The Analysis of Japanese Food Deserts Issues

摘要

The purpose of this presentation is to provide an introduction of the Japanese food deserts issues. The food deserts issues are kinds of social exclusion problems including access of food, particularly food integral to healthy diet, for low-income households in poor neighbourhoods. These issues are developed especially in European countries. The main factors which cause European food deserts issues are the social exclusion and the poor food retail access. We can find similar factors in Japanese cities. Japan is facing a crisis of the rapid aging population and many persons of advanced years dwell in the downtowns districts. Moreover, the declines of downtown shopping streets are remarkable. As a result, the poor food deprivation problem occurs for the elderly living in downtown of local cities in Japan. In this presentation, the authors provide an introduction of the Japanese food desert issue based on the case study of a local city in the Tokyo metropolitan area. We will show the Food Deserts maps produced using GIS, and show the interviews and questionnaires surveys with the elderly living in Food deserts. The authors will also attempt to discuss the research agenda of Japanese food deserts issues.