Research & reports

Tomoko Imoto, Nobutaka ISHITSUKA, Cheligeer, Kiyohide Morita · JOURNAL OF RURAL SOCIETY AND ECONOMICS · Japan

This study investigated allotment garden use among child-rearing generations in Japan, identifying preferences for "free space (play area)," "staff to answer questions," and "events." A questionnaire survey of first-grade parents revealed a high potential demand for allotment gardens, with preferences for lower fees, play areas, cultivation guidance, and events. However, an analysis using a cross-effect model found a disconnect between preferences for garden use and food preferences, as those who buy domestic products generally did not value events, indicating a "food-agriculture gap."

Yen-Khang Nguyen-Tran, Ryo MURATA · Journal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ) · Japan

A study examining how variation in spatial qualities affects user experience in selected public rooftop gardens (RG) in Tokyo, Japan. It combined fieldwork and simulation to describe physical attributes across different environmental conditions and interpreted the resulting setting patterns through experience parameters, revealing tendencies of variation in each parameter. By connecting settings to experience, the study frames rooftop garden quality factors as a tangible and intangible relationship between "Space Affordance with Usage" and "Image of Identity."

Yumiko Fujiwara, Kaoru Matsuo, Shigeaki TAKEDA, Hiroyuki KAGA · Proceedings of The City Planning Institute of Japan Kansai Branch · Japan

A literature review and interviews with resident-led edible landscape initiatives in Japan examined the role of edible landscape in regional revitalization. Edible landscape was found to have taken on a comprehensive regional-revitalization role encompassing food security, educational effects, economic effects and community regeneration. Across the process from planting to eating edible plants, the edible theme appeared able to draw in collaboration with public bodies, businesses and resident groups beyond existing local community ties.

· 農林水産省 · Japan

Materials on the 2019 Noufuku JAS standard certifying foods and ornamental plants produced with the involvement of people with disabilities, raising trust and brand value for agriculture-welfare products via third-party certification; first certifications issued November 2019.

Yoshida S., Yagi H., Kiminami A., Garrod G. · Sustainability 11(10):2887 · Japan

The study analyzes the sustainability of multifunctional peri-urban agriculture through the lens of farm diversification and farmers' entrepreneurial attributes. It identifies the characteristics of advanced, highly diversified farm businesses and discusses factors supporting the persistence of peri-urban agriculture in Japan.

国土交通省 都市局 公園緑地・景観課 · 国土交通省（MLIT）報告書 · Japan

A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism casebook compiled to advance both compact urban structure and the 'coexistence of cities with green and agriculture'. It catalogues urban-farming and green-space initiatives — including resident-participation rooftop gardens, allotments and farming-led town-making by private developers and municipalities — and provides the policy backdrop for developer cases.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 都市局 · Japan

A national casebook organising interim uses of low-/under-used land (event space, gardens, greenery) until development advances, including cases like Kawasaki's planned-road 'Kisetsu-no-komichi' and Yokohama's soil-storage reuse.

Miyatake Koji, Shinmura Yoichi, Matsunaga Hiroshi, Fukuoka Hiroyuki, Saito Takeo · Breeding Science, 69(3): 498-502 · Japan

Analyzing 893 eggplant accessions in the NARO Genebank with genome-wide SNPs and SSRs, the authors built a core collection; Asian accessions formed the center of diversity, supporting efficient conservation and use of genetic resources.

世田谷区 · 世田谷区 農業振興計画 · Japan

Setagaya's ten-year agricultural promotion plan adopted in 2019, setting basic policies and concrete measures for municipal urban agriculture including citizen farms and contact farms using the Urban Farmland Lease Facilitation Act, agriculture-welfare collaboration and sixth-industry support.

横浜市 環境創造局 · 横浜市 都市農業推進計画 · Japan

Yokohama's urban agriculture promotion plan, linked to the Midori Up programme, organising policies and results for publicly supported citizen farming infrastructure including diverse citizen farms, cultivation experience farms, harvest farms and Megumi-no-Sato districts.

練馬区, 東京都都市整備局 · 練馬区 農の風景育成地区計画 · Japan

Nerima's landscape conservation plan for Minami-Oizumi and Takamatsu under Tokyo's Agricultural Landscape Conservation District system, positioning ward allotments, experience farms, farm stands and food-education events as integrated public farmland conservation and revitalisation.

Akira Tabayashi, Toshio Kikuchi, Toshiaki Nishino · Journal of Geography (Chigaku Zasshi) · Japan

This study discusses strategies for sustaining and developing agriculture in Japan, based on 10 sample studies across various regions, including urban agriculture in Tokyo. Key strategies include ensuring capable farm operators, promoting rational farm management with advanced technology, maintaining stable income sources, establishing multiple sales channels, and forming producer-consumer networks. The research highlights the importance of locational, physical, economic, social, cultural, and political conditions, particularly accessibility to large cities and favorable physical conditions for production.

In Sook Jo, Jung Min Choi · Residential Environment Institute Of Korea · South Korea; Japan

A case study investigated 8 community gardens in South Korea and Japan through field surveys and in-depth interviews with managers to develop a sustainable community garden management program. Findings indicated that active participant involvement is crucial, spatial layout and management should foster community, and different elements are important at each management stage. Early planning should consider maintenance elements, and governance should be participation-based, with measures needed to attract new participants due to aging populations.

