In low upland and other agricultural areas, agricultural damage caused by wildlife continues to be a major problem. Various manuals, research materials, and research findings indicate the importance of implementing measures at village and community levels to control such damage. However, typical village residents or farming households are unfamiliar with the techniques and methods used as countermeasures against agricultural damage caused by wildlife. Thus, social education and community support have an important role to play in the effective implementation of control measures. In agricultural technology, such education and support has traditionally been carried out by agricultural extension workers and Japan Agricultural Cooperatives consultants ; however, their role in controlling agricultural damage caused by wildlife remains unclear. In this study, we selected prefectures considered to have a strong focus on countermeasures against agricultural damage caused by wildlife and investigated the content, degree of involvement, and evaluations of efforts to create villages resistant to such damage. Progress has been made in creating such villages in prefectures that had designated individuals responsible for community support of countermeasures against agricultural damage caused by wildlife within centers such as regional agricultural extension offices. In contrast, in prefectures that did not have such designated individuals, no progress has been made in community support, and the impact of countermeasures against agricultural damage caused by wildlife was unclear. The results of this study indicate the importance of designating individuals responsible for community support of countermeasures against agricultural damage caused by wildlife in prefectural government regional offices.

The farmland consolidation project in Funakawashin, Asahi Town, Toyama Prefecture, Japan was carried out in the late Meiji era. It garnered significant attention in the 1970s, as an example of village reorganization, when the rural comprehensive development project was about to begin. Two young large-scale landowners planned and led this consolidation project. The primary purpose of the farmland consolidation was to strengthen the production base of landowner management ; simultaneously, it also served as a hydraulic control measure by modifying river channels. The prefecture is located in the Kurobe River alluvial fan where flood control measures are indispensable for stabilizing agricultural production. Village reorganization was conceived in the context of improving agricultural production bases and hydraulic control measures. It was shown that the reorganization of villages helped to put in order agricultural land use, and simultaneously improved the convenience and comfort of agricultural production and living, and that the consolidation of cultivated land would be an opportunity to realize a physical plan for the village space. Techniques such as plot shape and topsoil handling adopted in farmland consolidation were creative and led the era. In this study, while focusing on the physical implementation of Funakawashinʼs land consolidation, settlement relocation, and river improvement carried out in an integrated manner, we consider their interrelationships and the significance of the project from the perspective of improving the physical infrastructure related to local production and living.

We developed and executed a management plan for the extermination of the invasive turtle Trachemys scripta elegans in a closed water body as a case study in the moats of Sasayama Castle, Tanbasasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture. We captured turtles using 150 traps baited with fish during 11 trapping intervals between July 2015 and September 2015, for a total of 1650 trap nights. We used the number of individuals caught per trap (Catch per Unit Effort, CPUE) as a measure of removal effectiveness and found that the CPUE of the baited traps decreased from 1.10 to 0.10 by the end of trapping in 2015. Since 2016, we used two types of traps, baited traps and basking traps, the latter designed to take advantage of basking behavior. The median CPUE of basking traps

was 1.15, whereas the median CPUE of baited traps was 0.15, indicating that the basking traps were more effective even when baited traps were present. We captured significantly more females than males with baited traps (Chi-squared test, p＜0.05), while basking traps used in conjunction with baited traps captured more juveniles (plastron length less than 50 mm) than the total number of individuals captured by basking traps. These findings suggest that for the effective removal of T. s. elegans, it is important to use a combination of different trapping methods.

Land fragmentation is a major obstacle to agricultural productivity improvement in Japan. Land Consolidation Banks (LCBs), which were established in each prefecture of Japan in 2014, aim to facilitate land consolidation and reduce land fragmentation. Many qualitative studies have been conducted to evaluate the performance of LCBs. However, few papers shed empirical light on the relationship between land fragmentation and LCBs due to the lack of adequate data. In this paper, we have created data from a large sample of farm plots in Hyogo Prefecture, processing these data using GIS software to calculate the degree of land fragmentation and quantitatively clarify the effects of the LCB in the prefecture on the improvement of land consolidation. The farmland plot data was created in the following manner : Data from the “Agricultural Land Information System” was collected using the web scraping method, these data then being attached to cadaster data in the targeted areas. The large sample of farmersʼ plots revealed that farmers who cultivate relatively large areas of farmland in the targeted areas had succeeded in enlarging their average plot size but had not succeeded in reducing the distance between plots. In addition, we applied propensity score matching to evaluate the impacts of the LCB in Hyogo Prefecture on the enlargement of farm size and on the reduction of land fragmentation. The econometric analysis based on community level data showed that the LCB has contributed to the transfer of farmland but has not contributed to the consolidation of spatially dispersed plots.

