Summary of White Paper on Land (2002)

II  Trends of Land

Chapter 2  Trends of Land Use


Section 1  Distribution of Land Use

In this Section, regions are categorized into "Three metropolitan areas" and "Local areas".
"Three metropolitan areas" include Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa,
Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo and Nara Prefecture
"Local areas" include areas other than three metropolitan areas
(Distribution of Land Use in Japan)
In 2000, the total area of Japan was approximately 37.79 million ha (94.38 million acres). 80% of this total area was comprised of forestry (25.11 million ha, 62.05 million acres) and agricultural land (4.91 million ha, 12.13 million acres). The remaining land was divided into developed land (residential, industrial and other land) of 1.79 million ha (4.42 million acres), surface water, rivers, canals (1.35 million ha, 3.34 million acres), roads (1.27 million ha, 3.14 million acres), and fields (0.27 million ha, 0.67 million acre). (see Chart 2-1-1).


Chart 2-1-1   Distribution of Land Use in Japan
(unit : 10,000ha , %)
Division



Land Use		 1975 1985 1995 1999 2000
Japan Three
Metro-
politan
Areas		 Local
Areas		 Japan Three
Metro-
politan
Areas		 Local
Areas		 Japan Three
Metro-
politan
Areas		 Local
Areas		 Japan Three
Metro-
politan
Areas		 Local
Areas		 Japan Three
Metro-
politan
Areas		 Local
Areas
1 Agriculture 576 81 495 548 73 476 513 66 447 495 63 432 491 63 428
(15.3) (15.2) (15.3) (14.5) (13.6) (14.7) (13.6) (12.3) (13.8) (13.1) (11.7) (13.3) (13.0) (11.7) (13.2)
     Agricultural land 557 80 477 538 72 466 504 66 438 487 63 424 483 62 421
(14.8) (15.0) (14.7) (14.2) (13.4) (14.4) (13.3) (12.2) (13.5) (12.9) (11.7) (13.1) (12.8) (11.5) (13.0)
     Pasture 19 1 18 10 0 10 9 0 8 8 0 8 7 0 7
(0.5) (0.0) (0.6) (0.3) (0.0) (0.3) (0.2) (0.0) (0.3) (0.2) (0.0) (0.2) (0.2) (0.0) (0.2)
2 Forestry 2,529 324 2,205 2,530 323 2,207 2,514 318 2,196 2,511 317 2,194 2,511 317 2,194
(67.0) (60.7) (68.0) (67.0) (60.3) (68.1) (66.5) (59.3) (67.7) (66.4) (59.0) (67.7) (66.4) (59.0) (67.7)
3 Field 43 1 42 31 1 30 26 0 26 26 1 25 27 1 26
(1.1) (0.2) (1.3) (0.8) (0.2) (0.9) (0.7) (0.0) (0.8) (0.7) (0.2) (0.8) (0.7) (0.2) (0.8)
4 Surface water, river 128 18 110 130 18 112 132 19 113 133 19 114 135 19 115
(3.4) (3.4) (3.4) (3.4) (3.4) (3.5) (3.5) (3.6) (3.5) (3.5) (3.5) (3.5) (3.6) (3.5) (3.5)
5 Roads 89 19 70 107 23 84 121 25 95 126 26 99 127 26 100
(2.4) (3.6) (2.2) (2.8) (4.3) (2.6) (3.2) (4.7) (2.9) (3.3) (4.8) (3.1) (3.4) (4.8) (3.1)
6 Urban 124 43 81 150 51 99 170 57 113 177 59 118 179 59 119
(3.3) (8.1) (2.5) (4.0) (9.5) (3.1) (4.5) (10.6) (3.5) (4.7) (11.0) (3.6) (4.7) (11.0) (3.7)
     Residential 79 26 53 92 31 61 102 34 68 107 36 71 107 36 71
(2.1) (4.9) (1.6) (2.4) (5.8) (1.9) (2.7) (6.4) (2.1) (2.8) (6.7) (2.2) (2.8) (6.7) (2.2)
     Industrial 14 6 8 15 6 9 17 6 11 17 6 11 17 6 11
(0.4) (1.1) (0.2) (0.4) (1.1) (0.3) (0.5) (1.1) (0.3) (0.4) (1.1) (0.3) (0.4) (1.1) (0.3)
     Others 31 11 20 44 15 29 51 17 35 54 17 37 55 17 37
(0.8) (2.1) (0.6) (1.2) (2.8) (0.9) (1.4) (3.1) (1.1) (1.4) (3.2) (1.1) (1.5) (3.2) (1.1)
7 Others 286 48 238 282 47 234 303 51 252 311 52 260 309 52 260
(7.6) (9.0) (7.3) (7.5) (8.8) (7.2) (8.0) (9.4) (7.8) (8.2) (9.7) (8.0) (8.2) (9.7) (8.0)
Total 3,775 534 3,241 3,778 536 3,242 3,778 537 3,242 3,779 537 3,242 3,779 537 3,242
(100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100)