ハジメ イシカワ, Hajime Ishikawa, 初 石川 · KeiO Associated Repository of Academic Resources (Keio University) · Japan (Tokamachi, Uji, Kamiyama)

This research aimed to establish a method for discovering, verbalizing, visualizing, and evaluating the "living scene" created by residents as a base for local identity and a local resource, and to clarify its sharing method. In 2020, in collaboration with local residents in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture, and Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, the study practiced verbalizing and sharing regional landscape elements through the production of landscape field guides. In Tokamachi City, private house gardens were measured and field guides created, while in Uji City, open spaces, green areas, and waterways were mapped, and community garden designs were proposed. In Kamiyama Town, fieldwork was abandoned due to COVID-19 countermeasures, and interview surveys were conducted using media such as telephone and email.

Ryo Iizuka, Kei Ota, Toshio Kikuchi · Journal of Geography (Chigaku Zasshi) · Japan (Kodaira City)

This study explored the growth and sustaining strategies of urban agriculture based on diversified agricultural management and interactions with urban residents, using Kodaira City, Tokyo Metropolis, as a case study. Analysis of previous literature, public survey data on the spatial distribution and classification of agricultural management patterns, and interviews with farmers revealed interactions between farmers and urban residents. In Kodaira City, interactions exist between farms and urban residents based on agricultural management, with distinct patterns influenced by local characteristics. These interaction styles prevent excessive competition, attract stable customers, and enable sustainable management.

Yusuke Aoki, Norihiro Nakai, Mamiko Numata · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan

This study investigated the possibility of applying development rights transfer to preserve urban agricultural land in a depopulating society, focusing on transferring development rights from urban agricultural land to city centers. The research calculated transfer rates using land price ratios and the land residual method, then applied these rates to hypothetical projects. It was found that in areas like Marunouchi and Ginza, a single project could transfer all development rights for Setagaya Ward's agricultural green spaces, while other areas required a combination of multiple projects.

Mitsuhito HOSAKA, Takeshi Sato · JOURNAL OF RURAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION · Japan

This paper reviewed research trends on urban farming in Tokyo, focusing on public benefits of Tokyo's agriculture and farmland, agricultural business management, and the effects of urban farmland policies like the Amendment of Productive Green Land Act. The research identified the necessity for sustainable academic research, improved databases for quantitative analysis, and economic evaluation of intensive agricultural production technology.

Francesco Letteriello · · Japan (Nishi-Tokyo)

This research focuses on the role of urban agriculture within the UN New Urban Agenda, noting that 54% of the world's population lived in urban areas in 2015, projected to rise to 66% by 2050, leading to urban overcrowding. Nishi-Tokyo's municipality is interested in revising its Master Plan to protect "Productive Green Zones" which will lose their status in 2022. The study aims to analyze the importance of multifunctionality in urban agriculture as a driver for resilient cities, comparing urban agriculture in Italy and Japan, and deepening the context of Nishi-Tokyo through literature, interviews, and field analysis.

賢二 徳田, 春霞 李 · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan (Kawasaki City)

This study examined the current state of urban agriculture in Kawasaki City and the effectiveness of its multifaceted agricultural innovation policies. In Kawasaki City, while urban farmland is decreasing due to population growth and urbanization, there is a movement towards high-value-added agriculture utilizing ICT, as well as promoting local production for local consumption through new variety development, improved distribution channels, market mechanisms, and collaboration with local retailers. The city aims to improve agricultural management and enhance value creation as an industrial policy, and to ensure appropriate use and conservation of urban farmland as a social policy, thereby building a high-value-added supply chain.

Benjamin N. Klaiman, Clayton LeRoy Besch, Connor Robert Lepage, Sean Patrick Duffy · Digital WPI · Japan

This student project focused on the Gojo Rakuen area in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, recording the function of each building, interviewing business owners, and producing a map of streets, buildings, greenery, and pedestrian flow. It concludes that changes such as increasing lighting, attracting more shops and services, and repurposing underutilized lots into bike parking or community gardens could help draw people back to the area.

· 法令（e-Gov法令検索・501AC1000000019） · Japan

The 2019 act promoting food-loss reduction as a national movement, assigning roles to government, business and consumers and supporting food banks — policy context for community food redistribution and children's cafeterias.

· 農林水産省 農村振興局 · Japan

Certifications under the Urban Farmland Leasing Facilitation Act for FY2018 — the first year after the scheme began on 1 September 2018, and the starting point of the time series.

消費者庁 · 消費者庁 · Japan

This Consumer Affairs Agency page summarizes Japan's Food Loss Reduction Promotion Act, promulgated 31 May 2019 and enforced from 1 October 2019, which sets out national and local government responsibilities and the framework for a basic policy on reducing food loss. A second basic policy was adopted by cabinet decision on 25 March 2025.

· 農林水産省 · Japan

Official explanation of the 2018 Urban Farmland Lease Facilitation Act, which lets motivated urban farmers, companies, and NPOs lease productive greenland to cultivate or open community farms, excludes statutory lease renewal, and preserves the inheritance-tax deferral after leasing.

Sioen G.B., Terada T., Sekiyama M., Yokohari M. · Sustainability 10(2):435 · Japan

Using GIS grid-cell analysis, the study quantified vegetable-weight and key-nutrient self-sufficiency for each land-use pattern in Tokyo, showing how mixed agricultural and urban land uses contribute to resilience. Tokyo's fruit-and-vegetable self-sufficiency was estimated at 4.27% currently with a potential of 11.73%.