Research & reports

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

MLIT's national survey of rooftop and wall greening construction results for FY2017, aimed at mitigating the urban heat island effect and lowering urban carbon emissions, recorded about 23.1 hectares of new rooftop greening (roughly five Tokyo Domes) and 5.5 hectares of new wall greening that year, bringing cumulative totals since FY2000 to about 498 hectares of rooftop greening and 90 hectares of wall greening. Average project area was 261 m2, with a growing trend toward large-scale mixed-use projects.

内閣府地方創生推進事務局 · 内閣府 地方創生推進事務局 · Japan

A November 2018 briefing prepared by the Cabinet Office's Regional Revitalisation Secretariat. The Regional Revitalisation Promotion Grant supports self-directed, pioneering work by local authorities, requiring KPIs and a PDCA cycle and targeting projects that cut across traditional departmental silos. Its initial budget was ¥100 billion a year (¥200 billion on a project-cost basis) in each of fiscal 2016, 2017 and 2018, alongside supplementary grants such as ¥100 billion for acceleration in FY2015 and ¥90 billion for base development in FY2016. Under the Regional Revitalisation Act (Act No. 24 of 2005) that underpins it, 5,796 regional revitalisation plans had been approved by this point.

内閣府地方創生推進事務局 · 内閣府 地方創生推進事務局 · Japan

An April 2018 guideline from the Cabinet Office's Regional Revitalisation Secretariat on designing and improving projects funded by the Regional Revitalisation Promotion Grant. The general part sets out the grant's aims and six 'pioneering elements', explains what a KPI is, from which angles to set one and the pitfalls to avoid, then walks through the project cycle stage by stage under Plan-Do-Check-Action. The sector-specific part covers local innovation, agriculture-forestry-fisheries, tourism, migration to the regions, working-style reform and placemaking, each with worked examples of KPIs.

食都神戸推進チーム（神戸市） · 食都神戸・Gastropolis Kobe（公式サイト） · Japan

An official document explaining the basic concept of the Gastropolis Kobe 2020 vision that Kobe City announced in 2015. It frames how Kobe—a city of 1.5 million with farmland in its Kita and Nishi wards and fishing grounds along its coast—rebuilds its urban brand around food, advancing local consumption, urban agriculture and rural exchange.

· 国土交通省都市局 · Japan

National materials on the Special Productive Greenland system created by the 2017 Productive Greenland Law amendment to address the '2022 problem,' extending buy-out timing and tax benefits by ten-year renewable periods; about 89% (8,282 ha) had been designated as of end-2022.

· 参議院常任委員会調査室『立法と調査』No.394 · Japan

Legislative analysis by the House of Councillors research office, organizing the regulatory framework for urban farmland (productive greenland, taxation, leasing) and examining the rationale and issues behind the 2018 lease law in light of the 2022 problem.

Uchiyama Y., Fujihira Y., Matsuoka H., Kohsaka R. · Journal of Ethnic Foods · Japan

Analyzes definitions, history, and regional ties of traditional Japanese vegetables (e.g., Kyo, Kaga), using Kaga and Noto cases to show how ambiguous quality standards shape branding and brand management.

Uchiyama Y., Matsuoka H., Kohsaka R. · Journal of Ethnic Foods · Japan

Questionnaire survey in Komatsu City, Ishikawa, on public recognition of Kaga and Noto traditional vegetables, showing gender/age differences in awareness and information sources, with implications for transgenerational transmission and branding.

特定非営利活動法人 Co.to.hana, 金田 康孝, 西川 亮 · 国土交通省 都市と農・緑が共生するまちづくりに関する調査（平成28年度） · Japan (Osaka)

First-year MLIT-commissioned study by Co.to.hana validating usefulness and replicability of community farms on urban unused land, using Kitakagaya Minna-no-uen as the model — surveys, environmental monitoring, stakeholder interviews and an expert panel producing a start guide and dissemination roadmap.

国土交通省都市局 · 国土交通省都市局 · Japan

A MLIT survey report on using vacant urban land as community gardens, taking Kitakagaya's 'Minna no Uen' in Osaka as a key case and analyzing its operation and effects through user surveys, stakeholder interviews and neighborhood research.

三橋友美, 寺田徹, 横張真 · ランドスケープ研究 · Japan

A 2017 study of 62 Japanese 'experience farms' (taiken nouen) classifying operating structures by how far private companies are involved (Landscape Research Japan 80(5), pp. 647–650). In 48 farms the company mainly manages the plot and assists participants; in 4 the company leads operations and directs participants' activities; in 10 the farmer leads and the company only provides support. Corporate assistance widens the set of farm households able to open an experience farm, but the intensity of involvement varies with each site's physical and social conditions. The authors highlight the farmer-led, company-supported type as previously undocumented and potentially valuable for developing self-directed operators. Profit and loss and survival rates are not covered.

肇 石原, Hajime ISHIHARA · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

Since 1990, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, has seen a decrease in agricultural land area and the number of farm households, particularly in Nagoya City and its surrounding municipalities. While the reduction in productive green space and full-time farmers was moderate, engagement in agriculture-related businesses, excluding direct sales, was not extensive. A polarization was observed between municipalities active and inactive in designating productive green spaces, posing a challenge for future land use planning.