Judgement as Non-Farmland involves the designation system of Non-Farmland applied to nonrenewable abandoned farmland (Class B) provided by the Agricultural Committee. The purpose of this study was to clarify the details on how Judgement as Non-Farmland operates at the level of municipal government in the Area of Agricultural Land and why Judgement as Non-Farmland for the area is used by farmland owners. In accordance with the above purpose, we considered the effects of implementing Judgement as Non-Farmland in Area of Agricultural Land on the maintenance and management of farmland. Our investigation revealed that management policy of Judgement as Non-Farmland differs between the national and municipal levels. This difference might arise from the perception of local government in the area that the introduction of Judgement as Non-Farmland may promote the increase of class B farmland as Area of Agricultural Land in their location. Second, we pointed out that some owners have received a Judgement as Non-Farmland designation for their farmland on mountainside slopes and among the mountains in the Area of Agricultural Land due to ⑴ difficulty associated with converting land with low demand for development and ⑵ dues required by the Land Improvement District and the burden imposed by the municipal property tax. Thus, we indicated that implementation of Judgement as Non-Farmland in the Area of Agricultural Land may lead to the following unwanted outcomes : ⑴ deterioration of the Land Improvement District, ⑵ detrimental effects on surrounding farmland, and ⑶ difficulties associated with consolidation.

In 2010, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity （SCBD） and UNESCO initiated a joint project on Biocultural Diversity. Dialects are an important factor in conveying the culture of a region. However, the number of dialects has been decreasing in recent years. It is important to preserve the dialect names of freshwater fish as one of the measures to maintain Biocultural Diversity in paddy fields. This study examines the factors that contribute to the diversity of dialect names for freshwater fish. We investigated the dialect names of freshwater fish in the rural areas of Tochigi Prefecture. In this study, fish names were categorized into Category I, Category II, and Category III. Then, the fish names were divided into basic and modified parts. In addition, the basic part was divided into central and vernacular dialects. The results showed that fish names for fish species with vernacular dialect were abundant. Furthermore, vernacular languages were found to vary from river basins. The central dialect was found to have diversified modifiers. The diversification of modifiers was related to the suitability of the fish for eating. In many species of fish, the dialect names of fish were passed on to rural children. We discussed the important role of environmental education systems and peopleʼs participatory survey on paddy water creatures in the future to pass on the names of fish dialects to the next generation.

Agricultural Colleges (hereafter, ACs) located in each prefecture have training courses targeting middle-aged people who intend to start farming as well as educating courses targeting younger generation. However, both curriculums of the training courses and attributes of the trainees are also diverse in each AC. This paper aims to clarify the relationship between the traineesʼ attributes and their appreciation of the course curriculums with a focus on their potential managerial and entrepreneurial orientations by using data from a national questionnaire survey of ACʼs trainees classified into two types of course curriculums (full-year or mid-to-short term). Results are revealed as follows. First, their potential managerial and entrepreneurial orientations were different by their age, their family business (farmer or not), and their desired plans after graduation. Second, in the full-year course curriculum, trainees with strong management orientation were more satisfied with the various course contents. On the other hand, many of highly management-oriented trainees required higher quality of contents such as practical management skills and networking activities. Those results imply that mid-to-short term training courses have difficulty in improving their course contents to attract their potential entrepreneurs.

