Changing Rural Areas as the Object of Rural Planning in Japan

Abstract

Activities which take place in rural areas have changed remarkably over the past years. It is very difficult to give a concise definition of rural planning today. The objective of this paper is to provide a realistic interpretation of how rural areas in Japan are changing in order to begin clarifying the future of rural planning. Japan is one of the most densely inhabited countries in the world. The country is mountainous and covered with forested areas which are too steep to develop. Relatively flat lands have been used for agriculture intensively. Japanese agricultural history is very long: rice cultivation started about two thousand years ago.