This thesis is the report of surveying the field of Kawakami village, Nara Prefecture. Kawakami village is the advanced area of Japanese cedar in Japan. The characteristics of Yoshino forestry area are stated with the first chapter. The organization of the forestry labor union in Kawakami village and history of the activities are stated with the second chapter.
　　　The community organization movement done after two dam construction is followed and the ideology of community organization and the plan were explained with the third chapter. The preservation of forest resources and development of sightseeing were made as a basic policy. The forestry countermeasure being written in the plan was examined at the end.
　　　There were two proposals of paying attention to the labor countermeasure. Firstly, woods volunteer is expected to be a new forest worker. I pointed out that the agreement among the basin inhabitant was necessary first.
　　　Secondary, as for the improvement of working condition, it is said that increase of income of forestry worker is necessary. I pointed out that governmental aid is necessary under the present bad condition.
　　　Forestry work must be evaluated as for contributing to the environment preservation. Direct income compensation should be paid to the forestry worker.

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　　　The purpose of this paper is to investigate the actual condition of outflow of youth by an educational problem in a village on the outskirts of Taegu Metropolitan City in Korea, and clarify the factors.
　　　In Korea, a large population has flowed out from the rural area due to the economic growth since the 1960’s. Even on the outskirts of Metropolitan City, we can often observe a large outflow of youth and the increasing proportion of the aged.
　　　In this case, there can also be found a large outflow of youth and the increasing proportion of the aged. The direct reason of the outflow of youth is, in most cases, an educational problem. They make their children transfer to the elementary school in the city. This can be regarded as a family strategy for social upward mobility to get out from painful agriculture. The location of the outskirts of the city is expanding a possibility of realizing the family strategy for social upward mobility. Moreover, among the factors of these backgrounds, there are some basic factors that are caused by the characteristics of social structure of Korea, as well as economic factors.

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　　　The Japanese government inaugurated the Home Life Improvement Extension Service (HLIES) in 1949 during the postwar reform era, as recommended by General Head Quarters. The mission of the HLIES was to democratize rural society and to raise the status of rural women by increasing farmers’ awareness of their difficult lifestyles and helping them to independently rationalize their daily lives. The HLIES continued throughout the legislating of the Agricultural Basic Law in 1961 and the era of high economic growth, adapting itself not only to the changed circumstances, but also to the subsidy-dependent Japanese administration system.
　　　This paper focuses on Yamaguchi, a prefecture well known for its great efforts in support of the HLIES and farm women. We intend to clarify firstly the development of the HLIES on a prefectural level compared with the national level, and secondly how rural women involved themselves with rural society through home life improvement practice groups and the like in the era of postwar reform. For these purposes, the author analyzed texts and monthly papers for HLIES advisors, training course memorandums and the minutes of meetings published by Yamaguchi prefecture. In addition, she interviewed leaders of home life improvement practice groups and HLIES advisors from the post-war era to record their personal experiences.
　　　The paper concludes firstly that Yamaguchi Prefecture designated rural women as ‘HLIES assistants’ and had close personal contact with the Ministry, facilitating the smooth diffusion of the Ministry’s HLIES concept. However, the Ministry’s policies were changed in accordance with Yamaguchi’s small-scale farming structure. Secondly, HLIES advisors found their tasks to be involved with all areas of farmers’ lives and they therefore had to solve other urgent problems such as parasites and malnutrition. Thirdly, in the postwar reform era of livelihood hardship, rural women had little chance to publicly express their own opinions and encountered friction with already-existing groups. Their participation in home life improvement practice groups and new skill acquisition also influenced people outside these groups to be aware of the irrationality of social relationships and farm management.

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　　　This paper examines the establishment and development of the farmer learning movement known as “Shonai Rounou Daigaku”.
　　　Agriculture was one of the many areas affected by the period of high economic growth in Japan. Many farmers were forced to seek outside work to supplement their income, thus increasing the number of part-time farmers.
　　　In the Shonai region at this time, ‘agricultural high school’ was viewed as the school attended by future successors of the family farm. One young graduate of this school felt that the agricultural knowledge he had acquired in his education was inadequate in the new economic environment.
　　　Accordingly, he established a voluntary learning organization, known as “Shonai Rounou Daigaku”. This young man was frustrated at the difficulties faced by farmers who made a living solely by farming. His objective was to find a way for farmers to survive without having to supplement their incomes with non-agricultural employment.
　　　“Shonai Rounou Daigaku” seminars were held 22 times between 1970 and 1993. One objective of the learning movement was to teach farmers better management skills. It was also hoped within the community that city workers would participate. Despite these intentions, the movement did not take off within the local community. This was because the farming community of the time had different priorities and objectives.
　　　In addition, non-agricultural workers felt that the problems of farming villages and agriculture were different to their own issues. These factors contributed to the gradual decrease in participants. Although “Shonai Rounou Daigaku” was unable to accomplish its original objectives, it was instrumental in getting its participants to become involved in regional activities. In this sense, it can be said that this learning movement became one of the supporting foundations of Shonai’s regional activities.

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　　　The purpose of this paper is to investigate how elderly people in rural areas think regarding the utilization of people and services offering them ‘personal support’. We focused on elderly people who live in areas where stem family households are still prevalent, and particularly on whether this family composition leads them to rely on their household members for support, or whether they seek support elsewhere. In addition, we examined whether or not their choice of support is influenced by compositional and/or structural changes within the stem family. We classified ‘personal support’ into three types: emotional support, short-term instrumental support (support for illness) and long-term instrumental support (care support).
　　　A survey of the elderly in the Rokugou region of Kuroishi city provided the following results: Firstly, the elderly have high expectations that members of their households will provide all types of support. Secondly, neighbors or children living apart from their elderly parents are helpful if emotional or illness support is required. The nature of this support is the ongoing form of mutual assistance that generally exists within these relationships. Thirdly, formal services are useful as a substitute for household members in cases where care support is needed. Some households are no longer able to support the elderly due to compositional changes within the family or because the norm for elderly support is weakening. Also, many children are no longer engaging in agricultural production or taking over the family farm. The elderly’s desire to maintain agricultural production is another reason why formal services were deemed necessary.

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