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Land use policy and control in Japan
Land use policy and control in Japan A.H. Dawson
Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and pressures upon its land resources have increased considerably as both the economy and the population have grown since 1950. Between 1968 and 1974 the Japanese introduced a complex, comprehensive and highly-integrated system of land use controls. This paper outlines the reasons for that introduction, describes the most important of the controls, reviews their effect in the period up to the early 198Os, and indicates some reasons for their failure to bring the allocation of land into line with the National Land Use Plan. Keywords: land controls; Japan: land use legislation Dr Dawson lectures at the Department of Geography, University of St Andrew& St Andrews, KY1 6 9AL, UK. The author thanks Professor Yukio Himiyama for commenting on this paper. Responsibility for the final draft lies, of course, entirely with the author.
54
Japan now supports about 120 000 000 people on a land area of 377 700 square kilometres. Moreover, two-thirds of the country are made up of and another tenth is hill land. As a either mountains or volcanoes. result, there is only about 0.05 hectare (ha) of agricultural land per capita, in spite of the creation of complex tiers of paddy fields not only on the valley floors but also on some of the hillsides; and urban areas are fabled for the smallness of their apartments and the narrow congested streets. On the other hand, rapid economic development since the Korean War of 195(&-53 has permitted considerable improvement in standards of nutrition and housing. In spite of a rapid increase in population, much marginal farmland in mountainous areas has been abandoned, and the area under double cropping has fallen drastically since 1955. The output of rice - the staple agricultural product - has exceeded demand since 1969. Yet, just at the moment when the pressure upon the land resources of the country - at least in the rural areas - seemed to be declining, the Japanese introduced a complex, comprehensive and highly integrated system of land use controls.
Reasons for controls Several factors contributed to the remarkable spate of land use legislation which was passed by the Japanese parliament (the Diet) in 1968-74. The Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 introduced large numbers of foreign civilians to the country for the first time since the second world war, and gave rise to widespread reporting of the problems of urban congestion. The rapid growth of industry, especially on the coast. led to the pollution of the sea. to ‘red tides’, and to many cases of poisoning. Some of these resulted in the famous ‘big four’ court cases in 1971-73, in which four industrial organizations were found to be at fault. Third, the migration of rural people to the cities, and the natural growth of population, gave rise to a huge expansion of the built-up area, especially on the few flat areas which were suitable for agriculture; and it is hardly surprising that, in these circumstances, the world shortage of wheat in the early 197Os, and the oil price increases of 1974, made the Japanese realize the strategic risks associated with their increasing dependence upon foreign imports of food, fuel and raw materials. Last, an enormous rise in land prices during 1972 and 1973 threatened the aspirations of all those in the cities who wanted to own their own homes,
0264-8377/85/010054-07$03.00
0 1985 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd
Land use policy and control in Japan
as well as the plans of government to provide schools, recreational areas and other space-using services. And so it was that the Diet enacted the City Planning Act of 1968, the Agricultural Promotion Areas Act of 1969, the National Environmental Conservation Act of 1971, and the .forest and Natural Park Acts, culminating in the National Land Use Planning Act of 1974. The impact of recent economic growth upon the pattern of land use may be seen in the fringes of the Tokyo conurbation. This city stands on the largest area of flat and low-lying land in Japan - the Kanto Plain which has traditionally been a major area of rice cultivation. However, the city and its commuter suburbs now cover much of the southern half of the Plain. Houses, factories, sporting facilities and educational establishments have been established wherever land could be acquired, and the area is crossed by motorways leading into and around the city. Figure 1 illustrates the complex and disorderly interdigitation of residential, industrial, transport and other land uses with what remains of dry fields, woods and orchards on the low plateaux above the valley of the river Arakawa in an area of 20 square kilometres on the north-west edge of the conurbation.
I To Central Tokyo (25 km!
Kev
0
Figure 1.Land use on the edge of the Tokyo conurbation in 1981. LAND USE POLICY January
1985
Dryfeldland (farmland)
Chief controls The current
zoning
Act
of
1968.
had
occurred,
railway
Shinjuku
area
partial
Tokyo,
identify
which
next
will wili
country,
more
and
planning
ZOIICS.
