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asahiro Kazuo Last modified date:2024.03.12

Professor / Division of Landscape and Social Environmental Design
Department of Environmental Design
Faculty of Design


Graduate School
Undergraduate School


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Homepage
https://kyushu-u.elsevierpure.com/en/persons/kazuo-asahiro
 Reseacher Profiling Tool Kyushu University Pure
http://hyoka.ofc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/search/details/K002337/english.html
Academic Degree
Ph.D. in Design
Country of degree conferring institution (Overseas)
No
Field of Specialization
Landscape Conservation
Total Priod of education and research career in the foreign country
01years00months
Outline Activities
Research Theme:Nature Conservation and Biological Habitat Restoration in Suburban and Rural Areas.

“It is not half so important to know as to feel.”

These are the much-quoted words of Rachel Carson, from her essay “The Sense of Wonder.” The concept of “conservation” in “conservation of green spaces” is sometimes explained in the United Kingdom as being “like raising children.” “Taking care” of “nature” (or children)—that is, not standing back and simply letting things happen—means to take a hands-on, eyes-on approach to nurturing, or maintaining relationships. Such attitudes and behaviors are necessary for families, for communities, to share healthy lifestyles, to share time and space, with nature in a sustainable manner.

This laboratory targets green space environments in suburban areas and rural communities, which are nurtured within such relationships between people and nature. Through human conservation management, the biodiversity, amenities, aesthetics, production of agricultural and forestry products, disaster prevention, and other public-interest functions of green space environments are maintained. The laboratory’s research aims are to provide society with conservation designs (plans/designs) that contribute to the relationship between people and nature by carrying out research and education, making recommendations, and implementing projects in cooperation with local residents, government agencies, and specialists, committing to social issues in order to promote sustainable community living environments as well as conservation/regeneration of the natural environment, analyzing historical and natural contexts, and clarifying conservation mechanisms. Our ultimate goal is foster human resources capable of sensing and conveying the beauty of the environment.

Our main research themes are conservation of secondary nature and forests, ecological research of secondary woodlands, research related to rehabilitation of agricultural land through mutual assistance in disasters, research related to volunteer tourism, and research related to green space conservation in Bangladesh. With the flow of these research themes, going forward we seek to develop various activities that can better address issues facing the real world:

What form should secondary nature/forest conservation models take in the future in order to be successful as small-scale businesses?
How should agricultural villages in hilly and mountainous areas develop amidst the depopulation of local society?
How should value be added to traditional crop plants and landscapes, and how should these be conserved through industrial development?
How can communities capable of coordinating mutual assistance and cooperation be created?
Can secondary nature/forest conservation topics be developed through art?

