Kirk here with another news article.

Kirk here with another news article.

— start quote — Under the proposed reforms, local governments will be empowered to draw up plans and issue permits for the construction of factories in urbanization control districts (farmlands and forests), where development is currently restricted under the urban planning law. Japanese laws generally ban converting land set aside for agriculture for any other purposes. — end quote —

I glad to see economic development but can’t help but feel a little anxious about the loss of farmlands and forests.

By the way, the original article was published in by the Nikkei but it’s behind a paywall so I chose this.