(Table
promotion ranging
first
for
70%
The
rest
other
Areas
use.
while
is divided
into under
For
ench of the 47 prefectures
land which
is usable
need
not
ment
of this
be under land or
Within
for.
cultivation.
rural
nature.
from
which ant’
the same
indeed half
promotion
pcrmittcd. ;lrc
within
thiy
l\bout
way
broad
should
areas
for
for
IWO\
is
f(>restrq Promotion
is required
likely the
to &limit
to be.)
Developis of ;III
new
use
lies
within
there
thcsc
land zones. of these
is ;I Iqc
to be excluded. of J:~pan and
forests.
the land
(Such
land. Conversion
be kept free from
arc zoned
Lrreas.
the
areas ;IIIC~ incluclc
Thus.
;I sixth
for :~nd
industrinl
lie agricultural
supposed ..
the
intencied
qriculture.
the countrv
of cultiv:ited
~ covering
is
:~nd
subzones.
Agricultural
whcrc
zones
dcvclopmcnts
land - which
cvcr
Almost
urban
of the cultivated
of
intlustry.
bc rural
;~llowcd
usually
city
by the control
during
(or counties) must
only
largely
USC‘S is not
the
the
b\: the
in its use to. agriculture.
or
is normally
are made up very to other
which
or rclatcd
agricultural
3re;is
In
ZOIWS,
zones
urban
higher-density anti
is for
:III
of
;Irc‘;l\
which of
dcvclopment
of the rest
which
system
to conimcrcial
cxamplc,
Act,
smaller
most
in
built-up
rcsidcntilil.
for
includc
;I cluartcr
is covered
subzoncs
of the country
promotion
which
exclusive through
in cxccss ot
;u-c covered
an eightfold
with
are
and the
approxim;rtcly
zones.
the
t’e~.
urban
;Irc;l
during
people.
purposes.
agricultural
‘The express (or bullet) trains - the S/W/Chansen - in Japan run on speciallydesiqned tracks which have been construtted since the 1960s. These tracks penetrate to the centres of the major cities, cutting through areas which were densely built up.
accorci
of
which
About
the
;I
;luthoritics
popul:itions
control
within
only
built-up
ZOIWS,
the country
~iccomrnodation,
agricultural
zones.
of
of the land eorm:lrkeci
residential
and
;I tenth
type
with
be :~llowed.
Developments
housing,
the
dcvelopmcnt
100 million
th:m
must
apartment-block About
normally
About
zones from
for
been
the
in
and
and town
promotion
and urbanization not
I).
low-density
~111cities
bc required
IO years.
for
of
arrangement
all city
plan
urbanization
had
areal
:iiid
the Act
up ;I dcvclopment
development
zones
density
under
;irc:is
construction
Yokohama.
there
Planning
of congested
the
and
otherwise
but
the
with
Tokyo
Osaka,’
by the City
redevelopment
connection
land. Furthermore.
must
the land
in
in
over
to draw
100 000
date some
However,
surrounding
the
of
controls
development. obliged
that
especially
.vhir7kha~7wr7
land was introduced
of urban
Before
area and ;I
four-fifths
all dcvclopmcnt. natural
piirks
and
Table 1. Land use zonee in Japan, 1980.
Source: National Land Agency, Land Use Master Plan, (typescript), Tokyo, Japan, p 13; Prime Mmister’s Offlce. Statistics Bureau Japan Statisfical Yearbook 7982, Tokyo, Japan, ~~4-5; Rural Development Planning Commission, Rura/ Planning and Development in Japan. Tokyo, Japan, p 52
Zone
Percentage
Agncultural promotlon zone within which agricultural land zone Forest zone within which reserved forest Natural parks within which special zone Nature conservation zone Urbanlration promotion zone Urbanization control zone Urban land use subrones First type exclusive resldentlal Second type exclusive residential Residential Nelghbourhood commercial Commercial Quasi-industrial
47 1
of land area 148
67 8 190 14 1 80 0.2 3.4 9.5 0.9 08 13 01 0.2
04
Industrial
0.2 03
Exclusive industrial
LAND USE POLICY
January
1985
nature conservation. and within them lie, respectively, reserved forests, special park zones and special nature conservation districts, in which the control of land use change is especially strict. What is more. many of these zones overlap. By far the most extensive of the overlaps occur between the forest zone. which includes no less than two-thirds of the country, and the agricultural promotion zone. One sixth of Japan lies in both. About a twelfth lies in both the urbanization control and the agricultural zones, and a further twelfth is common to both the forest and natural park zones. while 4% lies in both the forest and urbanization zones. and a similar area is included in all three of the agriculture, forest and urbanization zones. Overall, 40% of Japan falls into two zones, seven percent into three, and a very small area is common to four. These relations are shown in Figure 2. In order to deal with these conflicts the body in government with responsibility for land use -the National Land Agency-has drawn up a scheme of priorities under the National Land Use Planning Act. and the general form of these is given below in the cases of the largest overlaps. For instance, preference is given on land lying in both the agricultural land zone and the reserved forest to cultivation. although forestry is permitted as long as it is adjusted to the needs of farming. Conversely, in areas which lie within both the forest and agricultural promotion zones forestry enjoys priority. while decisions about land use change on sites which are in both the forest and natural park zones are governed by the general presumption that change will only be allowed where it would be compatible with the zoning.
