Agricultural
Modernization: A Reaction to Natural Hazards
Environmental factors pose a great risk to farmers
both in Japan and throughout the world. Climatic conditions
are factors beyond human control that affect agricultural
activities and production. The rice farmer of northeastern
Japan faces the risk of unseasonably cool weather
that can affect the rice crop at the critical early
phase of plant development.
Techniques
such as water control and fertilizer management are
important steps that can be taken to modify the adverse
conditions created by yamase. Advanced weather forecasting
assists the farmer who can then respond quickly to
rapidly changing weather conditions. The process is
extremely labor intensive and requires constant vigilance.
As forecasting improves, farmers gain more time to
ensure a successful harvest.
Modernization
in Japan has had an effect on agriculture throughout
the country. Fewer farmers can afford to work full
time in a rural environment that demands intensive
labor. Despite high government subsidies to farmers,
including a guaranteed market price for rice as well
as infrastructure investment projects, the higher
pay in cities and better non-agricultural job opportunities
in rural areas have increasingly attracted farmers
away from a full-time presence in the fields. Part-time
farmers who split their time between the office and
the field are not able to devote the significant time
required to intensively manage the rice crop along
the northern edge of the crop's range.
The aging farming population and part-time farmers
will require a transformation in rice farming. Two
possible solutions are to allow farmers to own larger
plots of land and to encourage more involvement in
farming by women.
Northern
Rice Agriculture: A Unique Landscape
Rice, the staple food of Japan, is a marshland plant
of tropical origin. For over two thousand years, the
cultivation of rice has been traditionally regarded
as a religious act and is symbolically linked to Japanese
culture.
The
northern latitudes of Honshu and Hokkaido are the
farthest northern exposures that rice crops can endure.
Several thousand varieties of rice are grown in Japan.
Hybridization, fertilization, and increased productivity
due to advances in irrigation and drainage have significantly
raised yields in all areas.
Rice
grows best in warm temperatures. Rice will not germinate
below 46-50°F and ideal conditions for growth
are high temperatures of 79-88°F. The plants are
resistant to severe oxygen shortage, but cannot tolerate
drought.
The
wide range of climates affecting rice agriculture
is due to Japan's relative location. Growing conditions
are influenced by the Eurasian continent to the west
and Japan's linear orientation from north to south,
which creates both subarctic and subtropical climatic
zones. The second major influence is Japan's location
in relation to the temperate monsoon zone of East
Asia. The winds of the monsoons largely determine
Japan's seasons. The physical geography of Japan is
characterized by high mountains, deep valleys, narrow
plains, and moderation by Kuroshio or the Japan Current,
the warm Pacific Ocean current to the east. Combined,
these conditions create wide seasonal variations and
dramatic weather changes.
Yamase
occurs when the normally strong North Pacific high
is weakened by a stronger Sea of Okhotsk high-pressure
zone centered east of the Kurile Islands. Wind patterns
between pressure zones flow from strong to weak systems
and, in the particular case explored in the video
program, from north to south. This phenomenon causes
the cold air mass to move south, dropping temperatures
below 68°F for days or even a month at a time
in the summer.
Tokyo's
Growth: A Study in Spatial Organization
Tokyo is already one of the most densely settled areas
of human activity in the world, and it continues to
grow. The concentration of the country's financial,
government, information, and industrial sectors forms
the leading economic center in the country, making
Tokyo a major player in the globalization of the world's
economy. This dynamic economy competes successfully
in world markets and attracts residents seeking work
opportunities.
Within
Japan, Tokyo is distinguished from other cities due
to its location atop the largest alluvial plain in
the country. This relatively large level area, the
Kanto Plain, allows for an overwhelming concentration
of government agencies, cultural organizations, universities,
research organizations, newspapers, television stations,
publishers, and communication businesses.
Tokyo's
locational attributes, desirable for businesses on
a regional and international scale, create a high
demand for land that is reflected in extremely high
prices for real estate, making it largely unaffordable
for residential use. The price of housing skyrocketed
even further with a real estate bubble created during
boom years in the early '90s. Most of the labor force
required for a service and industrial economy must
reside in the city's periphery due to limited housing
in the city center.
Transportation
System: Functional Aspects of Spatial Arrangement
The ability of the city not only to function, but
to grow is due to an unmatched transportation system.
The system is designed to converge on Tokyo's city
center, and the rail lines radiate from the central
core. People in Tokyo have been forced to dwell farther
and farther from the city center due to high land
costs. Surveys show that only forty thousand people
actually reside within the core of Tokyo; however,
the work-related population increases by one million
people daily in this central business district.
Commuters
must travel for as long as two hours each way every
day. The transportation network for moving such large
numbers of people is particularly dense in a zone
stretching in a 30-mile radius to the north, south,
and west of Tokyo. Commuters trade long commutes for
affordable housing and amenities such as clean air
and yard space found in the metropolitan periphery.
As seen in the video, different routes may increase
rider comfort but may also lengthen travel times.
The
efficiency and reliability of the train system has
provided workers with access to both affordable housing
in outlying areas and the urban job market. The transportation
system, land costs, and workers' preferences have
influenced the horizontal and arterial-based growth
pattern of Tokyo and other urban centers in Japan.
Tokyo's
Evolving Urban Structure
The transport service provided by the rail system
can serve only a limited number of people. Increased
demand has led to the construction of new rail lines,
but many corporations are also in the process of developing
plans to relocate from the urban core to the suburbs,
reducing commuting time by relocating where workers
reside. The tremendous concentration of buildings,
transportation infrastructure, and businesses in Tokyo
acts as a drag on the outward-directed relocation
process; the effort to reduce congestion has been
very slow.
New urban plans are attempting to address the problems
of commuting. Alternative housing projects, such as
Makuhari New Town depicted in the video, are under
construction near new commercial sites along the waterfront
of Tokyo Bay. The high demand for such housing reflects
consumer preference, a factor that once again may
change the growth pattern of the future. However,
the number of units being built is relatively small
compared to the need for housing in the area.
Expansion
of intra-regional trade and Tokyo's role in the world
economy also influence the city's future. The Asia-Pacific
region is now poised to become the world's dominant
regional economy due not only to its size but also
to its expected growth rate. Within this regional
economy, Japan contributes seventy-five percent of
the total production, mirroring the relationship of
the U.S. economy to the Western Hemisphere. In the
past few years, the Japanese recession and Asian economic
crisis have tempered the Japanese economy in the Asia-Pacific
region and in the world without fundamentally altering
the general regional economic trends. Increasing global
demand for Japan's products and services strengthens
the region's economy and Japan's relative locational
advantage.
