Agriculture <\/p>\n
High-tech urban farming: A new hope for Japan?Learn about urban farming in Japan, which relies on LED lighting and hydroponics.(more)<\/p>\n
See all videos for this article<\/a><\/p>\n Because of the country\u2019s<\/a> mountainous terrain, the supply of agricultural land is limited. Japan\u2019s largely infertile and immature soils require careful husbandry and fertilization. However, Japan\u2019s relatively wet climate provides the country with considerable freshwater supplies. The general reliability of the precipitation pattern, coupled with Japan\u2019s extensive network of rivers that can be used for irrigation, make possible extensive wet-rice (paddy) cultivation.<\/p>\n Agricultural production has remained relatively stable since the 1990s; however, for many years agriculture has accounted for only a tiny fraction of the GDP<\/a>. The agricultural sector continues to employ a relatively large proportion of the working population compared with its contribution to national income, but many farmers have left agriculture for employment in manufacturing and the service sector<\/a>, and most others rely on outside occupations for a substantial part of their income. As younger people left the farms, the median age of farmers rose steadily.<\/p>\n Japanese agriculture is characterized<\/a> by a large number of small and often inefficient farms. Larger farms generally are found in Hokkaido<\/a>, where units of 25 acres (10 hectares) or more are fairly common. The country\u2019s principal crop is rice<\/a>. Other important farm products include wheat<\/a>, barley<\/a>, potatoes<\/a>, fruits, vegetables, and tea<\/a>.<\/p>\n Japanese burial ground<\/a>Burial ground with harvested rice fields in the distance, Tottori prefecture, Japan(more)<\/p>\n The government\u2019s agricultural policy has encouraged self-sufficiency in the more important commodities, although that goal has been achieved only for rice and sweet potatoes (and by 2000 domestic production for both commodities was less than what was needed). Thus, in reality, nearly half the country\u2019s food requirements must be imported. A central feature of the policy of self-sufficiency has been strong protection for local rice production and an artificially high producer price for rice. Legislation enacted<\/a> in 1995 sought to introduce market principles in the agricultural pricing structure and to place more importance on the needs of consumers. Rice imports were partially liberalized that same year, and the ban on imported rice was removed in 1999, though steep customs duties have remained in place.<\/p>\n Livestock raising, an important farming activity, is generally practiced on a small scale; the largest dairy and beef cattle herds are in Hokkaido. Most feeds must be imported, and production costs are high. In addition, after beef imports were liberalized in 1991, foreign competition began forcing farmers to adopt more efficient production methods and sped up the process of creating larger, more commercial livestock operations.<\/p>\n Forestry and fishing <\/p>\n Timber resources are extensive, consisting of broad-leaved and coniferous forests, but much of the forestland is located in inaccessible mountain areas. Most of the forest area is privately owned, and much of it is distributed among a large number of relatively small holders. The rest is publicly owned; large-scale reforestation has taken place in these areas, especially those that were excessively logged before and during World War II<\/a>. However, despite Japan\u2019s considerable forest cover, forestry is a marginal<\/a> activity. In part this is because of the inaccessibility of many of the best stands, but it is also because the domestic logging sector is highly unprofitable, beset with high labor costs, an aging workforce, and other inefficiencies. Even with the addition of limited logging in reforested areas, domestic production cannot come close to satisfying Japan\u2019s huge demand for timber, and the great bulk of Japan\u2019s wood needs are imported.<\/p>\n Ancient tradition of cormorant fishing in JapanLearn about cormorant fishing, a traditional method of fishing practiced in Japan that uses trained birds.(more)<\/p>\n See all videos for this article<\/a><\/p>\n Japan relies heavily on the sea as a source of food. It has one of the largest fish<\/a> catches of any country in the world, much of it derived from long-distance deep-sea fisheries. In spite of its dominant international position, the Japanese fishing sector faces some serious problems. Local fisheries are depleted by overfishing and pollution, especially in the Inland Sea, while deep-sea fishing must contend with restrictions placed upon it by countries that claim a 200-nautical-mile (370-km) economic zone in their coastal waters. The number of workers engaged in fishing has declined sharply, and, as with agriculture, the fishery worker population has aged rapidly. Thus, domestic production has been edging down for decades, and imports of fishery products exceed exports. Aquaculture of fish, shellfish (notably clams and oysters), and seaweed is of increasing importance; in addition, cultured<\/a> pearls long have been significant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Agriculture High-tech urban farming: A new hope for Japan?Learn about urban farming in Japan, which relies on LED…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[185,184,183,182,8,177,179,180,178],"class_list":{"0":"post-8366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-britannica","10":"tag-encyclopeadia","11":"tag-encyclopedia","12":"tag-japan","13":"tag-japans-politics","14":"tag-japanese-politics","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-politics-of-japan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}