Figure
2. Overlaps in the zoning of land in Japan, 1981. The square represents the area of the country. Land falling in one zone is shown by a single shading. Overlaps of zones are shown by double, treble, etc shadings. Nature conservation areas are too small to be shown at their correct scale. (Grateful acknowledgement is made to Croom Helm for permission to publish this figure which has previously appeared in A.H. Dawson, The Land Problem in the Developed Economy, Croom Helm, London, 1984.)
LAND
USE POLICY
January
1985
57
Land USPpolicy and control in Japan
A Japanese land use policy
‘National Land Agency, National Land Use Plan (National Plan), Tokyo, Japan, 1978, PP 2-4. 3The Metropolitan Region covers the central third of the island of Honshu, and includes the prefectures of Aichi, Chiba, Fukui, Gifu, Gumma, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Kanagawa, Kyoto, Mie, Nara, Nagano, Osaka, Saitama, Shiga, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Tokyo, Toyama, Wakayama and Yamanashi.
A ‘basic policy for national land use’ has been set out in the National Land Use Plan. This is based upon the belief that it is impossible to accommodate all the potential demands for land within the limited area of the country, especially when consideration is given not only to the continuing population and urban growth, but also to the uncertainties surrounding the balance of supply and demand on the world food markets. It is also based upon the view that it is necessary to protect the physical and natural environment and the historic monuments of the country, and to provide effective flood control, that the scope for the conversion of agricultural, forest and moorland to other uses is limited, and that such conversions are not reversed easily. As a result of these considerations the Plan concludes that efforts should be made to reduce the land requirements of the individual uses as much as possible through the promotion of the more effective use of land. Such a policy is envisaged as requiring the reversal of the trend away from double cropping, an end to the disorderly sprawl of settlement out into the agricultural areas around the towns, and an intensification of the use of forests, both for the production of timber and for water collection, recreation and the conservation of the natural environment.2 However, it is acknowledged that the various demands for land cannot be balanced entirely by intensification of the use which each activity makes of its present land area, and that some transfer of land must occur between the different uses; and detailed land use targets have been set to 198.5 for the country as a whole. and for regions within it (Table 2). These show that it is hoped not only to reverse the declining intensity of use of the cultivated land, but also to expand the area under cultivation - an achievement which would be unique in the recent experience of densely populated advanced economies. However, it is envisaged that both the forests and the moorlands should decline, and it is admitted that a substantial increase will be necessry in all types of developed land if economic and population growth are to be accommodated. In particular, it is acknowledged that there will be severe pressures upon land around the cities of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. The cultivated area in the Metropolitan Region3 around them is expected to fall from 19.2% in 1972 to 15.9% by 19X5, while the developed land and water area will increase by almost exactly the same amount. lrnplementutiorl
Because the targets refer to 1985 it is too early to give a final assessment of the success of the authorities in achieving their aims. Nevertheless, some indication can be given of the changing allocation of land among Table 2. The National Land Use Plan 1972-85.
Use
Source: National Land Agency, Nafional Land Use Plan, Tokyo, Japan, 1976, p 12.
Agriculture within which Cultwated Land Forest Moorland Water Developed within which Roads Residenttat Industry Commeroal
Percentage of land area in 1972
Target percentage for 1985
159
16.2 15.5
15.2 65.7 0.7 3.1 6.9
66.9 1.5 2.9 5.3 2.4 2.3 0.3 0.3
LAND USE POLICY January
3.0 3.0 0.5 0.4
1985
Land use policy and conrrol in Japan
“Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Long-Term Prospects for the Demand and Production of Agricultural Products, Tokyo, Japan, 1980, p 3. %. Doi, ‘Land-use change in the ruralurban fringe: A case study of Matsuyama City’, Jimbun - Chiri, Vol 36, pp 2-21. 6National Land Agency, The Outline of Annual Report on the National Land Use, Tokyo, Japan, 1981, p 38. 7National Land Agency, White Paper on National Land Use, Tokyo, Japan, 1982, pp 21-22.
