In this study, we assessed the effects of a traditional farming system on carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) emission from soils and on carbon storage. This practice involved gathering fallen leaves from secondary deciduous broad-leaved farm forests and using them as organic material in rice paddies in a hilly and mountainous area in the eastern part of northern Kanto, Japan. We established a plot each in two farm forests, from which litter was removed or not removed, and two plots, in which the farm forest litter was used or not used during rice cultivation, in a rice paddy that was flooded during winter. We measured daily CO₂ flux through soil respiration in the plots using the closed-chamber method. We also measured daily CH₄ flux in the plots, in which organic material (rice straw instead of leaf litter) was used or not used during rice cultivation, in the rice paddy. Based on these data and approximated soil temperature, we estimated the annual CO₂ flux through soil respiration and annual CH₄ flux. The annual carbon (CO₂ + CH₄) flux measures indicated that the traditional farming system (farm forest with litter removal + paddy flooded during winter with litter application) produced lower carbon flux (7.48 Mg C ha^-1 y^-1; 95%CI: 7.38–7.56) from the soil than the unmanaged system (farm forest without litter removal + paddy flooded during winter without litter application; 9.21; 95%CI: 9.13–9.30). The greenhouse gas emission (CO₂ + CH₄) based on global warming potential of CH₄ emission indicated that the traditional farming system produced lower flux (12.16 Mg C ha^-1 y^-1; 95%CI: 12.10–12.21) than the unmanaged system (15.71; 95%CI: 15.63–15.79). The carbon storage did not differ between the two farming systems only for one-year research period. These results suggest that the traditional farming system reduced the carbon and greenhouse gas emission from soils.

In this research, the questionary by semantic differential method was conducted for the two groups of the students studying landscape architecture, living in the city area or the countryside area to understand relationship between their living environment and preference of the landscape. The factor analysis, varimax rotation was also done to clarify the factors of the preference of each landscape. The results showed that students appraised preferable landscapes as “lawn area”, “river side area”, “farm land”, “roadside trees” and “residential area” in descending order. “Lawn area” was evaluated at the highest by the students, and it was found that there is a positive correlation between the preference of the landscapes and the value of “comfortableness” and “beautifulness”. This is because the value of those factors valued highly in proportion to the preference of the landscapes. In addition, the results showed that while the students living in the city area preferred the landscapes of the countryside area, the students living in the countryside area preferred the landscapes of the city area. Therefore, it is considered that the factors lacking of each living environment of the students affect the preference of them for the landscapes. From the results of factor analysis, it was considered that the students living in the city area found “comfortableness” and “peacefulness” in the landscapes of the countryside area. The students living in the countryside area found “beautifulness” and “rarity” in the landscapes of the city area.

Surveys were conducted to examine the planting base properties and the development status of root systems in a 12-year-old artificial broad-leaved forest created on a planting base constructed using log fences and construction soil on a 45-degree slope with terracing in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. The physical and chemical properties of the planting base almost satisfied the general planting base conditions. A difference was observed in the results of the permeability and penetration tests at the two sampling locations, which seems to be attributable to the existence of large stones mixed in soil and the difference in degree of weathering of the natural ground between the two locations. On cutting the log fence to remove the soil and assess the development status of the root system inside the planting base, it was observed that many roots extended between the large stones and did not extend into the natural ground. However, they developed horizontally at a depth of 10–30 cm from the ground surface. It was considered that the horizontal extension of the root system was mainly related to “root looping”, which is unique to seedlings (pot seedlings) used for planting.