The aim of this study was to clarify how experiences with agricultural activities affect persons with mental health difficulties. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for persons with difficulties in mental health that are engaged in agriculture. The collected data were qualitatively and descriptively analyzed using the KJ method. A total of 13 persons were asked to participate in the study, including 1 farmer and 12 persons who had difficulties in mental health and used hospital day cares and/or support facilities for continuous employment. All agreed and were provided informed consent to participate in the study. For persons with mental health difficulties, by working in rice fields and other farm fields, they can stay active at outdoors and cooperate with colleagues to share the hard work of taking care of crops. As a result, they experience various scenes using their five senses, share the common place with their colleagues, and experience what they can do by interacting with various people. Our results found that feelings of self-esteem, self-confidence, and sense of security that are favorable to mental health were improved by being involved in agriculture.

Less developed rural China has been suffering from aging cadres for decades, while college graduates are facing serious employment pressure. Based on this situation, the Shandong provincial government initiated the Selected College Student Village Officials (SCSVO) project, establishing a labour circulation system between rural and urban areas for college students. However, the number of SCSVO students is growing extremely slowly, and there is a demand for more participants. Therefore, this study clarifies the key factors that influence college studentsʼ willingness to be candidates for SCSVO. This research highlights the target characteristics of potential SCSVO candidates and provides a direction for the further development of the current SCSVO project. It applies a binary logistic regression on original data collected through questionnaires and interviews. The results reveal that (1) 37% of the respondents are willing to join the SCSVO. (2) Students with the following objective factors are more likely to join the SCSVO: younger, male, majoring in education/agronomy/medicine, personal positive impression towards rural areas, cultural-difference tolerance, and consideration of parental attitudes; these factors have significant effects on studentsʼ willingness to join. (3) For the further development of the SCSVO project, the government and SCSVO-related organisations should further disseminate the attractiveness of rural locations, such as the low-stress working conditions and natural environment.

To realize sustainable and business-oriented green tourism, it is necessary to clarify the needs of travelers for “countryside stays” considering the in-market trend. The purpose of this study is to analyze travel motivations and travel preferences of urban residents for countryside stays. First, from the factor analysis of travel motivations for such residents, six factors emerged： four push factors（adoration, challenge, interaction, and rest） and two pull factors（experience learning, pleasure trip）. Second, by applying a non-hierarchical analysis, three types of travelers were classified based on these factors. The first is the “highly motivated type,” second is the “relaxed type,” and third is the “emergent interest type.” Third, to compare each type, different characteristics were clarified. The “highly motivated type” prefer agricultural experiences, farm-inns, interaction with local residents, and learning about the local community. The “relaxed type” prefer hot springs, natural sceneries, shopping, Japanese-hotels, and relaxing. Although the characteristics of the “emergent interest type” are not clear, the percentage of those who selected agricultural experiences was higher than that of the “relaxed type.”

These results imply that is important to provide services that are appropriate for each type. For example, diverse types of experiences are suitable for the “highly motivated type.” In contrast, services based on the concepts of scenery, beauty, food, health, and healing are suitable for the “relaxed type” and ‟emergent interest type” is not eligible to be invited.

Citizensʼ agricultural workshops are the places that the urban municipalities have established for the residents to learn about agriculture throughout their lifetime. These workshops tend to pervade urban areas in Japan since the 2000s, and it is expected that the workshops would contribute to promote “peopleʼs understanding of agriculture”, which is a major concern in the contemporary agricultural policy of Japan. Therefore, this study examined a wide range of the cases located mainly in the Nagoya metropolitan area, aiming at grasping diversified operations and challenges of the workshops and clarifying perspectives of raising human resources who comprehend various aspects of agriculture and support practically its sustainable development.

This study suggested a step-by-step system of agricultural education for citizens. The system is conceivable to consist of these three steps: 1）introductory learning of agriculture, food and environment in order to promote volunteer activities in demand for the city farm households and community gardens, 2）fundamental training of agriculture required for the single handed cultivation of small but self-sufficient parcel of farmland, and 3）community learning and development through the local agricultural activities. The workshops should take on basic part of the education system by collaborating with civic organizations.