LAND USE POLICY
January
1985
the competing uses during the 1970s. First, the extent of double cropping has declined, and the use of cultivated land has fallen from 109% in 1972 to 103%. This is far below the target of 112% which has been given as the level which is required to maintain the current proportion of home-produced food in the national diet by the Ministry of Agriculture.” However, the rate of 103% was reached in 1975, and there has been no further fall since then. Second, the area of agricultural land - both cultivated and grazing - has continued to decline, so that by 1980 it was almost 11% below the target. What is more, this decline has occurred almost entirely within the non-metropolitan areas. in which the cultivated area was expected to increase. Much of this fall has been the result of the abandonment of marginal land by farmers and an increase in the area of forest. It has also been reported that in spite of land use controls, farmland has been converted to urban uses. Changes in the other land use categories shown inTable 2 during the 1970s were much closer to the targets, except that, within ‘developed’ land commercial uses - offices and shops - had already exceeded the 1985 target in 1979, whereas the areal expansion of industry had been slight. In short, some of the long-established trends in the allocation of land in Japan have continued during the 1970s in spite of the introduction of systems of land use planning and control. The reasons for the apparent failure of these systems are several. For instance, the most important of the land use planning authorities are the prefectures, for they are required to draw up plans for the land within their boundaries, and can intervene to determine the pattern of zoning within the city planning areas. However. they enjoy a very free hand. Although a body of experts - the National Land Use Council - reviews the prefectural plans on behalf of central government, the governors of the prefectures are not given targets for each land use based upon the National Plan from which to work, the Land Use Council’s review is not a formal process, and central government has not made a practice of amending prefectural plans, even where they have been explicitly at variance with national policy. Second, as almost all agricultural and urban land is in private ownership, and also much of the forest, land use control is usually limited to the negative process of forbidding proposed changes. One example of the problems which this can cause has been recorded by the National Land Agency in the urbanization promotion zones of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. Farmers in these areas are well placed to sell their land for development, and prices are extraordinarily high by world standards, but a survey in the early 1980s revealed that 37% of those questioned intended to go on farming, and that 47% were only willing to sell a part of their land. Only 16% were prepared to sell their entire holdings.6 Yet, it is in these zones that development is expected to occur during the next 10 years, and failure to release land there has led the Agency to demand their extension. Furthermore, piecemeal release of land is likely to perpetuate the sporadic pattern of development which was typical of the urban fringes of many Japanese cities during the 1950s and 196Os, and this has led the Agency to suggest that farmers within the promotion zones should be given further incentives to sell to developers.’ While questions of land use are considered to be important in Japan today, they cannot be said to be of paramount importance. Economic development appears to continue to enjoy a higher priority, as indicated
59
8K. Tajima, Environment
60
‘New lanterns for old’, Built Quarterly, Vol 4, pp 31-35.
by continuing government investment in major new road and rail links, and the expansion year by year of the urbanization promotion zones. In this, government is reflecting the widespread view among the Japanese that ‘new’ means ‘better’, and the acclaim which is given to innovation, which both encourages landscape and land use change. and the low priority which is accorded to conservation.” Moreover, central government. in the form of the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party, is heavily dependent upon the votes of the farming community. and has felt obliged to support qricultural prices in spite of the conflict between such support and some of its land use policies. In particular. rice prices have been maintained at approximately three times the level on world markets. despite the fact that production has been in surplus since the late l%Os. with the effect that ownership of one or two hectares of paddy offers ;I substantial supplementary income to that carncd in full-time office or factory work, and a cheap and sccurc supply of food in old age to eke out rather meagrc state pensions. Furthermore, the mechanization of rice planting now means that the labour requirements of the average agricultural holding have been reduced to a few days per crop. :md that part-time farming is now widely practiscd. It is hardly surprising that, in such circumstances. farmers are unwilling to release land, that the increase in land prices exceeds inflation. that sporadic and untidy urban extension continues, and that cities remain dcnscly developed, if not congested. In short. the system of land use control in Japan -is superficially impressive. but its cffcctiveness has yet to be demonstrated.
