ABSTRACT
Land reform in Japan is generally acknowledged one of the most successful post-war schemes. Japan provides a good case study of continuous land reform, always related in a two-way link process to development as a whole. Whether Japanese economic development and the role of land reform therein can serve as a model for other, especially Asian, countries, is doubtful. The role of the Americans in pushing through land reform in Japan is important but difficult to evaluate precisely. The prefectural commission, twice the size, but with the same percentage representation, channelled the policies of the Central Land Commission to the 11 000 villages of Japan. The need to boost Japan's agricultural production after the war was an important objective of the reform. Farming families' average annual income in the early 1950s fluctuated at about 45 per cent the pre-reform level, despite an increased agricultural population and consequent reduction in the average farm size.
