Regional Development Policy and rural area in the 1960s.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	08630072
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Economic history
Research Institution	The Unversity of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	NISHIDA Yoshiaki Univ. of Tokyo, Institute of Social Science, Professor, 社会科学研究所, 教授 (00017542)
Project Period (FY)	1996 – 1997
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1997)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,400,000) Fiscal Year 1997: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000) Fiscal Year 1996: ¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Keywords	economic growth / Urbanization / improvement of farm management / mechanization of agriculture / part-time farmers / 機械化農業 / 兼業化の進行 / 地域開発 / 構造改善 / 農村の変容
Research Abstract	The aim of this research project was to clarify the relationship between regional development policy and changing aspect of rural area in the 1960s. To meet this aim, I did intensive field work in Niigata and Ibaragi prefectures. In Niigata, I analyzed a farmer's diary from 1951 to 1975, especially in the 1960s which shows a drastic change of rural life under the high pressure of urbanization. One symbolic incident was the changing attitude of residents in the hamlet about reclamation of lakes in their hamlet. They made big efforts to reclaim lakes to expand their scale of cultivation from the midst of the 1950s but finally abandoned these efforts in 1964 and decided to reclaim lakes to use them as residential and public facilities. This change was closely related to the expansion of the urban area of Niigata city under the high economic growth. In these circumstances, the price of land rose considerably and the resident of hamlet began to consider the land as assets rather than as mean … More s for producing agricultural products. I edited this diary with Mr.KUBO Yasuo who is expert on the rural history of Niigata and published it this February from The University of Tokyo Press. In Ibaragi, I investigated Azuma Town in Inashiki Country to collect primary documents which shows the changing aspect of rural area. Azuma town was in the depth of ruralness, meaning that it was located very far from big cities. Nevertheless, even in Azuma town, big changes of rural life occurred in the 1960s. Mechanization of agriculture, the big projects of land improvement which were supported by the government had considerable effects on the modernization of farmers' management. At the same time, the number of part-time farmers increased and young members of the farm household flew to cities to earn money and become independent. I could trace this process through the documents of City Hall, Land Improvement District and Agricultural cooperative as well as through a farmer's diary. I will publish the results of this research in the near future. Less