Mowing grass for farmers is a very demanding task even though it does not produce value in agricultural production. Especially in mountainous areas, there are many steep slopes which require farmers to work very hard, and in the hot summer months, it can only be done manually for a short time, so the burden on farmers is very large, and it is a major obstacle for farmers. There is a problem of agriculture in Japan where the farming population is decreasing, but there are cases where new farmers give up on continuing because of the heavy burden of mowing grass. It is said that smart agriculture will save the declining agriculture, and there are high expectations for smart agriculture, but the current model called smart mower does not match the needs of the field. If a mower that meets the needs of the field is developed, we believe that it will greatly reduce the burden on farmers and will be a major force in promoting smart agriculture in Japan by continuing to focus on agricultural production for new farmers. In this research report, we will report the results of a survey aimed at clarifying the ideal form of a mower that matches the needs of farmers, and consider proposals for the future of mowing grass

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The wax tree Toxicodendron succedaneum is an invasive species commonly found in urban parks and gardens. In Japan, it was once planted in large quantities for the purpose of wax extraction. It is also believed to have been spread throughout Japan by fruit-loving birds. Since such wax trees grow in abundance in our neighborhoods, there have been attempts to collect the wax from this fruit in many places; however, it is considered challenging for the general public to easily collect wax from such wax trees. Therefore, in this study, an attempt has been made to verify the process – from the collection of the fruit to the purification of Japan wax – to investigate a simple and stable method of collecting Japan wax using cooking utensils that are commonly distributed and available to citizens and teachers, with reference to ancient production methods. The following seven were verified: how to collect and store fruit and for how long, how to separate fruit and stalks, how to separate pericarp and seeds, how to heat pericarp, press and squeeze method, separation such as wax. As a result, it was confirmed that there is an easy way to collect Japan wax in the modern age.

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This survey investigated the use of gardens at medical or welfare facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and their effect on garden users. Gardens are less likely to be the three Cs (closed spaces, crowded places, and close contact). Therefore, there were relatively few restrictions on use even in medical and welfare facilities. We found that gardens functioned as places where hospital outpatients, elderly care facility residents, and staff could feel safe. For volunteers working in the gardens, the opportunity to connect with others through the gardens even during the COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have contributed to maintaining their social health. In addition, facility staff may have used the gardens as a way to cope with the great stress of the infectious disease. This survey revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, gardens at medical or welfare facilities served as a place of refuge for people with various attributes who used the gardens.

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Among the various artworks installed in public spaces as public art, sculptures featuring nude female bodies have recently come under increasing debate over their social appropriateness, particularly from a feminist perspective. This paper examines the question of why nude statues are installed in public spaces. Realistic nude statues that are not in the style of Greek mythology installed in public spaces are rare even around the world, making this public art unique to Japan. In this paper, I investigated the history of the installation of each of the earliest eleven nude statues installed in the early 1950s. The installation of nude statues in public spaces, which began in the early 1950s, was not influenced by Western countries or the creative conditions of sculptors at the time, but rather was a proactive choice to depict nude statues. One of the factors that made this possible was that, unlike other countries such as Europe and the United States, in Japan, nude bodies and nude statues in public spaces are not rejected on religious grounds. Furthermore, it can be inferred that there was a desire for expression involving nudity, which had not been permitted freely since the Meiji period due to censorship and oppression. Having thus clarified the premise, I have made four observations.

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