Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to study why the imported vegetables have been increasing recently and how the producing centers in Japan should cope with the imported vegetables. The conclusion is as follows. 1) In Japan, the imported vegetables have increased sharply since the middle of 1980's. The following three causes have promoted the increase: (1) Supermarkets have taken a large share in retail business; (2) Prices of the imported vegetables have depreciated as the yen has soared since 1985; (3) The vegetables producing power in Japan has declined since 1988. 2) The producing centers in Japan should cope with the imported vegetables as follows: (1) They should direct all their efforts to pushing bargains with supermarkets; (2) They should supply the differentiated vegetables; (3) They should raise the producing power through the division of labor and the regional distribution.
