Characteristics of rice field irrigation: The Japanese experience

Paddy irrigation management is now facing a turning point in Japan. After the Second World War the irrigation systems in Japan achieved so-called modernization including reorganization of the cultivated land and concrete lining of irrigation channels, etc. As a result of modernization, economical and technological efficiency rose while labour and other conditions improved. However, new problems are arising centring on farm life and several environmental conditions, especially changes to the ecosystem which had reached a state of equilibrium before modernization and the accompanying changes to the hydrological cycle.