The Soils of Japan

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.

Chapter 2: Soil-forming factors, Soil Classification, & Soil Map

- Climate (written by Kenji Tamura)

- 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