The purpose of this article is to point out a wide gap between the transformed farm family construction and rather rigid agricultural policies in postwar Japan, concluding that the latter’s fundamental remaking would be inevitable. The Japan’s agricultural policy, primarily carried out after the land reform in the 1940’s, has been continuously formulated in accord with small landed farmers viewed under the traditional stem family system. Since our economy grew rapidly in 1960’s, however, the farm families had to undergo the following two drastic changes. （1） Under the influence of urbanization, the rural family structure differentiated among regions. In remote provinces, the younger generation rushed to major cities, leaving their old parents. In adjacent land around cities, on the other hand, individualistic diversity has emerged in place of the former sense of paternalistic unity developed from stem family system. （2） Momentous changes occured demographically, including an outflow of yonger generation into big cities, a fall of birthrate and the aging rural population. Reflecting these changes, the status of the successor came to be of critical significance whether their families keep continuing or not in the near future. The principle of Japan’s unaltered agricultural policy has been failing to cope with these new trends of rural family construction. As a result, the traditional familism lingered unchanged, and the rural women were made the major victim of the policy. The Japan’s agricultural policy has been, not apparently but latently, practicing sex discrimination. For example, female farm managers are still exceptional ones today in spite of their high potential for it. In conclusion, this article stresses that a newly designed agricultural policy would be established in harmony with the transformed farm family construction and also with the elevated potential of rural women in Japan.
