This paper examines the medical and welfare effects of agricultural activities in helping hikikomori return to a normal social life. Such activities are viewed as one of the multi-functions of agriculture in Japanese agricultural policies. A theoretical framework was developed and used to evaluate the effects of a 10-month program for young hikikomori encompassing horticultural therapy and experimental social scientific approaches. The results demonstrate that this program has achieved substantial effects in improving the mental and physical abilities of hikikomori, such as power of concentration, communication skills and production efficiency, which have effectively contributed to gaining employment after the program. These results therefore suggest the existence of significant medical and welfare effects of agricultural activities in helping to support hikikomori’s return to a normal social life when the conditions are satisfied. However, the effects were surveyed only in a case study ; in considering further achievement for more hikikomori, ready access to recovery programs is needed by establishing a social service system through strengthening collaboration between the medical and agricultural fields.

Although a lot of literature about the 3.11 disaster has been published, the research trends remain fully unorganized especially in agricultural economics and rural sociology. Organizing the research trends is necessary for accumulating agriculture reconstruction studies. This study aims to show the direction of future agriculture reconstruction studies by organizing the research trends in social science from the perspective of literature theme and literature topic. The research trends organization shows some literature topics have the potential to become new literature themes, such as "caring for the independence of residents", "mismatch in the scene", and "future farmers."

The purpose of our study is to measure the impact of climate change caused by global warming on a regional economy through the fluctuation in agricultural production. We have some knowledge of the previous studies that climate change will affect differently the production of crops in each region. We find the following result by using a regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model comprised of six regions. In the western regions of Japan that future climate change will decrease crop productivity dramatically, those regional economies being supported by agriculture and the related food-processing industry will worsen and the economic welfare of those regions will decrease.

The present paper aims to analyze causative factors, especially climate factors, for improvement of total factor productivity (TFP) in dairy and beef cow production in Japan by using the panel-data econometric method. Empirical results demonstrated that a 1℃ increase in summer temperature against spring brings about a 2.0-2.6 % reduction in TFP of the dairy sector, but no significant change in the beef cow sector. Regarding socioeconomic factors, knowledge capital stocks which were accumulated by annual research and development investment played an important role in improvement in both sectors' TFPs. Enlargement of average farm size had positive effects only in the dairy sector. Therefore, it is important to increase knowledge capital stocks for canceling out negative effects of future global warming.

The objective of this study is to investigate relationships between environmentally friendly farming practices and farm size through a case study of the rice farming certification system and the 13 farms in Sado City. The main results are as follows. First, it seems that larger farms have an inclination to practice certificated farming and that the area a farm has has been annually increasing. Second, however, thus positive correlation does not exist for non-chemical farming, owing to weeding labor. Third, each farm practices either labor saving or mass input of the labor, depending on their form.

The objective of this study was to analysis the factors that lead to environment-frindly agriculture being adopted and to reveal which attributes of the rural community influence the adoption of environment-friendly agriculture. To examine coefficient between the ratio of environment-friendly agriculture and several environmental indices in Ibaraki Prefecture, we used small area statistics and GIS. The study concluded that environment-friendly agriculture is adapted in rural communities which have medium farm size, have young and full-time workers, have multi-farm enterprises and are located where many farmers live and have adapted to the climate in summer.

Governments implement various policy measures to improve the environmental performance of the agriculture sector, but their environmental impacts are difficult to assess quantitatively. This study analyzes the environmental performance of Japanese direct payment for environmentally friendly farming, by using the OECD's policy impact model. The results suggest that such direct payments can improve the level of nitrogen purification and carbon sequestration, while they increase the emission of ammonium. Policy measures bring several different impacts both to farm economics and the environment; thus it is important to understand their effects so as to improve the cost-effectiveness of agri-ennvironmental policy measures.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the multifunctionality of irrigation according to service science approach. First, the multifunctionality should be conceptually reconsidered as an agricultural water service through the operation of Land Improvement District (LID). Then, we conducted experimental workshop and questionnaire survey at Aichi-Yousui LID and estimated the potential needs of residents for the service using Best-Worst-Scaling method. The result shows a new water management business of LID would have the practical possibility of value co-creation as service industry because residents can appreciate specific agricultural water service based on application of multifunctionality.

