Research & reports

福本 優, 大平 和弘, 藤本 真里, 赤澤 宏樹 · 都市計画論文集 55巻3号 pp.777-782 · Japan

A case study of self-managed development parks under green-space agreements in private developer condominium projects in Kobe, analyzing spatial typologies and owner maintenance attitudes and showing the need for design guidance toward open green management including community gardens.

小杉 理理子 · 日本不動産学会誌 34巻2号 p.108 · Japan

Introduces the Kamigo Neopolis machizukuri agreement between Yokohama City and Daiwa House Industry, reporting collaboration among residents, government, and the developer to regenerate a suburban detached-housing district through gathering spaces and community building.

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

A milestone report marking transition from developer-led (Daiwa House, Sumitomo Fudosan, Cosmos Initia, etc.) to resident-led governance at former Hibarigaoka Danchi, documenting operation of Hibari Terrace 118 with its shared garden and the evolution of machizukuri.

greenz.jp · greenz.jp · Japan

An in-depth feature by the social-design media greenz.jp interviewing Minna no Uen founder Yasutaka Kaneda, detailing his shift from architecture to farming and how he turned about 1,000 sqm of vacant houses and lots into a curiosity-driven community garden.

森川洋 · 人文地理（人文地理学会）72(3), 299–315 · Japan

A critical examination of Japan's 'regional revitalization' policy (against depopulation and Tokyo over-concentration), arguing that rural decline cannot be halted without dispersing Tokyo's functions, and weighing both the importance and the limits of 'small hub' development.

· Journal of Clinical Medicine · Japan

An RCT assigned 89 older adults with depressive symptoms and mild memory decline to exercise, horticultural, or control groups; the horticultural program comprised 20 weekly 90-minute sessions of field cultivation, growing, and harvesting.

Ikuko Omi, Tôru Nakayama · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan

This study documents the five-year process of establishing and developing civil agriculture organizations to enable suburban residents to participate in urban agriculture. It identifies various conditions necessary for success, including initial investment, cultivation training, farmland conditions, and sales. The study also clarifies the relationship with local government and farmers, and notes that members began developing their own agricultural techniques once the organization's operations stabilized, revealing diverse roles and issues within these groups.

Naomi Shimpo · Toshi keikaku hokokushu/Toshi keikaku houkokushuu · Japan (Tokyo)

This paper investigated the establishment and management of a community garden opened by an NPO on vacant land in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. Interviews and document analysis revealed that the garden was established to cultivate traditional vegetables to foster human interaction, and the NPO status was acquired to receive municipal subsidies and potentially resolve property tax issues. NPO status is considered advantageous for the economic stability of community garden operations.

Takeshi So · The Japanese Journal of Real Estate Sciences · Japan

This study discusses urban agriculture in Japan from three perspectives: suburban farming, urban farming, and isolated farming operations within urban areas. Despite its historical impact on urban planning, urban farmland has dramatically decreased and currently hinders real estate business and new business creation. It is suggested that economic rationality and public interest should be prioritized, and tax incentives for urban farmland should be reconsidered in a stepwise manner.

Seiichiro Shiozawa · The Japanese Journal of Real Estate Sciences · Japan

This study examined the "2022 problem" in Japan, concerning the potential mass conversion of farmland designated as Production Green Space into residential land. It notes that these concerns have receded due to legal amendments and system establishment following the 2016 Basic Law for the Promotion of Urban Agriculture. The study suggests that future urban development should utilize urban farmland to increase regional value, proposing three key actions: establishing cooperation between urban farmers and residents, creating district-specific community development systems, and promoting appropriate land use.

Keshav Chandra · Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research · Japan

In Japanese agriculture, women's participation is progressively increasing, and there is a close relationship between attracting youth to agriculture and achieving food self-sufficiency. Urban agriculture is developing as a new trend in Japan. New trends such as organic farms, robotics agro, urban agriculture, and increasing women's participation are emerging, which can accelerate the pace of agricultural development in Japan.

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."

Shingo YOSHIDA · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

This study examined the interaction between farm development and diversification in 18 peri-urban farms in Japan's Kanto region. Farm structural diversification was categorized into four types: highly diversified, complementary enterprise, search and selection, and non-diversified. Farms exhibiting entrepreneurship, management skills, and active social networks achieved development across all categories. Diversification in highly diversified and search & selection types interacted with the internal farm environment, but had little impact on management in complementary enterprise types.

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.

Ken Muramatsu, Akane Bessho, Takahiro Yamazaki, Akiko Iida, Makoto Yokohari · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan

This study examined "Katte-Kosaku," unauthorized cultivation on the riverbed of the Hanami River in Chiba City, Japan, from a social well-being perspective. It found that the practice has a welfare function that improves the quality of life of socially vulnerable people, and that a certain number of people in the surrounding community tolerate the activity.

Machida D. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(8):1389 · Japan

A web-based cross-sectional survey of community-dwelling older adults in Japan examined links between community or home gardening and health-related indicators. Gardening with others was significantly associated with exercise habits, physical activity, vegetable intake and neighborly connections, and with higher subjective happiness and sense of purpose, supporting gardens as a means to counter isolation among the elderly.

· 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.

Kashiwagi J. · 農業経営研究 (Journal of Farm Management Economics) · Japan

Using case studies of a manufacturer (Company G) and a food-service firm (Company T) running fully controlled artificial-light plant factories in Japan's Kanto region, analyzes how inexperienced firms raised productivity, exploring corporate urban vegetable production.

東急不動産株式会社 · 東急不動産 プレスリリース資料 · Japan

Completion materials for Tokyu Fudosan's Branz Nerima Nakamura Minami condominium, planning resident-only 'Hagukumi Garden', a kitchen lounge, and compost-chair food-waste cycling in partnership with Agrimedia for food education and garden community.

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.