Source: "Survey of Current Status of Distribution of Land Use" by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
Note1: Roads include open roads, farm roads and forest roads
Note2: Figures are estimated by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport based on various statistics.
Note3: Figures in parentheses are shares of the total figures of each area.
Note4:
Regions are as follows:
Three metropolitan areas include Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa,
Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo and Nara Prefecture
Local areas include areas other than three metropolitan areas


(Conversion of Land to Alternative Uses)
In 2000, approximately 30,100 ha (74,380acres) of land were converted to alternative uses (6.3% decrease on the previous year). This includes the conversion of 23,800 ha (58,810 acres) of agricultural land (agriculture, forestry and reclaimed land) to urban uses (residential, industrial, public land use, etc.) (5.9% decrease on the previous year). The conversion within agriculture and forestry land use (forestry and reclaimed land to agricultural land, and agricultural to forestry land) was 2,300 ha (5,680 acres) (4.2% decrease on the previous year) (see Chart 2-1-2).


Chart 2-1-2   Conversion of Land to Alternative Use
(unit : ha , %)
Year/Original land use


Use		 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Agricu-
ltural		 Forestry Reclaim-
ed		 Total
(Urbanized Land Use)
Residential 9,600 9,700 10,400 9,900 10,600 10,600 10,100 9,600 8,100 7,800 6,200 1,400 100 7,700
(22.6) (21.7) (22.5) (25.4) (31.3) (31.4) (31.2) (33.3) (29.8) (30.8)


(32.4)
Industrial 8,700 8,600 8,000 7,200 6,300 6,300 6,100 5,900 4,700 3,800 2,300 800 100 3,200
(20.5) (19.2) (17.3) (18.5) (18.6) (18.6) (18.8) (20.5) (17.3) (15.0)


(13.4)
Public 10,400 10,500 10,500 10,400 7,800 9,300 9,100 7,900 8,900 7,900 4,100 2,400 300 6,800
(24.5) (23.5) (22.7) (26.7) (23.0) (27.5) (28.1) (27.4) (32.7) (31.2)


(28.6)
Leisure 8,100 9,700 10,900 7,100 4,700 3,100 2,300 600 1,200 500 200 200 - 400
(19.1) (21.7) (24.4) (18.2) (13.9) (9.2) (7.1) (2.1) (4.4) (2.0)


(1.7)
Others 5,600 6,200 6,400 4,500 4,500 4,500 4,800 4,800 4,300 5,300 5,300 - 400 5,700
(13.2) (13.9) (13.9) (11.5) (13.3) (13.3) (14.8) (16.7) (15.8) (20.9)


(23.9)
Sub-Total 42,400 44,700 46,200 39,000 33,900 33,800 32,400 28,800 27,200 25,300 18,100 4,800 900 23,800
(100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100)


(100)
(Agricultural & Forestry)
Agriculture 5,000 2,900 3,100 1,200 1,100 1,100 800 600 700 700 - 400 400 800
(63.3) (56.9) (63.3) (41.4) (42.3) (42.3) (30.8) (24.0) (29.2) (29.2)


(34.8)
Forestry 2,900 2,200 1,800 1,700 1,500 1,500 1,800 1,900 1,700 1,700 1,500 - - 1,500
(36.7) (43.1) (36.7) (58.6) (57.7) (57.7) (69.2) (76.0) (70.8) (70.8)


(65.2)
Sub-Total 7,900 5,100 4,900 2,900 2,600 2,600 2,600 2,500 2,400 2,400 1,500 400 400 2,300
(100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100)


(100)
Others 7,000 7,800 7,000 7,600 6,200 5,700 5,400 5,500 5,100 4,500 2,000 2,000 - 4,500
Total 57,300 57,600 58,100 49,600 42,700 42,100 40,400 36,900 34,700 32,100 21,600 7,200 1,300 30,100

Source: Estimated by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, based on sources of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Note1: Areas of conversion include conversion from agriculture, forestry and reclaimed land. Areas converted from fields and other use are not included.
Note2: Areas of conversion from agriculture to public land partially includes that from agricultural land use such as agricultural roads and sewage treatment facilities for agricultural water.
Note3: Conversions from forestry do not include that of less than 1ha (2.47 acres).
Note4: Due to rounding to the nearest whole number, the grand total and total of sub totals is not always the same.
Note5: Figures in parentheses are shares of the subtotal.

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