抄録
Virtual water trade was originally a metric illustrating how food import potentially alleviates water shortage in the importing states and regions by reducing water demand for food production. However, now it is widely used to indicate exogenous water resources. It is known virtual water importing to Japan is relatively higher than other countries, but this has not been directly related to water shortage in developing countries. Nevertheless, quantitative estimate of virtual water import to Japan is gathering a lot of attentions. In this study, the transition of the virtual water import in 2010 was estimated. It was found that the total change is not substantial but the changes for each products were significant. Virtual water in crops increased from 36.82 (km3/year) in 2000 to 42.84 (km3/year) in 2010, and it decreased from 27.60 (km3/year) to 20.21 (km3/year) in meat. It was indicated the share changes of the United States (i.e. 6.67km3 of 7.39km3) mostly contribute to the total changes of virtual water imports in meat.
