Abstract
Rural environment can be classified into two types, the one as the basis of farm production and the other as the condition of rural life. The main interest of agricultural policy of national government during the early period after the world war Ⅱ was oriented to the former type of environmental improvement, which elevated not only the agricultural productivity but also the life level of rural inhabitants. Thereafter environmental development raised the promotion of the quality life, which has produced other requests for rural environmental improvement.
In this paper, the auther discusses the environmental development of post world war Japan in four sub-periods： （1） food product increasing period, （2） agricultural basis adjustment period, （3） life environment orienting period, and （4） vitalization orienting period. At present the Japanese environmental improvement should seek new interest as “real abundance” , “beauty” for the quality of life.
