This book introduces the Japanese urban food desert (FD). Currently, Japan has the most rapidly aging society in the world, with a shrinking population and food desert issues in connection with the isolation of the elderly people from their families and local communities. The types of food deserts that Japan is currently facing are likely to occur in many other countries under similar circumstances in the near future. This book serves as a valuable resource for researchers and policymakers who are working on FD issues in Japan as well as in other countries. The book consists of 8 chapters, with each chapter covering a different aspect of FD, and it also includes case studies, one of which is the FD in Tokyo.

Autorentext
Nobuyuki Iwama is a professor of Ibaraki Christian University in Japan. He has worked closely with governments and local communities. In the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, he was the chairman of the conferences on poor food access issues, and he has been closely engaged in countermeasures of those concerns in Japan. Because his university is located in a declining and aging population area and he is a director of the Global and Communication Center of Ibaraki Christian University, he has a strong interest in revitalization of local communities and development of sustainable living environments. He also manages development programs in many declining and aging population areas. He has published several books and papers on Japanese food desert issues.
Tatsuto Asakawa is a professor in the Faculty of Human Sciences of Waseda University, Japan. He is currently the general affairs director of the Japan Sociological Society. His research interests include social structure and spatial structure in urban society, the social atlas, the food desert, disaster research, urban space, and disparity research. He has published several books in the field of urban sociology.
Koichi Tanaka is a professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ibaraki University in Japan. He is also a guest professor in the Center for Spatial Information Science at The University of Tokyo in Japan. He works largely on themes dealing with human mobility, transport geography, and economic geography using GIS. His main scientific interests include the quantitative evaluation of spatio-temporal accessibility and evacuation behavior during disasters.
Midori Sasaki has been a professor since 2014 at the Faculty of Human Environmental Studies at Hiroshima Shudo University in Japan. Her research expertise includes agricultural geography and environmental geography with a focus on sustainable agriculture. In recent years, she has been working on the production environment of rice, oilseeds, and cotton in relatively new continental populations such as those in Australia and the U.S., and its dynamics in management and international markets.
Nobuhiko Komaki is a professor of Aichi University in Japan, and he has worked closely with local communities and governments. His research interests include the relationship between retail and urban planning, community development of local cities, the spatial structure of metropolitan areas and spatial analysis using GIS. He has published several papers in the field of urban geography and GIS.
Masashi Ikeda is an associate professor in the Faculty of Commerce at Takushoku University in Japan. His research interests include the geography of food, the distribution system for fruit and vegetables, e-commerce, and mobile supermarkets. He has published several papers on the restructuring of the Japanese distribution system.

Inhalt

Chapter 1   The definition of Japanese food desert issues

1What are food desert issues?

1.1  The isolated elderly people who live in big cities

1.2  The definition of Food desert

2The structure of food deserts

2.1  Declining nutrition of elderly residents

2.2  The increasing number of socially vulnerable people

2.3  The expansion of spatial holes (spatial factors)

2.4  The expansion of social holes (social factors)

2.5  Regional differences in main causes of FD issues

3Kaimono-nanmin (shopping refugees) and food desert issues

4Overseas research on food desert issues

5.The dimensions of urban food desert studies

Chapter 2   The background of Japanese Food Desert Issues

1  Characteristics of the Japanese Food Desert issue

1.1  The increasing elderly population

1.2  Environmental changes associated with retailing and distribution

1.3  The expansion of poverty

1.4.  The weakening of families and local communities

1.5  The diversity of residents

2  Population aging and the diversification of the population structure in central Tokyo

2.1 Changes in the population structure with a declining birthrate and an aging population

2.1.1  Changes in population by age group

2.1.2 Changes in age structure

2.2. Aging and the dilution of family relationships in the generation of demographic transition

2.2.1 The generation of demographic transition

2.2.2  Moving to a big city

2.2.3  Movement within metropolitan areas

2.3  Diversity of the population structure in the city center

Chapter 3 Food access and social capital

1  Measurement of food access and making food access maps

1.1  Measuring food access and creating a map for people with limited access to shopping facilities

1.1.1  Statistical data on people with limited access to shopping facilities

1.1.2  How to create a map for people with limited access to shopping facilities

(1) Simple method using map and pen

(2) Method to compare Census of Commerce data and population data based on area-wide mesh (grid square)

(3) Method based on road distance

(4) Method using kernel density estimation

1.2  Comparison of food access maps created by different methods

1.2.1  Four methods

(1) Distance methods (buffering)

(2) Area-wide mesh (grid square) method

(3) Kernel density estimation method (poor food access map)

(4) Comparison of three methods

1.2.2 Summary

1.3  Conclusiontoward the utilization of food access maps

Additional note: The introduction of web maps related to FDs

1 Food access map (Research Institute for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ministry) [http://cse.primaff.affrc.go.jp/katsuyat/]

2. Food Desert Locator (United States Department of Agriculture)

2  Procedure for measuring social capital from the viewpoint of health

2.1  What is social capital?

2.2  The fear of a 'Muen-Shakai' (isolated society)

2.3  Relationship between local social capital and health

2.4  Measurement method for SC: 1) measuring respondents' interactions with neighbours

2.5  Measurement method for SC: 2) comprehensive measurement

2.6  Outlineconsiderations for SC research

Column 1

Chapter 4  Case Study 1 (Central Tokyo)

1  Introduction

1.1 Characteristics of food desert area in central Tokyo

1.2 Organization

1.3 Food diversity

2  Distribution of urban food deserts in Tokyo and Minato Ward's characteristics

2.1 Tokyo food access maps 2.2 Minato Ward's shoppi...