The objective of this study was to conduct an empirical test of hypotheses which were pointed out in game theory analyses conducted in previous studies of WTO dispute settlement. To analyze how implementation of recommendations affects establishment of panels, this study clarified the relationship between previous game theory analyses and an empirical test and made a dummy variable which was set to 1 if the plaintiff had ever requested authorization to retaliate and was used as an explanatory variable for empirical analysis. It was shown that implementation of rulings and recommendations decreased the probability of early settlement.

This article analyzed brand-building of a tea manufacturer, using the case of Company A, in Xinyang City, Henan, which is a major production area of brand tea. The results are as follows. First, the company set up the high-quality production and sells its products for high prices. Second, it vertically integrated the growing process of raw tea leaf and marketing channels. Third, it built a line of products limited to high-quality tea, to urge consumers to buy them. Those efforts enabled the company to bulid its tea brand.

This study investigates the effect of the organizational reform of rural credit cooperatives in China on their credit expansion and analyzes quantitatively its impact on rural income. By using a panel dataset from 25 provinces over 22 years (from 1990 to 2011), this study shows that the credit is more expanded in less developed provinces since the reform. The econometric analysis finds that the credit successfully improved the income of rural households after the reform, but only in less developed provinces.

The paper aims to identify the determinants of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield for small scale oil palm farmers based on interview surveys in three study areas in Riau Province, Indonesia. The results of the regression analysis concluded that inputs of fertilizer and labor, tree age, human capital and the scale of farm are major factors enhancing FFB yield. Human capital represented as farmers' education years plays an important role in achieving higher productivity in the case of independent farmers, who cannot access technical and financial support from plantation companies as is the case of plasma farmers participating in collaborative schemes with the companies.

AWD (Alternate Wetting and Drying) irrigation has been promoted and disseminated as methane- reducing, yield-enhancing and cost-reducing technology in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta rice-producing area. Construction of a full dike system has allowed farmers to implement AWD 3 crop seasons per year. Individual irrigation management, additional canal construction and diffusion of small pumps are enabling factors for AWD dissemination. AWD facilitates synchronization of cultivation operation, harmonized water management, collective rice sale and mutual learning among farmers.

The objective of this study is to understand formation of consciousness about social customs regarding female labor in rural Turkey. The main outcomes are as follows. First, a village survey indicated that uniformity of members and the establishment process of villages are the main factors for difference in the closed nature of villages that shows the degree of resistance of social customs to external stimuli. Second, a household survey shows that the personal background of the household head and social customs affected consciousness about female labor participation, and that the effects of economic factors on the consciousness was different according to the level of the closed nature.

The purpose of this study is to clarify effective measures to promote farming with persons with disabilities in a local area. These measures are classified into four types. The first type is farmwork matching in rural areas. The second type is employment support for persons with disabilities at agricultural corporations. The third type is to support the entrance of special subsidiary companies into the agricultural sector in urban areas. The fourth type is comprehensive support of these types. These support systems form a kind of platform which promotes collaboration between agriculture and other industries in local areas.

This study examines the factors governing farm-support volunteer activities in Abiko. Since such an investigation, based on the hypothesis that activity satisfaction determines the frequency of participation in such activities, has arguably not been adequately carried out, we conducted statistical analyses (Ordered Logistic and Zero-Inflated-Poisson regressions) which made use of data captured through a questionnaire survey to the volunteers in two steps. The result revealed that satisfaction is determined by factors inherent to the activities, like the meaning of participation. The frequency of participation was determined by factors, such as age, that affect whether or not it is easy for the volunteers to participate.

The objective of this study is to clarify a role taken by the activity of local entertainment as a community of practice for sustaining and developing rural areas at "O" district in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, From interviews of members who preserve the local entertainment, the following four points were revealed: firstly, the lore process of the art was double-linear; secondly, the art had been handed down along with the physicality; thirdly, members had obtained the four learning through the activities; fourth, all members hoped to continue for the future of the activities.