Abstract

This paper studies the transition and actual condition of temporary labor in Japanese rice farming from the point of view of agricultural technology development, and uses national statistical data to research the ways to procure temporary labor. Temporary hired labor had decreased with the development of agricultural technology. However, it seems to have increased slightly since the 1990s. Temporary labor changed from hired workers to mutual help and unpaid assistants among farm households, especially for small or middle-scale paddy farming. Unpaid assistants are usually farmers’ children or relatives from farm households. They serve to maintain the rural area for the future. Agricultural work by absent successors of farming has decreased since the year 2000 and agricultural work by farmers’ children who are not successor of farming has increased.