LAND USE POLICY
January
1985
Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and pressures upon its land resources have increased considerably as both the economy and the population have grown since 1950. Between 1968 and 1974 the Japanese introduced a complex, comprehensive and highly-integrated system of land use controls. This paper outlines the reasons for that introduction, describes the most important of the controls, reviews their effect in the period up to the early 198Os, and indicates some reasons for their failure to bring the allocation of land into line with the National Land Use Plan. Keywords: land controls; Japan: land use legislation Dr Dawson lectures at the Department of Geography, University of St Andrew& St Andrews, KY1 6 9AL, UK. The author thanks Professor Yukio Himiyama for commenting on this paper. Responsibility for the final draft lies, of course, entirely with the author.
54
Japan now supports about 120 000 000 people on a land area of 377 700 square kilometres. Moreover, two-thirds of the country are made up of and another tenth is hill land. As a either mountains or volcanoes. result, there is only about 0.05 hectare (ha) of agricultural land per capita, in spite of the creation of complex tiers of paddy fields not only on the valley floors but also on some of the hillsides; and urban areas are fabled for the smallness of their apartments and the narrow congested streets. On the other hand, rapid economic development since the Korean War of 195(&-53 has permitted considerable improvement in standards of nutrition and housing. In spite of a rapid increase in population, much marginal farmland in mountainous areas has been abandoned, and the area under double cropping has fallen drastically since 1955. The output of rice - the staple agricultural product - has exceeded demand since 1969. Yet, just at the moment when the pressure upon the land resources of the country - at least in the rural areas - seemed to be declining, the Japanese introduced a complex, comprehensive and highly integrated system of land use controls.
Reasons for controls Several factors contributed to the remarkable spate of land use legislation which was passed by the Japanese parliament (the Diet) in 1968-74. The Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 introduced large numbers of foreign civilians to the country for the first time since the second world war, and gave rise to widespread reporting of the problems of urban congestion. The rapid growth of industry, especially on the coast. led to the pollution of the sea. to ‘red tides’, and to many cases of poisoning. Some of these resulted in the famous ‘big four’ court cases in 1971-73, in which four industrial organizations were found to be at fault. Third, the migration of rural people to the cities, and the natural growth of population, gave rise to a huge expansion of the built-up area, especially on the few flat areas which were suitable for agriculture; and it is hardly surprising that, in these circumstances, the world shortage of wheat in the early 197Os, and the oil price increases of 1974, made the Japanese realize the strategic risks associated with their increasing dependence upon foreign imports of food, fuel and raw materials. Last, an enormous rise in land prices during 1972 and 1973 threatened the aspirations of all those in the cities who wanted to own their own homes,
0264-8377/85/010054-07$03.00
0 1985 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd
Land use policy and control in Japan
as well as the plans of government to provide schools, recreational areas and other space-using services. And so it was that the Diet enacted the City Planning Act of 1968, the Agricultural Promotion Areas Act of 1969, the National Environmental Conservation Act of 1971, and the .forest and Natural Park Acts, culminating in the National Land Use Planning Act of 1974. The impact of recent economic growth upon the pattern of land use may be seen in the fringes of the Tokyo conurbation. This city stands on the largest area of flat and low-lying land in Japan - the Kanto Plain which has traditionally been a major area of rice cultivation. However, the city and its commuter suburbs now cover much of the southern half of the Plain. Houses, factories, sporting facilities and educational establishments have been established wherever land could be acquired, and the area is crossed by motorways leading into and around the city. Figure 1 illustrates the complex and disorderly interdigitation of residential, industrial, transport and other land uses with what remains of dry fields, woods and orchards on the low plateaux above the valley of the river Arakawa in an area of 20 square kilometres on the north-west edge of the conurbation.
I To Central Tokyo (25 km!
Kev
0
Figure 1.Land use on the edge of the Tokyo conurbation in 1981. LAND USE POLICY January
1985
Dryfeldland (farmland)
Chief controls The current
zoning
Act
of
1968.
had
occurred,
railway
Shinjuku
area
partial
Tokyo,
identify
which
next
will wili
country,
more
and
planning
ZOIICS.
