Abstract
This article investigates the position of the farmers' market in the globalizing agro-food system in Japan. The farmers' market is not a closed system separated from the globalizing economy and society, but an open system in the trend of globalization. Therefore there is the possibility of its being affected by the forces of other marketing channels. But the farmers' market still has some characteristics that contribute to its ability to overcome or mitigate the negative aspects of the globalization of the agro-food system. By applying the framework for investigating industrialized society elaborated by I. Illich and the fordism-flexibility analysis, the author identifies alternative aspects of the farmers' market, such as the potential of easy entry for diversified farmers, the discovery of vernacular values, a flexible shipping system and the acquisition and utilization of information through communication among market participants. Remaining issues to be investigated are the significance of locality and the additional comparative analysis between the market and two other objects: the traditional market and the farmers' market overseas.
