Japan: Countryside as Playgrounds Flashcards
Allotment gardens during the war years?
Grew in popularity similar to the USA and UK who were ‘digging for victory’
When did allotment gardens first emerge?
1920s (Kinoshima, 1994)
Allotment gardens post war?
Popularity declined in the post war years owing to connotations of loss.
Japan didn’t ‘dig for victory’ in the sense the British and Japanese did - instead they lost the pacific war.
Post-war Japan starts rapid economic development. What happened to the allotment gardens?
Allotment gardens didn’t match Japan’s drive for economic growth and industrialisation.
There was mass urban sprawl but it was discontinuous - farmland remained unused in urban settings but planning laws and agricultural laws meant farmers were unable to rent out land. Licensing and legislation issues meant that where land could be used - it often wasn’t employed for allotment uses.
Economic development leads to economic miracle….residents to pursue what and why?
Increased quality of life through leisure activities.
Political reason for government to promote tourism and rural development?
External pressure from the USA - Japan exported far more than it imported from the USA….to help offset the difference in trade, the USA wanted Japan to promote tourism. It could achieve this by promoting tourism in rural areas.
Post-war land reform occurs. What did this do?
Absentee land owners lost their land. It was subsequently divided into small plots of family owned land. Under these structures legislation forbade farm owners renting out land for use as allotments.
Concerns begin to rise for villages and the country side - why?
Rural - urban migration = ageing population, more elderly farmers, more farmers working part time.
Fujita, 1993
Government try to counteract issues in the countryside. How?
Government gives grants to promote villages and attract individuals back to farm work. Triggered increase sale of goods appealing to city dwellers incl fresh village produce.
Government tries to promote tourism…new method = allotment gardens. Purpose - attract individuals back to farming and rural areas, promote more sustainable development and prevent unused land becoming overgrown and unusable in the future…..
What appended in 1975?
.
