In the first half of the paper the author draws the readers’ attention to the usefulness of Fernand Braudel’s views of history as the basic theory of discussing the relations between capitalism and agriculture. Then he introduces Yanagida Kunio’s works related to the rural economy and society in Japan and tries to identify their relevance to the days of economic globalization in the 21st century.
In the latter half the author reviews the two researches focused on the formation of cooperative activities in the rural societies, which adopted the different methods such as econometric approach and in-depth case study. Then he emphasizes the urgent task of fuse or unite these two different approaches for achieving future development and globalization of Meso-Economics.

View full abstract

It is said that the influence of globalization upon Japanese regional agriculture and agricultural policies has been quite conspicuous and grave. This paper tries to achieve the following objectives: (i) to identify important occurrences which could be related to globalization in the past 20 years, (ii) to describe the transition of Japanese agriculture and policies in the same period, (iii) to survey the academic discussion concerning globalization from various points of view, (iv) to consider the above-mentioned discussion and to present its implications.
It was found out that the Japanese agricultural policies has been under the strong influence of globalization. However, all of the transition of Japanese agriculture cannot be attributed to globalization alone. There are internal factors and reasons behind the deteriorating situation of Japanese agriculture. Therefore, it is important to clarify those factors, and take measures appropriate to the corresponding causes.

View full abstract

This report, based on surveys of the actual condition and the present state, considered the continuance and development factors of agriculture-food cooperation efforts. The agriculture-food cooperation means the cross-sectional or partnership (capital, alliance, labor, skills, knowledge) between food and agriculture industries.
First, I sorted the situation out in accordance with categorized contents of agriculture-food cooperation and presented challenges. As a result, I found out (1) that the efforts are not fully understood, (2) that it seldom contributes to promotion of purchasing behaviors or activity participation of the people living in cities, and (3) that the management developments are getting sluggish or they are being out maneuvered due to the increased efforts of the saturated market.
Next, I showed the results of case researches in rehabilitation facility for mentally disabled “COCOROMI-Gakuen” and “Coco Farm & Winery” run by the facility. The facility has supported the independence of the people with disabilities through farm operations and production of wine, and the business has continued and developed for 60 years since 1950.
Based on the case analysis, I found that the cooperation aimed at challenges and the principle formulation are important for the continuance and development of efforts and that participations of various subjects who inherited the principle play a significant role.

View full abstract

Who maintains and creation the well-being of the regional community? The restructuring of the regional social system is required in light of the weakening community, and in an age when agriculture and forestry as a whole are shrinking in Japan. Though it is not easy to establish a new sustainable system in theory and practice, this paper addresses the problem from the standpoint of human resources and behavior in a practical case study of the rural area.
In the first part of this paper, the viewpoint and framework about the well-being and actors are presented from recent studies and discussion. Secondly, the development of the partnership of diverse actors was described by two case studies: the option transaction on forests, and the restructuring of the regional autonomy organization. Thirdly, the points and problems of the development of the partnership are set out. And finally, the role of the researcher and university as one of the actors is suggested.
The framework and the main point shown by this paper are useful for understanding regional activities. A further important point is its improvement on practice.

View full abstract