(Table
promotion ranging
first
for
70%
The
rest
other
Areas
use.
while
is divided
into under
For
ench of the 47 prefectures
land which
is usable
need
not
ment
of this
be under land or
Within
for.
cultivation.
rural
nature.
from
which ant’
the same
indeed half
promotion
pcrmittcd. ;lrc
within
thiy
l\bout
way
broad
should
areas
for
for
IWO\
is
f(>restrq Promotion
is required
likely the
to &limit
to be.)
Developis of ;III
new
use
lies
within
there
thcsc
land zones. of these
is ;I Iqc
to be excluded. of J:~pan and
forests.
the land
(Such
land. Conversion
be kept free from
arc zoned
Lrreas.
the
areas ;IIIC~ incluclc
Thus.
;I sixth
for :~nd
industrinl
lie agricultural
supposed ..
the
intencied
qriculture.
the countrv
of cultiv:ited
~ covering
is
:~nd
subzones.
Agricultural
whcrc
zones
dcvclopmcnts
land - which
cvcr
Almost
urban
of the cultivated
of
intlustry.
bc rural
;~llowcd
usually
city
by the control
during
(or counties) must
only
largely
USC‘S is not
the
the
b\: the
in its use to. agriculture.
or
is normally
are made up very to other
which
or rclatcd
agricultural
3re;is
In
ZOIWS,
zones
urban
higher-density anti
is for
:III
of
;Irc‘;l\
which of
dcvclopment
of the rest
which
system
to conimcrcial
cxamplc,
Act,
smaller
most
in
built-up
rcsidcntilil.
for
includc
;I cluartcr
is covered
subzoncs
of the country
promotion
which
exclusive through
in cxccss ot
;u-c covered
an eightfold
with
are
and the
approxim;rtcly
zones.
the
t’e~.
urban
;Irc;l
during
people.
purposes.
agricultural
‘The express (or bullet) trains - the S/W/Chansen - in Japan run on speciallydesiqned tracks which have been construtted since the 1960s. These tracks penetrate to the centres of the major cities, cutting through areas which were densely built up.
accorci
of
which
About
the
;I
;luthoritics
popul:itions
control
within
only
built-up
ZOIWS,
the country
~iccomrnodation,
agricultural
zones.
of
of the land eorm:lrkeci
residential
and
;I tenth
type
with
be :~llowed.
Developments
housing,
the
dcvelopmcnt
100 million
th:m
must
apartment-block About
normally
About
zones from
for
been
the
in
and
and town
promotion
and urbanization not
I).
low-density
~111cities
bc required
IO years.
for
of
arrangement
all city
plan
urbanization
had
areal
:iiid
the Act
up ;I dcvclopment
development
zones
density
under
;irc:is
construction
Yokohama.
there
Planning
of congested
the
and
otherwise
but
the
with
Tokyo
Osaka,’
by the City
redevelopment
connection
land. Furthermore.
must
the land
in
in
over
to draw
100 000
date some
However,
surrounding
the
of
controls
development. obliged
that
especially
.vhir7kha~7wr7
land was introduced
of urban
Before
area and ;I
four-fifths
all dcvclopmcnt. natural
piirks
and
Table 1. Land use zonee in Japan, 1980.
Source: National Land Agency, Land Use Master Plan, (typescript), Tokyo, Japan, p 13; Prime Mmister’s Offlce. Statistics Bureau Japan Statisfical Yearbook 7982, Tokyo, Japan, ~~4-5; Rural Development Planning Commission, Rura/ Planning and Development in Japan. Tokyo, Japan, p 52
Zone
Percentage
Agncultural promotlon zone within which agricultural land zone Forest zone within which reserved forest Natural parks within which special zone Nature conservation zone Urbanlration promotion zone Urbanization control zone Urban land use subrones First type exclusive resldentlal Second type exclusive residential Residential Nelghbourhood commercial Commercial Quasi-industrial
47 1
of land area 148
67 8 190 14 1 80 0.2 3.4 9.5 0.9 08 13 01 0.2
04
Industrial
0.2 03
Exclusive industrial
LAND USE POLICY
January
1985
nature conservation. and within them lie, respectively, reserved forests, special park zones and special nature conservation districts, in which the control of land use change is especially strict. What is more. many of these zones overlap. By far the most extensive of the overlaps occur between the forest zone. which includes no less than two-thirds of the country, and the agricultural promotion zone. One sixth of Japan lies in both. About a twelfth lies in both the urbanization control and the agricultural zones, and a further twelfth is common to both the forest and natural park zones. while 4% lies in both the forest and urbanization zones. and a similar area is included in all three of the agriculture, forest and urbanization zones. Overall, 40% of Japan falls into two zones, seven percent into three, and a very small area is common to four. These relations are shown in Figure 2. In order to deal with these conflicts the body in government with responsibility for land use -the National Land Agency-has drawn up a scheme of priorities under the National Land Use Planning Act. and the general form of these is given below in the cases of the largest overlaps. For instance, preference is given on land lying in both the agricultural land zone and the reserved forest to cultivation. although forestry is permitted as long as it is adjusted to the needs of farming. Conversely, in areas which lie within both the forest and agricultural promotion zones forestry enjoys priority. while decisions about land use change on sites which are in both the forest and natural park zones are governed by the general presumption that change will only be allowed where it would be compatible with the zoning.
