2017 Volume 99 Issue 5 Pages 202-209
This case study aimed to clarify people’s preferences regarding a rural Satoyama footpath landscape using the visitor-employed photography method, along with the KJ method, in Yurugi District, Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The subjects were 17 adults who participated in a Satoyama walking tour and farming activities with children on September 12, 2014. The subjects took 437 photographs of impressive scenes related to Satoyama activities. We analyzed these photographs to categorize them into six clusters: “forest,” “farm,” “distant view,” “waterside,” “cultural asset,” and “others.” It was possible to divide each cluster into sub-clusters according to visual range and so forth. We can make the following observations using the results. First, it is confirmed that most people preferred beautiful scenery, such as outstanding distant views, water views, and cultural assets. Second, many people also appreciated ordinary scenes such as annex landscapes, which include wooded trails, extremely close views of nuts, and views of participants’ activities. Therefore, the results suggest that forest managers should consider not only the outstanding landscape but also ordinary scenes in their management of Satoyama forest.