Community Project

For nearly two decades Walk Japan has taken thousands of customers to many off-the-beaten-path areas of Japan. Whether deep in the mountains of central Japan, isolated villages or remote islands, these places offer insights, elusive to most visitors to Japan, into the nation and its people, its culture and natural beauty. They also highlight an often hidden side of Japan that is far from its common image as a technological advanced and crowded nation. Rural Japan is in a gentle but seemingly unstoppable decline.

Unused and overgrown paddies and arable fields litter Japan. Forests are often uncared for and slowly, decaying farmhouses are prominent almost everywhere. Through this landscape bamboo growing rampant seems to be on a destructive march through everything standing in its path.

Dick Irving, a founder of Walk Japan and Professor of social geography at Kwansei Gakuin in Kobe, is an expert in the field of issues facing rural Japan. For more than 30 years Dick has been researching and documenting rural Japan in his study area of Ayabe in Kyoto Prefecture. Dick's research paper, Environmental caretaker - Who wants the job?, eloquently describes the problems of a declining and ageing population and their growing impact on rural communities.

Another member of Walk Japan has been living in Kunisaki, deep in rural Kyushu, since 2002. Kunisaki is no exception and faces an uncertain future as the local population continues to shrink and age. Since arriving in Kunisaki Paul has been working to revive fields and forests he owns. He also contributes his labour to help his neighbours plant the fields, get the harvests in and generally maintain the village. Paul has also spent the last four years refurbishing and reviving an old farmhouse.

Since late 2007, Walk Japan has been contributing to the work Paul has started in Kunisaki. Walk Japan provides funding for local labour to expand the area of land that can be cared for. Current work is centred on the revival of plantation forests; the re-establishment of mixed forests and natural environments; and the rehabilitation of long disused fields. The long-term aim is to help the communities of two, small neighbouring valleys maintain their environment and provide for a more vibrant and prosperous future. Between now and then there is a lot of work to do and we will be providing details of progress and future plans on this page and in our newsletter. Customers on our Kunisaki Trek will have the opportunity to see what we are doing but anyone interested is welcome to come and see what we are up to in this beautiful part of Japan.

Or, if you cannot come to Kunisaki and see what we are up to photographs can be viewed at our Community project gallery. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.