘 · まちにわ ひばりが丘 公式活動報告書 · Japan

Annual report of the area-management organization after UR Hibarigaoka Danchi regeneration, documenting resident-led activities such as the shared garden and Niwa Marche at Hibari Terrace 118 and strengthened collaboration with developer subdivisions including Nomura, Daiwa, and Sumitomo.

佐藤 光泰 · NOMURA Food & Agri Business Review Vol.14 · Japan

A Nomura Securities Food & Agri Business white paper presenting revenue simulations and cross-sell strategies for rental-farm businesses as urban agriculture entry opportunities for real estate and service firms, discussing private developer kitchen-garden business models.

一般財団法人都市農地活用支援センター · 都市農地活用支援センター 事例集 · Japan

A 2024 casebook on urban farmland use after the 2022 productive-green-area milestone, compiling 40 national examples including UR housing-district Kleingarten, rooftop farms, and private vacant-land community gardens, organizing latest private developer and corporate entry trends.

川崎市 · 川崎市 行政規程・実施要綱 · Japan

Kawasaki's implementation guidelines for city-established and city-managed citizen farms, defining land leasing under the Special Farmland Lease Act, plot recruitment and use conditions as the official basis for municipally operated rental gardens.

横浜市 環境創造局 · 横浜市 都市農業振興基本法に基づく地方計画 · Japan

Yokohama's latest five-year local plan under the Urban Agriculture Promotion Act, organising policies for sustainable farming, farmland preservation, citizen farms, harvest experiences and local consumption building on Midori Up and Megumi-no-Sato programmes.

東京都国分寺市 · 国分寺市 環境報告書 · Japan

Kokubunji's annual environmental report under the basic environment plan, evaluating urban farmland preservation, local consumption and biodiversity while documenting municipally supported programmes such as the Citizen Agriculture University and citizen farms.

Chika Takatori, Yulu ZHENG, S.M. Asik Ullah · Urban and Regional Planning Review · Japan

This research proposed a spatial design framework for urban open and green spaces in Japan, focusing on urban agriculture amidst a declining and aging farming population. The study first analyzed and mapped the supply of land available for urban agriculture using GIS, population mesh data, and interviews. Secondly, it calculated and mapped the spatial distribution of demand for urban agriculture based on surveys and statistical information. Finally, a framework was constructed to compare, evaluate, and match the supply and demand of urban agriculture.

Guolin Xu, Shigeto YANAI · Journal of The Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture · Japan

Based on a survey of 11 urban parks with allotment gardens in Yokohama City, Japan, this study examined the characteristics that promote participation by diverse entities in park management and explored more effective management approaches. Results showed that involvement of local organizations in management was limited to a small number of programs, that participation by diverse entities was associated with increased community interaction, improved intergenerational interaction, and greater park use, and that community gardens gave residents a venue for shared agricultural activity that promoted both community interaction and broader participation in management.

· 農林水産省 農村振興局 · Japan

Certifications under the Urban Farmland Leasing Facilitation Act as of end-March 2024, with prefecture and municipality breakdowns. Read alongside the end-March 2025 tally, it gives the year-on-year trajectory of the scheme.

農林水産省 · 農林水産省 · Japan

Guidance published by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in July 2024, anticipating increased use of biodegradable plastic bags for household food-waste collection. It requires that such bags be removed, or sufficiently decomposed so their breakdown products do not inhibit crop growth, at composting and biogas facilities.

農林水産省 · 農林水産省 · Japan

According to Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, farmland is classified into general farmland and urbanization-area farmland for fixed-asset tax purposes. General farmland is valued by comparable sale prices and taxed as farmland; urbanization-area farmland is generally valued at a rate comparable to residential land (minus development-cost equivalents), with 'general urbanization-area farmland' taxed similarly to farmland and 'designated urbanization-area farmland' taxed like residential land. Urbanization-area farmland (excluding productive green space) gets a one-third taxable-value reduction, and a burden-adjustment mechanism applies adjustment rates of 1.025, 1.05, 1.075, or 1.1 depending on whether the prior year's burden ratio was 0.9+, 0.8–0.9, 0.7–0.8, or below 0.7.

千島土地株式会社 · 千島土地株式会社 · Japan

Chishima Land Co. launched the 'Kitakagaya Creative Farm Project' in 2011 in Suminoe Ward, Osaka, and opened 'Minna no Uen Kitakagaya' (Farm No. 2, at Kitakagaya 5-2-29) the following year, 2012. Conceived as a way to activate vacant land for community revitalization, the urban farm combines art and agriculture and emphasizes communication among participants; it is currently operated by the general incorporated association Goodluck.

農林水産省 · 農林水産省 · Japan

This MAFF document chronicles the institutional history of urban farmland policy in Japan. The 1968 City Planning Act (Showa 43) defined 'urbanization promotion areas' (shigaika kuiki) as areas that should be urbanized preferentially and systematically within roughly 10 years. In 1970 an Agricultural Land Act revision changed farmland conversion in these areas from a permit system to a notification system, and in 1972 fixed asset tax began being assessed at residential-land rates on farmland there. The 1974 Productive Green Space Act (Seisan Ryokuchi Ho) exempted farmland designated as productive green space from that residential-rate taxation, and a 1975 inheritance-tax deferral system (with a 20-year deferral period) was created. In 1991, the tax deferral for the three major metropolitan areas' designated cities was narrowed to apply only to productive green space.

東京都 · 東京都例規集 · Japan

Article 6 of the enforcement rules for the Tokyo nature protection ordinance sets the detailed greening standards: ground-level greening must cover 0.2-0.35 times (site area minus building footprint), depending on site size (Appended Table 2); building-top (rooftop) greening must cover 0.2-0.35 times the rooftop area (Appended Table 4); street-facing greening ratios range from 3/10 to 8/10 (Appended Table 3); and planting density is set at 1 tall tree, 2 medium trees, and 3 shrubs per 10 sqm. Enacted in 2001, most recently amended in March 2024.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

MLIT's national survey of rooftop and wall greening construction results for FY2023 found about 15.7 hectares of new rooftop greening (roughly three Tokyo Domes) and 5.0 hectares of new wall greening that year, bringing the cumulative totals since FY2000 to about 615 hectares of rooftop greening and 125 hectares of wall greening. The survey was mailed to 560 companies nationwide with 284 responses (a 50.7% response rate).

東京都環境局 · 東京都環境局 · Japan

In 2024, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Environment named the Ginza Honeybee Project (an NPO started in spring 2006) as an Excellence Award winner in the first Tokyo-NbS Action Award. The organization supplies honey gathered within a 2 km radius to department stores and restaurants as a local product, and also grows sweet potatoes on rooftops (processed into shochu), cultivates plants used for washi paper, and runs environmental education programs; in 2024 honey production reached about 2.7 tonnes and roughly 18,000 people took part in hands-on programs.