Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to make clear the structural change in Japanese agriculture and to show how farmers and consumers are trying to overcome the present difficulties. In this connection, the reevaluation of the multiple functions of agriculture is underlined.
Agriculture in Japan is now facing a critical situation. Its decline has given rise to a lot of problems in the eating habits of the Japanese. On the other hand, it has also induced new movements, such as organic farming and the direct delivery of agricultural products to consumers from the places where they are grown.
These movements reflect a growing tendency to evaluate not only the economic role of agriculture, but also the essential part it plays in matters concerning human existence such as education and the concervation of national land. They can be regarded as reactions against the present situation where the social system which is working on an economic basis and the system in which we usually interact are becoming greatly disunited. These reactions are particularly remarkable in agriculture because agricultural work has the striking characteristic of being thought of as “work” which is deeply connected with everyday life rather than as “labor” which is exclusively considered as a means for earning money.