And based upon a questionnaire survey and a long-term participatory observation, this study indicated that face-to-face interaction in the workshops is important to humanistic growth and comprehensive understanding of agriculture among the participants. As they are characterized by eagerness to learn and positive attitude toward local community activities, the interaction is, by strengthening these characteristics, to promote the bottom-up formation of a lifelong learning society putting the most importance on agriculture. The farming associations of former members of the workshops might play the critical role in its realization. Henceforth, social effects of the workshops on local communities and the dynamics of the alumni associations can be subject to further investigation.

However, the workshops hold institutional challenges. The greatest issue is to draw up a rural community plan in association with the lifelong learning plan, and to place the workshops legitimately within these plans.

Rural areas in Japan currently face serious problem of shortage in manpower with its shrinking and aging population, while the proportion of socially vulnerable people in population is growing. The paper aims to explore how such socially vulnerable and marginalized people can be empowered to be a part of rural community or even to be contributors of the society, ensuring well-being of such people. The study first positions “empowerment” in three dimensions of power 1) originated from strength approach from psychological viewpoint, 2) obtained through interaction with “ally” who support marginalized people to be a part of community from sociological viewpoint, and 3) attained through the process of gaining capabilities in relation with expansion of “agency (ability to act on behalf of what agent value and have reason to value)” from economics viewpoint. The analysis is made by closely looking at a case of social farming exercised by the CoCoRo Group, that empowers people with disabilities to work at farms. In order to examine the possibility of expanding the practice to rural community, a supplemental study on agriculture-welfare sector matching service of Nagano and Miyazaki prefectures is also conducted. It then discusses the critical role of ally who value human development rather than economic profit in its mission and decision-making, adjusting working environment to match with characteristics of people with disabilities, which enable people in diversity to work effectively in agriculture. It concludes that resilience and social sustainability of rural community require actions towards inclusive development with consideration of restructuring of rural community in which people in diversity have freedom to participate and be empowered as a member of community.

In this study, to describes about significance and process of creating “hazard map with agricultural information”. Recently, hazard maps are attracting attention due to it is increase natural disasters, however, it does not take into account information related to agriculture. Therefore, we tried to creating hazard map based on a new concept in case of Yura area, Gogoshima Island in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture. We emphasized the famerʼs knowledge and experience in the presses. In this study, three surveys were conducted in relation to the development of the agricultural version of the hazard map at Yura area, Gogoshima Island. The purpose of the first survey was to gather information on map making. A pre-map was developed based on the results of the first survey. The second survey used the pre-map to confirm the first survey and to add new information. In the second survey, new information was added, such as the condition of the landslide farmland and place names. The first and second surveys were conducted in a workshop format. The third survey involved reviewing the “The hazard map with agricultural information version Mar. 2020”. We then discussed how to use the maps and where to store them, but this discussion was initiated voluntarily by the farmers. The creation of the map not only fosters residentsʼ awareness of future disaster prevention and mitigation, but also serves as a model for rural communities that are resilient to disasters and can be restored and reconstructed at an early stage, and the hazard maps we created will be used in the future for inheritance of knowledge and at new disasters.

I discussed how a flower landscape of native wildflowers is capable of functioning as a device for revitalizing the community as in the case with Shortia uniflora and Erythronium japonicum, which bloom in early spring. A starting point was to have been encountered with the flower landscape by a key person in the local community on both of the two activity sites. The impression at that time was motivating； forest floor management for conservation of the target wildflowers had been resumed, and a walkway for visitors was being maintained. They had begun to collect a cooperation fee for parking or entrance fee because of the increase in visitors, and spent that on managing the habitat and maintenance of the walkway. However, they recognized that the rewarding aspect was more important than the financial aspect. They were conscious that their activity played a role in revitalizing the community, and they were enjoying that, including the hard management work. As a result, the secondary forests opened to the public were managed properly, the habitat of the target wildflowers was conserved, and the flower landscape was also being expanded. It was also key to easily understand the correspondence between conservation of the flower landscape and the forest floor management because both wildflower species were low herbaceous perennials, which tended to undergo thicketization of the forest floor vegetation when management was abandoned. We need to learn about the intersection of agricultural and forestry activities and the growth of native species to create a spectacular flower landscape.