In addition, as part of the DX trend in education and research, we have begun surveying and analyzing satoyama forests using point cloud data surveyed by UAVs since FY2022.
Research
Research Interests
  • Study of Homestead Garden Typology in Bangladesh
    keyword : homestead garden
    2021.04~2024.03.
  • Farmland restoration volunteer system install support to Kumamoto Earthquake site.
    keyword : Earthquake, farmland restoration, volunteer
    2016.04~2018.03.
  • Exploring the Relationship between Forest Devastation and Poverty in the Bangladesh Teknaf Peninsula.
    keyword : Bangladesh, Teknaf, Forest degradation, productivity
    2016.04~2018.03.
  • Change of Volunteer Tourism of Food Disaster Assistance in Mountainous area.
    keyword : tourism, volunteer, flood disaster, resilience
    2013.04~2015.03.
  • Development of Support Model for Agriculture and Forestry Land Conservation and Resilience after Flooding Disaster in Hilly and Mountainous Areas
    keyword : Disaster prevention, Resilience, Assistance, Hilly and mountainous areas, flood,
    2012.12~2015.11.
  • Independence reconstruction on community affected by disaster in Japan and Taiwan.
    keyword : disaster, Independence support
    2012.04~2013.03.
  • Political Ecology of Poverty and deforestation in Bangladesh.
    keyword : deforestation
    2012.04~2015.03.
  • The study on the design of living environment spheres in the era of the shrinking society.
    keyword : living environment sphere
    2011.10~2012.03.
  • Development of practical environmental conservation typed leader training program for Interpreter.
    keyword : Environmental education, Human resourse development, Satoyama, Environmental conservation, Volunteer
    2008.04~2012.03.
  • The study of the management of biodiversity using a “Satoyama” model in the Teknaf Peninsula, Bangladesh
    keyword : Satoyama, Biodiversity, Rural village, Bangladesh
    2009.12~2012.03.
  • Group cutting in Conifer plantation for stand establishing Mixed broad-leaved tree in Kurogi town, Fukuoka prefecture.
    keyword : Group cutting, Quercus serrata, Civic participation
    2008.04~2013.03.
  • Ground cover vegetation and deciduous species conservation in Urban forest in Nothern part of Kyushu Island.
    keyword : Urban forest, Satoyama, Ground cover plants, Volunteer, Green conservation area
    2009.04~2011.03.
  • Potential of corporation of volunteer activities of healthy-natural groups in Minami-ku, Fukuoka city.
    keyword : publicity, volunteer, health, natural, corporation
    2009.10~2013.03.
  • Group leader training activities of British trust for conservation volunteers, BTCV, in U.K.
    keyword : Nonprofit organization, civic activities, Environmental conservation, Environmental education.
    2004.03~2008.03.
  • Analysis of Forest Charactersitics such as Tree Crown Width in Secondary Evergreen Oak Forest and Japanese Cypress Forest using Aerial Photographs.
    keyword : Satoyama, Aerial photographs analysis, Secondary Evergreen Oak Forest, Image processing, Tree crown.
    1995.04~2008.03This study on forest crown analysis of Satoyama forest utilized aerial photograph. It is necessary that the digital data of forest environment quality and quantity, aspect from social need of Nature Environment conservation and planning the utilization strategy of forest as regional resource. This research is observing that the Evergreen forest and Japanese cypress which composed Northern Kyushu Satoyama forests, and developing Image processing method that extract tree crown. The image extracting crown is under review to crown layer tree density measurement and conclusion of floor environments..
  • Oguni research projects inheriting landscape resources.
    keyword : Landscape, Landscape classification, GIS, Public footpath
    2003.06~2008.03.
Current and Past Project
  • This project make the manual of agricultural volunteer center establishment at disaster time and carry out seminar for the agricultural association in Fukuoka prefecture.
  • The research to explore the relationship between forest devastation and poverty in the Bangladesh Teknaf peninsula have been carried out in these eight years, launched from around 2009, by Professor Masakazu Tani as a project leader. From the standpoint of conservation of green spaces, I have conducted surveys on the situation of the homestead garden, forest vegetation and social forest, and reported on it. From 2015, Prof. Tani starts "Research on the Relationship between Forest Disappearance and Poverty in the Regional Ecosystem Framework" as "Fundamental Research (A) Overseas Academic Survey". I’m researching in particular, the potential productivity of forest resource, which mean, biomass productivity in the forest in a year. The purpose of the research is to calculate the people consumption and balance of biomass productivities. The village survey is carrying out by Prof. Tani laboratory and try to clarify whether people's consumption is large or the forest production is high. The design of people's way of living and the design of forests will differ depending on their quantity.
  • Development of Support Model for Agriculture and Forestry Land Conservation and Resilience after Flooding Disaster in Hilly and Mountainous Areas
  • The objective of this research is to devise a model for the conservation of biodiversity without sacrificing residents’ livelihood in the Teknaf ECA designated by the government of Bangladesh.
Academic Activities
Reports
1. asahiro Kazuo, Development of Support Model for Farmland Restoration after Flood Disasters in Hilly and Mountainous Areas: Cases Affected by Torrential Rainfall in Northern Kyushu, Japan, Developing Sustainable and Resilient Rural Communities in the Midst of Climate Change: A Challenge to Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Strategies, International Conference, Quezon City, Metro Manila Philippines., p 89-97, 2015.12.
2. Landscape and Information.
Papers