肇 石原, Hajime ISHIHARA · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

This study examined changes in urban agriculture in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, since 1990, finding a weakening of the agricultural management base. While the decline in productive green space and full-time farmers was limited, engagement in agriculture-related businesses, excluding direct sales, was not widespread. The preservation of productive green spaces in some cities remains a challenge for future land use planning.

肇 石原, Hajime ISHIHARA · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

Since 1990, the weakening of agricultural management foundations has been observed in urban areas of Nara Prefecture, though the decrease in productive green space and the number of full-time farmers remained at a certain level. Rice cultivation was the main crop in many areas, and engagement in agriculture-related businesses, apart from direct sales, was not extensive. Regarding the designation of productive green spaces, many cities were reluctant during the initial designation following the revised Productive Green Space Act and also during the Heisei mergers, which is identified as a challenge for future land use planning.

Shingo Yoshida, Hironori Yagi · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Japan (Tokyo)

This study conducted a questionnaire survey targeting existing farmers in Tokyo to investigate the determinants of diversification and farm performance among urban farmers. Results showed some differences between mass-marketing farmers, direct-marketing farmers, and indirect-marketing farmers in terms of farm size, customer relationship capability, farm objectives, and farm performance.

農林水産省, 国土交通省 · 農林水産省（都市農業振興基本法に基づく政府の基本計画・閣議決定） · Japan

The government's basic plan under the Urban Agriculture Promotion Act (2015). It places 'realising the diverse functions of urban agriculture' at the centre and sets three new policy directions: securing urban farmers, securing land for farming, and full-scale agricultural-promotion measures. It is the core plan underpinning municipalities' citizen farms, experience farms and farmland conservation nationwide.

Ito H., Senoo K., Kubo E. · 研究 技術 計画 (Journal of Science Policy and Research Management) · Japan

Argues, through case analysis of Japanese plant-factory businesses, that diverse business models exist beyond running-cost reduction, including operation-related ventures, highlighting the variety of corporate monetization strategies in plant-factory agribusiness.

岩瀬 貴也, 小泉 秀樹, 後藤 智香子 · 都市計画論文集 51巻3号 pp.277-284 · Japan

Studying public-private community gardens in Koto Ward through interviews with the ward, developers, and participant surveys, this paper identifies their potential as models for area-contribution development burden systems in new development and challenges to sustaining activities.

KIKUCHI Toshio, TABAYASHI Akira · E-journal GEO · Japan

A case study of the Sunagawa area in Tachikawa City, in the Tokyo metropolitan fringe, analyzed the mechanism sustaining urban farming through the relationship between the siting of farm-product direct-sale stands and the commodification of rural space. Urban farming's persistence in the area depends heavily on the location of these direct-sale stands: because the stands sell directly to urban residents and are maintained to meet their needs, agricultural production continues. As a result, not only the rural landscape and agricultural land use but also the rural community itself are sustained, and as urban residents visit and buy from the stands, the rural space comes to be understood as both a production space and a consumption space.

国立環境研究所 · 国立環境研究所 環境展望台 · Japan

This National Institute for Environmental Studies explainer on rooftop and wall greening (revised May 2016) cites a 1985 Chubu Electric Power experiment finding 20-30% energy savings compared to traditional sunshades (yoshizu). It reports about 413.8 hectares of rooftop greening and 68.0 hectares of wall greening installed nationwide over the 15 years from FY2000 to FY2014, with FY2014 alone contributing about 26.9 hectares of rooftop and 5.0 hectares of wall greening, though FY2009 saw about a 20% year-on-year contraction. It also notes implementation challenges such as structural load assessment, root-barrier installation, and ongoing irrigation management.

社会的インパクト評価検討ワーキング・グループ · 内閣府（社会的インパクト評価検討ワーキング・グループ） · Japan

A March 2016 report by Japan's Working Group on Social Impact Evaluation. Against shrinking public resources under population decline and fiscal constraint, it aims to draw private resources into solving social problems and to grow organisations — large or small — whose purpose is creating impact. Organised in four chapters (why social impact evaluation is needed, what it is, how to do it, and the obstacles to its spread), it centres on accountability to stakeholders as the precondition for raising outside resources, with appendices and columns on logic models and theory of change, British diffusion policy, and shared measurement.

山口 創 · 食資源教育研究センター報告（CEIS Papers）, 29: 83-88 · Japan

Through interview surveys of three cases (Komoike-dainagon bean, Harima-o garlic, Himeji-ebiimo taro), this paper analyzes the process by which local varieties become recognized regional resources and the challenges of their development.

Nishizawa T. · Advances in Horticultural Science · Japan

Reviews the status and outlook of Japan's solar- and artificial-light plant factories, covering the post-disaster and policy-driven expansion of corporate entry and the profitability challenges of commercial operation in urban food production.

河野 誠, 藤田 直子 · ランドスケープ研究 77巻5号 pp.433-436 · Japan

Analyzing user needs at corporate-run rooftop and over-track rental farms such as Toho Leo's 'Machinaka Saen', this paper characterizes high fees, convenient locations, and rich services as hallmarks of pioneering private-sector urban farm models.

国土交通省 都市局 · 国土交通省 委託調査報告書 · Japan

MLIT commissioned survey on Setagaya's productive-greenbelt designation, landscape-farmland districts, citizen farms and agricultural parks as models of urban farmland preservation and public-participation farming under public support.