Castle Towns

At the time of the Meiji Restoration, in 1868, some 250 castle towns (jokamachi) formed the core of a well developed urban network in Japan. Although constructed primarily as defended... Read more...
Omote-ura - Public and Private Faces

Omote (the public face) and ura (the private face) are twin concepts that are applied to almost any aspect of Japan or life in Japan. Omote refers to the image... Read more...
Kyoto Development Issues

Kyoto holds a unique position in Japan as the ancient, imperial capital and the cultural center of the nation. It was because of these reasons that the Japan specialists who... Read more...
Pilgrimage

The idea of making a pilgrimage to visit religious places is present in nearly every culture and religion. In Japan, it is typical of both major religions, Buddhism and Shinto... Read more...
Namiki

The idea of planting trees along the roadside to provide shade for travelers had occurred to the Chinese when they developed their highway system more than 2000 years ago. Almost... Read more...
The Ashita Honjin

Although only a small town, Ashita boasts the oldest surviving honjin on the Nakasendo. It has also been owned by the same family since its' original construction in the late... Read more...
The Shinkansen

The Shinkansen is commonly known outside Japan as the 'bullet train' but the word actually means 'new trunk line'. It is a high-speed passenger train system which now stretches from... Read more...
Landslides

The mountains in Japan are very steep and the rocks unstable due to weathering. Landslides are common whenever there are heavy rains. Many rural villages have established themselves along the... Read more...

Agriculture

Market Gardening

Since 1960, market gardening has been encouraged by the government as an alternative to rice cultivation which has long been seen as subject to low economic returns and to high price fluctuations due to over or under-production. Official policy encourages farmers to switch to money crops like vegetables and fruits. These often provide higher yields… [Read more]

Upland Farming

Only about 16% of Japan’s land is considered suitable for farming. This includes a considerable portion which is too steep to terrace for rice or other flat land crops which have a high yield and, usually, a high economic return. This land, however, is crucially important to agriculture. Many crops are suitable only to upland farming since… [Read more]

Rice Farming

Rice has traditionally been the main-stay of the Japanese diet. Until the most recent times, many people ate only rice, vegetables and pickles with an occasional piece of fish, chicken or other meat. Since rice provided most of the calories and a good portion of the vitamins and protein required for sustenance, successful cultivation has… [Read more]

Agriculture

Compared to other developed nations Japan has a relatively small amount of land available for agriculture. In fact, only 16 percent of the land surface is suitable for cultivation, yet a comparatively high proportion of the workforce is engaged in farming. As a result, Japan has one of the highest densities of farmers per acre… [Read more]