著者

岩間 信之 田中 耕市 佐々木 緑 駒木 伸比古 齋藤 幸生

出版者

一般社団法人 人文地理学会

雑誌

人文地理 (ISSN:00187216)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.61, no.2, pp.139-156, 2009 (Released:2018-01-10)

参考文献数

74

被引用文献数

5 15

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the local residential environment of the elderly in Japanese cities, and to provide an introduction to ‘food deserts’. The case-study city is Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Food desert issues represent a social exclusion problem. These issues include access to food for low-income households in low-income neighborhoods, particularly to food that is integral to a healthy diet. These issues are openly discussed outside Japan, especially in European countries. Food deserts are defined as, “those areas where car-less residents, unable to reach out-of-town supermarkets, depend on the corner shop, where prices are high, products are processed and fresh fruit and vegetables are poor or non-existent.” It has further been stated that, “the increasing tendency toward out-of-town supermarkets has led to the creation of ‘food deserts’, where cheap and varied food is accessible only to those who have private transport or are able to pay the costs of public transport if it is available.” In the UK, fatal diseases such as cerebrovascular disease and breast and lung cancer have been linked to poor nutrition, which in turn is linked to food deserts. In addition, these social exclusion issues often lead to crime, violence, and terrorism.The main factors that cause European food desert problems are social exclusion and poor access to food retailers. We find similar factors in Japanese cities. Japan is facing a crisis resulting from a rapidly aging population, and many elderly people live in downtown districts. A decline in downtown shops is notable. As a result, a food deprivation problem occurs for many elderly people living downtown in Japanese cities. This paper provides an introduction to the Japanese food desert issue, based on a case study of Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture. People over the age of 65 in the CBD of Mito comprise 25.4% of the residents. Many neighborhood fresh-food stores have closed since the 1990s.The authors studied food retail access using a GIS (Geographical Information System) and found large food deprivation areas around the CBD of Mito City. Subsequent interviews and questionnaire surveys in these areas clarified the residential environment of the elderly. Many elderly people from inner Mito travel more than three kilometers each way, by bicycle or on foot, to go shopping. They shop only once or twice per week, and their daily consumption of fresh vegetables and fruit is less than half that of the national average.There is little doubt the elderly in inner Mito are facing a nutrition deprivation problem that is a food desert issue. Some European studies have considered the effectiveness of large-scale, retailer-oriented solutions to such problems. However, a strategy for tackling the issue of Japanese food deserts must be considered from a local perspective. Yet Japanese studies have just begun.This is a case study of a provincial city, but similar problems may also occur in other metropolitan centers and rural areas. We must first define Japanese food desert issues and then develop a research agenda to address them.