Research & reports

Sakurai Shin · Nippon.com · Japan

A feature on the Ginza Honey Bee Project ('Ginpachi'), a nonprofit founded in March 2006 by Tanaka Atsuo, which installed beehives on the roof of the Kami Parupu Kaikan building in central Tokyo, drawing nectar from Hibiya Park and the Imperial Palace grounds within roughly a 3km radius. A decade on, the project has grown to 150 members, supplies honey products sold at the Matsuya Ginza department store and honey cocktails at nearby bars, and has inspired more than 100 urban beekeeping projects nationwide as well as projects in South Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia.

卓也 林 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Inagi City)

This study examined the management characteristics of direct farm sales outlets and the role of agriculture in urban areas, using pear farmers in Inagi City, Tokyo, as an example. Field surveys confirmed a decrease in pear picking activities and a high ratio of direct sales and home delivery. While familiarity with agriculture has increased due to farmers' cooperation in agricultural experience learning and the establishment of many community gardens, a limitation was identified: to convey the value of urban agriculture to those with low interest, the enhancement of pear picking, allowing easy interaction with farmers on farmland, is required.

修一 舩戸 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Hino City)

This paper examined the sustainability of urban agriculture through volunteer farming initiatives in Hino City and Machida City, Tokyo. In Hino City, the "Hinojin Ennou no Kai" has provided free farming assistance since 2006, while in Machida City, the NPO "Tagayasu" has offered paid assistance since 2002. Based on these cases, the impact of collaboration between citizens and local farmers on the sustainability of urban agriculture was discussed.

元 山中 · Hosei University Repository (Hosei University) · Japan

This plan designs a small unmanned store for farmers to directly sell vegetables, aiming to revitalize declining urban agriculture by building relationships between citizens and farmers. Thinner timber is used as a construction material, contributing to forest reproduction through forest volunteer participation and timber purchase. The unit is designed to be foldable and movable, and methods for displaying vegetables suitable for each type are proposed.

Masao Makiyama, Norifumi Hosoya, Mami Inoue · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Japan

This study examined the regional distribution of stay-type allotment gardens (kleingartens, KGs) and their facilities, focusing on vacant facilities and future construction planning. Significant numbers of KGs and facilities were found in Nagano and Hyogo Prefectures, with Nagano having many early constructions. In fiscal year 2011, 22 KGs had vacant facilities, but this could not be solely explained by facility location density.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

焦必方 · 上海经济研究 · Japan (Tokyo)

This paper analyzes the experiences of modern rural construction in the suburbs of Tokyo, focusing on Mitaka City and Hinohara Village. It highlights the development of suburban rail networks and other infrastructure, the provision of comprehensive public facilities, and the promotion of urban agriculture tailored to suburban characteristics. The study also notes efforts to balance regional development disparities, advocate democratic management, and pursue social harmony.

Jyuichi Yamazaki, Takayuki UCHIHIRA · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Japan (Amagasaki-City)

This study considered the role of urban farmland and the possibility of its maintenance and practical use from the viewpoint of living environment formation and community improvement, through an analysis of a citizen questionnaire conducted in February 2006 in the Sonoda district of Amagasaki-city. The paper particularly focused on male participation in civic agriculture planning awareness and the possibility of civic support for farmland maintenance.

Lily Kiminami, Akira Kiminami · Studies in Regional Science · Japan

Urban agriculture in Japan faces problems such as farmland reduction, farmer aging, expansion of abandoned cultivated land, and environmental pollution from livestock waste or agricultural chemicals. Urban agriculture can contribute to improving urban quality of life by supplying agricultural goods, creating landscapes, ensuring land conservation, and providing environmental benefits like biodiversity conservation. However, these issues pose challenges to the economic viability of urban agriculture.

Tatsurô Suehara · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Kyoto)

This article discusses the historical role of urban agriculture in Kyoto, an ancient Japanese city. It points out that Kyoto, being a city without ramparts, allowed urban areas to be easily converted into agricultural fields during the medieval period, suggesting it may have been the birthplace of Japanese urban agriculture. Over its 1200-year history, urban agriculture in Kyoto flexibly changed its form according to residents' needs, and agricultural fields played a significant role in the city's history.

Tatsurô Suehara · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Japan (Kyoto)

This article examines the history of urban agriculture in Kyoto, Japan, an ancient capital city unique for its lack of surrounding walls (murailles). The absence of these walls allowed residents to flexibly transform residential areas into agricultural fields during the medieval period, adapting to changing needs for crops like barley and vegetables over 1200 years. The author suggests that Miyako-Kyoto was likely the birthplace of Japanese urban agriculture, arguing that agricultural fields played a crucial role in its history, making it an agricultural city as well as a capital.

Takashi Watanabe, Makoto Yokohari, Ryuto Matsuzawa · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan (Tokyo)

This study clarified farmers' responses to agricultural activities involving urban residents in the Tokyo Metropolis. The findings showed that over half of the farmers engaged in agricultural activities involving urban residents, and those enthusiastic about these activities often demonstrated excellent farm management. Furthermore, municipalities within the target area were categorized into three types based on the proportion of farmers involved in urban resident-associated agricultural activities.

Fang Zhao · · Japan

This paper discusses Japan's utilization of farming land and related promotional policies. It notes that while progress was made before the 1960s, farming land utilization has continuously retrogressed since then. Despite a series of measures taken to correct this, the results have been unsatisfactory. However, the paper suggests that lessons can be learned from these measures regarding policy guidance, renting/contracting systems, wasteland control, land information, and urban farming garden construction.

Takashi Watanabe, Makoto Yokohari · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan

This study investigated the implementation status of urban agriculture promotion policies by local municipalities in Japan's National Capital Region, specifically those involving urban residents. It aimed to clarify the actual conditions of these policies, some of which predated the revised Production Green Land Law of 1992. The research emphasizes the importance of urban residents' understanding and active involvement in urban agriculture, necessitating proactive intervention by local governments.

Nobuyuki MINO, Isao NAKASE · Journal of The Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture · Japan

A study investigated the usage patterns of allotment gardens in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. In urban allotment gardens, users were predominantly in their 60s, utilized gardens frequently and from nearby, and derived satisfaction primarily from agriculture and forestry. In multi-natural residential areas, users were slightly younger, mainly in their 50s, engaged in more diverse uses, and found satisfaction not only from agriculture and forestry but also from landscape and community interaction. From these findings, it was considered that allotment gardens in multi-natural residential areas have the potential to be a core for urban-rural exchange, with agriculture, forestry, and the surrounding environment functioning as mediators.

Isami Kinoshita · Journal of The Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture · Japan

This study analyzed residents' awareness of edible plant cultivation on their properties and the formation of edible landscapes in public spaces, in relation to childhood experiences and memories. The findings showed that childhood experiences influenced the formation of edible landscapes on private properties, which held multiple meanings, but the attribution of meaning to edible landscapes in public spaces was weak, highlighting resident involvement as a challenge.

Ren Azuma · Journal of Rural Problems · Japan; Europe

This paper examines the potential for recreational use of farmland by comparing dual land use policies between Japan and Europe (mainly the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands). While Europe has not considered allotment gardens as dual farmland use, Japan is promoting them for both recreation and agricultural production through new legislative measures. Additionally, small-scale caravan sites using farmland are exempt from strict planning controls in many European countries to promote recreational use, but Japan lacks an equivalent. In conclusion, the paper suggests that Japan needs to introduce or further expand dual farmland use policies for recreation and agricultural production in these three policy areas.