ABSTRACT
Globalization has had a deep impact on every part of the world. In general, it seems to have had a destructive effect on agriculture and has led to a fundamental transformation of rural communities. In addition, a few peculiar problems have arisen in highly industrialized countries like Japan. Rural researchers call them the “new” (or “postproductivist”) rural problems to contrast them with the old (but still existing) ones that have centered on agricultural production. 1
