THE UNDER-POPULATION PROBLEM BY THE DEPOPULATON IN NARA PREFECTURE……A CASE STUDY OF UDA MOUNTAIN DISTRICT

1. The purpose of the study Recently in Japan the population decrease in village and its increase in city have been becoming very markedly. In Nara Prefecture also 10.9% increased in city and 0.8% decreased in village for these 5 years from 1960 to 1965. (Tab. 1) In Uda-gun of mountain district there were the population decrease in all villages, and especially in Mitsue-mura 24.8% and in Soni-mura 20.8%, so the author intends to clarify the ecology of both villages. 2. The method of the study Based upon the field survey and the statistical reports of the Ministry of the Agriculture and Forestry the author studied about the general status of both villages (Tab. 2a & b), population and family decreases (Tab. 3a & b), employment status, agricultural status, traffic, educational and cultural conditions, general living environments and so on. 3. The results of the study The population decrease in both villages is only the temporary phenomenon, and it is not a so-called under-population problem at all. In both villages they have agriculture as the main industry and forestry as the secondary one, and, besides, both villages intend to expand their other industries, such as tourism, manufacture and so on. The completion of traffic net-work, the development of sight-seeing resources and so on are the most urgent problems for these villages