"This book is well organized, and by reading it in order, you can learn about the background of Japanese soils and how to deal with them according to their indigenous properties. ... This book has the potential to serve as a guide book for at least the next 10 to 20 years, communicating the current state of knowledge on Japanese soils and agriculture both within and outside Japan, and within and outside the field of soil science." (Pedologist, Vol. 65 (1), 2021)
Part 1. Introduction
Chapter 1: Written by Ryusuke Hatano, Hitoshi Shinjo, and Yusuke Takata
Part 2. General features
First half of this part will be dedicated to describe soil forming factors. Each factor will be described in 10 pages. After describing the soil classification system of Japan and illustrating the soil maps, the latter half will show major soil types found in Japan. Each soil type will be explained in 10 pages.
- Geology and geomorphology (written by Hideki Miura)
- Land use (Vegetation, Agriculture) ("Vegetation" written by Shinji Kaneko, and "Agriculture written by Hideo Kubotera)
- Soil classification (written by Hitoshi Shinjo)
- Soil map (written by Yusuke Takata)
Chapter 3: Major Soil Types
- Major soil types
- Man-made soils (written by Masayuki Kawahigashi)
- Organic soils (written by Masayuki Tani)
- Andosols (written by Toyoaki Ito and Tadashi Takahashi)
- Podzols (written by Akihiro Imaya and Kazumichi Fujii)
- Fluvic soils (written by Hiroshi Obara)
- Red-Yellow soils (written by Yuji Maejima and Yusuke Takata)
- Stagnic soils (written by Kazunori Koyama)
- Eutrosols (written by Yuji Maejima and Shinji Kaneko)
- Brown Forest soils (written by Akihiro Imaya and Yusuke Takata)
- Regosols ("Volcanogenous Regosols" written by Taku Kato, and "Other Regosols" written by Hiroshi Obara
Part 3. Regional features
In this part, after dividing Japan into the following 6 regions, dominant soil types and land uses are illustrated with special reference to soil fertility management and soil-related environmental issues in each region in 30-40 pages.
Chapter 4: - Hokkaido (each section within this chapter will be written by different authors: Hiroyuki Shiga, Harunobu Takeuchi, Masaki Tsukamoto, Shu Miura, Yuji Watanabe, Satoshi Nakatsu, Nobuhiko Gueki, Yuji Higasa, Masayuki Onodera, Masami Sagaguchi, Toshiya Saigusa, Tetsuo Yagi, Osamu Sakai, Fuyuki Sato, Hideaki Shibata, Takagi, Kobayashi, Ryusuke Hatano, Takuji Sawamoto, Kanta Kuramochi, Yuichi Otobe, Eiji Goto, Toshiro Nakatsuji, Takehiko Matsumoto, Daiji Asaka, Hiroshi Nakamoto, Katsuhisa Niwa, Nariko Shimizu, Tomoyoshi Hirota)
Chapter 5: - Tohoku (TBD)
Chapter 6: - Kanto (TBD)
Chapter 7: - Chubu (TBD)
Chapter 8: - Kansai, Chugoku, and Shikoku (TBD)
Chapter 9: - Kyushu (each section within this chapter will be written by different authors: Takashi Kusaba, Hideo Kubotera, Ichiro Uezono, Naoko Miyamaru, Yuichi Saeki, Hiroshi Niimi, Keiko Nakano, Nobuhisa Koga, Yoshitaka Hara, Yasunao Yamada, Katsuhiro Inoue, Hirotaka Ihara, Makoto Nagatomo, Koichi Yoshida, Yusuke Arakawa, Tsuyoshi Yamane, Isao Akagi, Kinjo Kazutoshi, Naoko Miyamaru, Takeo Shima, Kojiro Mitsugi)
Part 4. Future of Soil Science in Japan
The past and current presidents of Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant nutrition and Japanese Society of Pedology will discuss future perspectives of soil science in Japan.
Chapter 10: Written by Takashi Kosaki, Toru Matoh, Kazuyuki Inubushi, and Katsutoshi Sakurai
Ryusuke Hatano is a professor in the Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Japan. He is a past president of the Japanese Society of Soil Physics (2010–2012), a president of the Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition (2019–present), and the chair of Division 2 of the IUSS (2018–present).
Hitoshi Shinjo is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies/ Agriculture of Kyoto University, Japan. He was the secretary general of the Japanese Society of Pedology from 2012 to 2016, when he devoted himself to coordinating the Committee of Soil Classification and Nomenclature to release the Soil Classification System of Japan in 2017. He is a board member and councilor of the Japanese Society of Pedology.
Yusuke Takata is a senior researcher in the Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, National Agricultural and Food Research Organization, Japan. He is a board member of the Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, and a Board Member of the Japanese Society of Pedology. His research interests are digital soil mapping, soil conservation, agro-environmental indicators, and developing information and communication technology tools for soil education.
This book provides an overview of the distribution, properties, and function of soils in Japan. First, it offers general descriptions of the country’s climate, geology, geomorphology, and land use, the history of the Japanese soil classification system and characteristics and genesis of major soil types follow. For each region – a geographic/administrative region of the country – there is a chapter with details of current land use as well as properties and management challenges of major soils. Maps of soil distribution, pedon descriptions, profile images, and tables of properties are included throughout the text and appendices.