Agricultural Multifunctionality and Village Viability: a Case Study from Japan

摘要

Jointness is a key concept in the development of appropriate policy-making, especially in countries such as Japan which has many small-scale farmers working in geographically and ecologically complicated land situations. In Japan, a unit community (called Shuuraku) also represents a unit of everyday life. Therefore, the concept of agricultural activities in Japan cannot be disassociated from activities of everyday community life. Indeed, agricultural activities cannot be understood as pure units of production. Each unit of production, Shuuralku, requires a small irrigation system adjusted to the ecological conditions of its surrounding area and must be managed by the people living in that area. Rural life in Japan is changing and many residents of rural communities live in difficult conditions. The population of rural communities continues to decrease and it is becoming more difficult to maintain agricultural activities. This has the result of also making it extremely difficult to maintain everyday life in the rural community.