This book describes the profound structural change in Japan's agriculture from its politically marginalized, economically fragmented, traditional labour-intensive postwar mode of production to its current dual modern shape of a highly capitalized, politically organized and protected sector.

Japan's agriculture has been inward oriented, protected by trade barriers from foreign competition. Even though the share of Japan's food consumption provided by Japanese production has gradually fallen, Japan's farm sector remains the second-largest among the countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Japan's food industry is increasingly integrated with TPP economies, although the TPP share of Japan's agri-cultural imports has fallen over time. The proposed TPP agreement would lead to more agricultural exports to Japan from TPP partners, likely dominating the total agricultural trade impact of such an agreement. Despite potentially large import increases, espe-cially in the rice, beef, and dairy sectors, the proposed agreement would only margin-ally reduce Japan's output. Intrinsic strengths of Japanese agricultural production and constraints to the growth of supply in the rest of the TPP countries may limit the impact of the agreement on Japan's agriculture. Nevertheless, U.S. exports would be well posi-tioned to meet Japan's new import demand.

In Japan, agriculture has been treated differently from other parts of the national economy.

This project had origins in 1987 in communication between Yutaka Yoshioka, Chairman, Japan International Agricultural Council, and Kenneth Farrell, Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources, the University of California-Berkeley. Projects were proposed in "long-term food and consumption trends" and "a comparative analysis of farm structure in the United States and Japan" (letter from Farrell to Yoshioka, April 20, 1987). Proposals and counterproposals were sent back and forth but the project accelerated after Professor Wen Chern of The Ohio State University learned of the project from Professor Naraomi Imamura of the University of Tokyo on a visit to Tokyo in September 1989. Because of pressing administrative responsibilities precluding an active role in the project, Kenneth Farrell recommended to Professor Imamura that the project be carried out with Professor Chern and associates.

This is the first book to comprehensively analyze key issues regarding innovation, entrepreneurship, and human resource development in the Japanese agricultural sector. Despite the fact that innovation and entrepreneurship are vital to the development of modern Japanese agriculture, there have been comparatively few studies in this field; in addition, they have been virtually none on measures for developing entrepreneurial human resources or innovation in agriculture. The agricultural sector’s declining competitiveness and sustainability as an industry in Japan are serious concerns, especially in combination with an aging labor force and decreasing farmland. To date, Japanese agricultural policies have largely concentrated on accumulating farmland and securing a sufficient agricultural labor force. However, from the perspectives of industrial and regional development, policies focusing on creating innovation, the driving force of economic development, have been recognized as being more effective. Moreover, there have been some recent developments concerning innovation and entrepreneurship in various regions of Japan. This book provides a wealth of significant findings from studies on successful cases involving e.g. agricultural clusters, agriculture–commerce–industry collaborations, networking, franchising, and corporate entry-induced innovation utilizing limited regional resources; and how they have contributed to the development of each region. The interrelationships between innovation, entrepreneurship, and human resource development are then clarified, and effective policies to promote Japanese agriculture and rural areas are suggested. Given its scope, the book contributes to the advancement not only of farm management science, but also of regional science and related fields.