Farming in Fishing Communities in Japan: Case Study in the Sanriku Region

Abstract

Farming in fishing communities has been little investigated in Japan up to now. Agriculture and fisheries are sectionalized and treated as different industries, and the farming situations in fishing households have not been studied statistically since 2003. This paper investigates farming in fishing communities (fishing-cum-farming households). Two methods used in the study. They are census analysis and survey analysis by picking up Sanriku Region, Japan. The results show that, fishing-cum- farming households were more than 80% of farming households in 1968. By 2003, the percentages had decreased to 15% and below. For fishing-cum-farming households, whether one owns paddy fields or not is significant because rice has been the dominant staple food in Japan. It was fortunate for fishermen to live in communities where paddies could be cultivated, but paddy fields were owned by a limited number of households. The total area of paddy fields increased as the northern limit of paddy production was extended.