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Taking an historical view, the paper considers how Japan has struggled to regulate development and examines the impact of land reform in the immediate post-WWII era. This is seen as a key institutional change that precipitated numerous political and policy shifts in subsequent decades and acted as a critical factor in shaping Japanese land use. The focus of the paper demonstrates how the political and economic transformation of Japan just prior to and after land reform in 1946 led to a situation where successive governments have tried but ultimately failed to intervene successfully in the development process, contributing to unsustainable outcomes derived largely from a sustained period of growth and economic development. In our view, this was supported by the legal framework reinforced under the Allied Occupation (1945–1951), alongside the outcomes of the land reform process. This has also led to a remarkably consistent set of institutional conditions. In order to highlight the impact of land reform the ...

The paper examines the transfer and operation of the UK Groundwork (GW) model in Japan and sets out the development of GW in the UK since the early 1980s. The study discusses two case study areas in Japan and explores the wider cultural and political issues that face the transfer of environmental action programmes. It was found that Japanese groups have been developing their own approaches using the Groundwork label, yet for GW ideas and practices to become understood and accepted in Japan, as has been the case in the UK, a longer timeframe and better support is needed. It is concluded that while there may be benefit in using the GW label there are also significant barriers to the successful adoption of Groundwork in Japan, including a different socio-political context for the spread of community-based schemes. There is also an opportunity, however, through GW and similar transformative planning efforts to help strengthen civil society and partnership working in Japan. While some of the difficult...