• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.143-160
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• 2002

Since the 1990s, arable lands in mountainous areas of South Korea have widely been abandoned due to the serious depopulation for the last few decades. Abandonment of arable lands causes not only a decline in production functions of mountainous villages, but also landscape desolation and environmental problems. Due to same cause, Japan has also experienced the serious abandonment of arable lands in mountainous areas since the 1960s. For the last decade, Japanese government has poured investment to the conservation of terraced paddy fields in hilly and mountainous areas in order to restore those environment values. The attempts of Okayama prefecture for the conservation of terraced paddy fields are well known as a successful story in Japan. In order to suggest an effective conservation means far arable lands in mountainous areas in the context of Korea, this paper examines the background and the implementation means of Japanese conservation policy of terraced paddy fields in hilly and mountainous area, focusing on the case of Okayama prefecture.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.10 no.3 s.24
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• pp.19-26
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• 2004

In this study, a new model for improving the settlement environment and revitalizing hilly and mountainous areas was presented. A case study was conducted in two rural villages of Nakatsu-Mura in Wakayama-Prefecture, Japan. The settlement environment was evaluated from the point of view of the local residents, and the expectation of the local residents about the regional revitalization of their village in the future was assessed. From the analysis, each factor used far the assessment displayed characteristics of the two rural villages well. The type of improvement in rural villages was classified by a combination of the degree of satisfaction over the current settlement environment and expectation about the regional revitalization of the villages in the future. A method for improving and revitalizing settlement environments was clarified.