Local News

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries released a report calling for tougher punitive measures on those who convert farmland to residential property without obtaining prior authorization under the law. Instances of these illegal conversions nationwide total between 7,000 and 8,000 a year, and during the three-year period from 2005- 2008 amounted to 24,002. Of all the regions nationwide, the most cases during that three-year period were detected in Kyushu, where 6,293 cases involving 604 hectares of land occurred.