Figure
2. Overlaps in the zoning of land in Japan, 1981. The square represents the area of the country. Land falling in one zone is shown by a single shading. Overlaps of zones are shown by double, treble, etc shadings. Nature conservation areas are too small to be shown at their correct scale. (Grateful acknowledgement is made to Croom Helm for permission to publish this figure which has previously appeared in A.H. Dawson, The Land Problem in the Developed Economy, Croom Helm, London, 1984.)
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USE POLICY
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57
Land USPpolicy and control in Japan
A Japanese land use policy
‘National Land Agency, National Land Use Plan (National Plan), Tokyo, Japan, 1978, PP 2-4. 3The Metropolitan Region covers the central third of the island of Honshu, and includes the prefectures of Aichi, Chiba, Fukui, Gifu, Gumma, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Kanagawa, Kyoto, Mie, Nara, Nagano, Osaka, Saitama, Shiga, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Tokyo, Toyama, Wakayama and Yamanashi.
A ‘basic policy for national land use’ has been set out in the National Land Use Plan. This is based upon the belief that it is impossible to accommodate all the potential demands for land within the limited area of the country, especially when consideration is given not only to the continuing population and urban growth, but also to the uncertainties surrounding the balance of supply and demand on the world food markets. It is also based upon the view that it is necessary to protect the physical and natural environment and the historic monuments of the country, and to provide effective flood control, that the scope for the conversion of agricultural, forest and moorland to other uses is limited, and that such conversions are not reversed easily. As a result of these considerations the Plan concludes that efforts should be made to reduce the land requirements of the individual uses as much as possible through the promotion of the more effective use of land. Such a policy is envisaged as requiring the reversal of the trend away from double cropping, an end to the disorderly sprawl of settlement out into the agricultural areas around the towns, and an intensification of the use of forests, both for the production of timber and for water collection, recreation and the conservation of the natural environment.2 However, it is acknowledged that the various demands for land cannot be balanced entirely by intensification of the use which each activity makes of its present land area, and that some transfer of land must occur between the different uses; and detailed land use targets have been set to 198.5 for the country as a whole. and for regions within it (Table 2). These show that it is hoped not only to reverse the declining intensity of use of the cultivated land, but also to expand the area under cultivation - an achievement which would be unique in the recent experience of densely populated advanced economies. However, it is envisaged that both the forests and the moorlands should decline, and it is admitted that a substantial increase will be necessry in all types of developed land if economic and population growth are to be accommodated. In particular, it is acknowledged that there will be severe pressures upon land around the cities of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. The cultivated area in the Metropolitan Region3 around them is expected to fall from 19.2% in 1972 to 15.9% by 19X5, while the developed land and water area will increase by almost exactly the same amount. lrnplementutiorl
Because the targets refer to 1985 it is too early to give a final assessment of the success of the authorities in achieving their aims. Nevertheless, some indication can be given of the changing allocation of land among Table 2. The National Land Use Plan 1972-85.
Use
Source: National Land Agency, Nafional Land Use Plan, Tokyo, Japan, 1976, p 12.
Agriculture within which Cultwated Land Forest Moorland Water Developed within which Roads Residenttat Industry Commeroal
Percentage of land area in 1972
Target percentage for 1985
159
16.2 15.5
15.2 65.7 0.7 3.1 6.9
66.9 1.5 2.9 5.3 2.4 2.3 0.3 0.3
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3.0 3.0 0.5 0.4
1985
Land use policy and conrrol in Japan
“Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Long-Term Prospects for the Demand and Production of Agricultural Products, Tokyo, Japan, 1980, p 3. %. Doi, ‘Land-use change in the ruralurban fringe: A case study of Matsuyama City’, Jimbun - Chiri, Vol 36, pp 2-21. 6National Land Agency, The Outline of Annual Report on the National Land Use, Tokyo, Japan, 1981, p 38. 7National Land Agency, White Paper on National Land Use, Tokyo, Japan, 1982, pp 21-22.
