LDP Eyes Bill to Save Landscapes of Rice Terraces

May 30, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party eyes a bill to support the conservation of landscapes featuring rice terraces, LDP lawmakers said Tuesday.

Under the bill, the government will subsidize those conserving rice terraces with excellent scenery that are viewed as a good resource for regional revitalization, they said.

The LDP will ask other parties to support the bill, hoping to submit it at an extraordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, expected for autumn.

The LDP set up a project team on the matter after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed at Diet meetings the importance of preserving rice terraces, describing them as "breathtakingly beautiful landscapes."

The team directly reports to Policy Research Council Chairman Fumio Kishida. The directors of council divisions on land, environment, culture and other affairs were selected as main members, so that the bill will cover not only agricultural policies but also various other areas.

In 1999, the agriculture ministry picked 100 beautiful rice terrace landscapes in the country. But without financial support, some terraces have suffered landscape deterioration.

The ministry currently subsidizes farmers in mountainous areas with rice terraces to help ease the difficulty of farming. But there have been few support programs focusing on rice terraces.

The new subsidies for rice terrace preservation will be provided in order to promote landscape and environment conservation, regional revitalization, tourism and exchanges between urban and rural areas.

The LDP hopes that the subsidies will also be used for events at rice terraces and other regional revitalization projects, according to the party lawmakers. Jiji Press