The Domestic and International Competition between Producing Districts of Rush and Structural Problems of Rush Industry in Kumamoto Prefecture

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The purpose of this study is.to investigate the competition between producing districts of rush and the causes of structural problems of rush industry in Kumamoto Prefecture.As of the year 2000, Japan had 2,890ha of land under rush cultivation. The following prefectures had more than 10ha of land dedicated to rush production : Ishikawa (11ha), Okayama (15ha), Hiroshima (55ha), Kochi(30), Fukuoka(I34ha), Saga(33ha), Kumamoto (2,590ha), and Okinawa(15ha). Kumamoto is the largest rush producing prefecture in all of Japan, accounting for fully 89.6% of total domestic rush production.From 1990 onward, imports of low-priced rush products from China swelled in this period. Accordingly, Japan's rush self-sufficiency ratio declined from 87% in 1990, to as low as 41% in 2000, the geographic reorganization of global rush production moved forward.Wholesale distributors in Okayama and Hiroshima Prefectures played a large role in the development of rush production in Kumamoto Prefecture. Distributers in Okayama spurred the geographic reorganization of rush production when they began to import rush products from abroad around the time of Japan's high-growth econmy. Hiroshima distributers began to procure rush from Kumamoto and Kochi Prefectures, enabling.the prefecture to maintain its tradition of producing high-quality tatami facing. Because Kumamoto Prefecture was a large-scale producing district of low-priced tatami facing, it lost out to competition from Chinese rush products in the 1990' s, causing the area of land under rush cultivation to fall rapidly.Kumamoto Prefecture is now faced with the task of producing low-cost, high-quality tatami-facing. In order to achieve this, many promotional programs have been put into place. In 1996, an effort began to improve the breed of rush, and in 1999 an action plan to promote rush production was developed and is currently under implementation.