Articles
THE CONTRIBUTION OF JAPANESE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS TO MODERN FRUIT PRODUCTION IN JAPAN
In the feudal era called Edo Period(1603˜1867), some fruit species native to Japan or introduced previously from neighbouring countries had special production regions and were marketed locally.
After the Meiji restoration(1868), the new government introduced many fruit species and varieties as well as their cultural methods primarily from western countries and distributed them throughout the country.
These fruits, grown under quite different climatic conditions from Japan, were not easy to adapt to the wet climate during growing season.
Production of quality fruit was not possible until improved management systems suited for our climate were developed.
In the meantime, the new government was eager to introduce modern science and technology in order to catch up with the western countries and sent scholars from various academic fields to the West.
The technologies and educational systems the scholars brought back enlightened the people and led the country to modernisation.
In 1876 and 1878, two agricultural schools were founded in Sapporo and Tokyo, respectively, which were the predecessors of university-level education in agricultural science.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), on the other hand, first established its Agricultural Research Station in 1893 and prefectural governments also established similar research stations. 1993 marked the one-hundredth anniversary of the start of systematic agricultural research in Japan.
In this review, we will describe how the educational systems including extension systems have contributed to modern fruit production in Japan mainly from the historical point of view.