Gakunosha founded by Sen Tsuda─an advocator of agricultural enlightenment during the Meiji era─has contributed to the modernization of agriculture in the countryside mainly through their publication of the “Nogyo Zasshi”. In the Matsumoto region of Nagano, the Matsumoto Agricultural Association was established in the 1880 and took on the task of revolutionizing agriculture in the region, led by entrepreneurial farmers inspired by Sen Tsuda and Gakunosha. In this article, we show that this association which existed until 1897 had revitalized local agriculture even through hard times, such as by introducing the cultivation of apples, grapes, and potatoes in the Matsumoto region. There is evidence that many local agricultural associations such as the one in Matsumoto were established around Japan during the early years of the Meiji era, but their members and activities are unclear. In order to further our understanding the history of agricultural development in the Meiji era, it is imperative to research various Local Societies of Educated Farmers and shed light on the full scale of their activities, and this article can be considered as the first step in that effort.

Discussions on the commencement of the Pacific War were conducted in conferences (which included Japanese government and military participants) held from autumn to early winter of 1941. In this paper, conference discussions related to the food supply issue are examined. Customs statistics from the mainland, Korea, Taiwan, as well as data from the Ministry of Agriculture, reveal that there were many weak points in the food supply and demand situation, not only with respect to rice but also wheat, other cereals and soybeans. Under such conditions, why was the final decision to engage in war? It was found that the administration of the conferences was a significant factor. At that time, there was no unified food organization in the “Empire of Japan,” and no qualified experts in the field attended the conferences. Moreover, the conferences lacked the tradition of discussing worst-case scenarios. This and other aspects of the conference structure led to a failure to appropriately consider the consequences of an inadequate food supply.

The purpose of this study is to examine the regional characteristics of livestock, to estimate the number of Embryo Transfers (ETs) for Wagyu beef calves in Japan, and to clarify the relationship between regional characteristics of livestock and number of ETs. The results of the analysis lead to the conclusions that the ratio of small-scale farms is decreasing while the ratio of middle- and large-scale farms and the ratio of farms in the Hokkaido, Kyushu and Okinawa areas is increasing. Futhermore, the ratio of ET calves to all Wagyu calves has increased to more than 10%. It is also found that the relationship between regional characteristics of livestock and the ratio of ET Wagyu calves can be explained by 3 relational factors in Japan. This result shows that ET activitiy is affected by regional livestock characteristics.