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1985
the competing uses during the 1970s. First, the extent of double cropping has declined, and the use of cultivated land has fallen from 109% in 1972 to 103%. This is far below the target of 112% which has been given as the level which is required to maintain the current proportion of home-produced food in the national diet by the Ministry of Agriculture.” However, the rate of 103% was reached in 1975, and there has been no further fall since then. Second, the area of agricultural land - both cultivated and grazing - has continued to decline, so that by 1980 it was almost 11% below the target. What is more, this decline has occurred almost entirely within the non-metropolitan areas. in which the cultivated area was expected to increase. Much of this fall has been the result of the abandonment of marginal land by farmers and an increase in the area of forest. It has also been reported that in spite of land use controls, farmland has been converted to urban uses. Changes in the other land use categories shown inTable 2 during the 1970s were much closer to the targets, except that, within ‘developed’ land commercial uses - offices and shops - had already exceeded the 1985 target in 1979, whereas the areal expansion of industry had been slight. In short, some of the long-established trends in the allocation of land in Japan have continued during the 1970s in spite of the introduction of systems of land use planning and control. The reasons for the apparent failure of these systems are several. For instance, the most important of the land use planning authorities are the prefectures, for they are required to draw up plans for the land within their boundaries, and can intervene to determine the pattern of zoning within the city planning areas. However. they enjoy a very free hand. Although a body of experts - the National Land Use Council - reviews the prefectural plans on behalf of central government, the governors of the prefectures are not given targets for each land use based upon the National Plan from which to work, the Land Use Council’s review is not a formal process, and central government has not made a practice of amending prefectural plans, even where they have been explicitly at variance with national policy. Second, as almost all agricultural and urban land is in private ownership, and also much of the forest, land use control is usually limited to the negative process of forbidding proposed changes. One example of the problems which this can cause has been recorded by the National Land Agency in the urbanization promotion zones of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. Farmers in these areas are well placed to sell their land for development, and prices are extraordinarily high by world standards, but a survey in the early 1980s revealed that 37% of those questioned intended to go on farming, and that 47% were only willing to sell a part of their land. Only 16% were prepared to sell their entire holdings.6 Yet, it is in these zones that development is expected to occur during the next 10 years, and failure to release land there has led the Agency to demand their extension. Furthermore, piecemeal release of land is likely to perpetuate the sporadic pattern of development which was typical of the urban fringes of many Japanese cities during the 1950s and 196Os, and this has led the Agency to suggest that farmers within the promotion zones should be given further incentives to sell to developers.’ While questions of land use are considered to be important in Japan today, they cannot be said to be of paramount importance. Economic development appears to continue to enjoy a higher priority, as indicated
59
8K. Tajima, Environment
60
‘New lanterns for old’, Built Quarterly, Vol 4, pp 31-35.
by continuing government investment in major new road and rail links, and the expansion year by year of the urbanization promotion zones. In this, government is reflecting the widespread view among the Japanese that ‘new’ means ‘better’, and the acclaim which is given to innovation, which both encourages landscape and land use change. and the low priority which is accorded to conservation.” Moreover, central government. in the form of the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party, is heavily dependent upon the votes of the farming community. and has felt obliged to support qricultural prices in spite of the conflict between such support and some of its land use policies. In particular. rice prices have been maintained at approximately three times the level on world markets. despite the fact that production has been in surplus since the late l%Os. with the effect that ownership of one or two hectares of paddy offers ;I substantial supplementary income to that carncd in full-time office or factory work, and a cheap and sccurc supply of food in old age to eke out rather meagrc state pensions. Furthermore, the mechanization of rice planting now means that the labour requirements of the average agricultural holding have been reduced to a few days per crop. :md that part-time farming is now widely practiscd. It is hardly surprising that, in such circumstances. farmers are unwilling to release land, that the increase in land prices exceeds inflation. that sporadic and untidy urban extension continues, and that cities remain dcnscly developed, if not congested. In short. the system of land use control in Japan -is superficially impressive. but its cffcctiveness has yet to be demonstrated.
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1985