Characteristics of Arable Land Use Change in Japan

Abstract

In this paper the author clarifies the change of field land use and its characteristics in the Kanto district according to analysis of cultivated acreage data by municipalities 1965 to 1985, which was edited by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery. Spatially field acreage by municipalities 1965 to 1985, in the Kanto district, increase with local pattern and decrease with regional pattern. These spatial patterns of increase or decrease have characteristics of both the circular structure and the east-west regional difference also. Direct or indirect influence of metropolitan urbanization is reflected in characteristic of circular structure on increase or decrease pattern of field acreage. Land condition such as alluvial plain and diluvial upland is reflected in characteristic of east-west regional difference on increase or decrease pattern on field acreage.Consequently increasing pattern of field land use is concerned with tendencies of both viable and part-time farming, so that viable farmers are developed with the enlargement of field acreage and some part-time farmers enlarge field acreage to compensate the losses of extensive land use. These tendencies convert mutually and reversely according to farmers' estimate of socio-economic environment and urbanization. On the other hand, decreasing pattern of field land use is concerned with urbanized and underpopulated area. In viable farming stage, decreasing pattern of field land use is able to be partly converted into increasing pattern according to enlargement of farming scale. But most decreasing pattern of field land use, in part-time farming stage, is not able to be converted into increasing pattern. Increasing pattern of urbanized and underpopulated area is not reversion, so that field land use change of decreasing pattern is uni-directional.