1. The purpose of this study was to study the difference in growth between planted Cerasus jamasakura and Quercus serrata in the eleven plots where had 15m square the group selection openings of Cryptomeria japonica and Chamaecyparis obtusa, established by nonprofit organization from 2007 to2010 in Kuroki Town, Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture. For post-planting management, it was decided that underbrush would be cut only around the planted trees in order to increase biodiversity and competition among different species. Tree height measurement and vegetation surveys were conducted from 2007 to 2018. As a result, it was confirmed that the planted Cerasus jamasakura could grow to 857~1,017 cm in 11 years through interspecific competition with the pioneer species. The average annual tree height growth was 64 cm. On the other hand, it was confirmed that the growth of Quercus serrata was significantly inhibited by the shade of the surrounding artificial forest of Cryptomeria japonica, Chamaecyparis obtusa and other plants in the study area. The height of the trees was only 276~417 cm in the 10th and 11th year at the upper site of the study area. It was concluded that the growth of Quercus serrata was unsuitable under these conditions., [URL].
2. This research aims to make clear the farmland restoration volunteer attribution and consciousness, and the volunteer experiences before-after of this disaster of the Torrential Rainfall in Northern Kyushu in July 2012. The questioner research was carried out to NPO Sansonjyuku’s volunteer, 897 persons by post mail, and three private company by web mail from Nov. 27th 2014 to Jan. 31th 2015. As a result, post mail recovery rate was 30.2%. Most high portion of volunteer occupation etc. were the private company worker, 40’s and Fukuoka city urban peoples. Volunteer recruiting was carried out by people who have experience with NPO Sansonjyuku before disaster. The volunteers worked 2.97day per person during one year and eight months as average, and the repeat rate was 49.0 %. In terms of volunteer experiences of before disaster, 33.7% volunteers had the disaster volunteer experience, and 76.1% volunteer had experience that had been visited to this region. As for NPO Sansonjyuku volunteer seems around ten percent both before and after of disaster. Thus, this research confirmed that the importance of activities in farm village from before the disaster, not only the conservation volunteer but tourism so on..
3. Asahiro Kazuo, Masakazu Tani, Hiroyuki Kanekiyo, Support for Farmland Restoration Through Mutual Assistance After Flood Disasters in Hilly and Mountainous Areas -Cases of the Cities of Yame and Ukiha Affected by the Torrential Rainfall in Northern Kyushu in July 2012-, 5, 10, 794-805, 2015.10, [URL], A considerable amount of farmland was destroyed by a flood disaster that struck in 2012 in Yame and Ukiha,in Fukuoka prefecture in the northern part of the island of Kyushu,Japan. This paper is a case study of the volunteer farmland restoration activities that were carried out in the hilly and mountainous areas after the flood. The purpose of this study is to outline the activities in three regions and to show the character of the volunteer farmland restoration groups. Interview surveys were conducted with the manager of each volunteer group, and data on the process of forming volunteer groups, the monthly process and distribution of activities, facilities requirements,and intermediaries between affected farmers and volunteer activities were collected in field surveys. The surveys were carried out from June to September, 2014. It was found that conservation activities were carried out in the three regions starting the year before the disaster. It is notable that Sansonjyuku, a NPO established in 1994, launched their activities in July,the month in which disaster struck. Activity areas by Sansonjyuku were unevenly distributed due to their experiences with volunteer activities in previous years. The other groups widely covered their areas because they carried out needs research on all local districts through ward mayors. Fifty percent to 75.9% support activities were intermediated by someone,and the ward mayors fulfilled this role more than 50% of the time..
4. Many farmlands were destroyed by big flood disaster in 2012 that was occurred in Yame and Ukiha city, Fukuoka prefecture at northern Kyushu, Japan. In this paper, I described the case study that has been deployed the volunteer activities for farmland restoration after the flood disaster in the hilly and mountainous areas. The purpose of this study is to clarify the outline of the activities in three regions and to show the types of the volunteer groups of farmland restoration. Interview survey was conducted with each volunteer group’s manager and collecting that materials. Field survey was also carried out along with the manager through June to September 2014. It was found that the volunteer group’s activity types were characterized into three types. First, “Satochi-Satoyama conservation volunteer group type” that has been works from before and just after the disaster; second, “Residents-administration group type” and third, “Administration group type” who started their works few months after the disaster. Lastly, the distribution of activity areas, the first group was unevenly distributed due to their activity experiences on disasters in former years, the other groups were widely covered the area because of the needs by the local demand..
5. This research focused on the hilly and mountainous area of Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, which suffered damage due to the heavy rains that occurred in the northern part of Kyushu in July 2012. The objective of this research was to identify the distribution of damage to agricultural land in the Yame City area and the districts in which it was concentrated. In addition to characterizing the damage, the research was aimed at revealing the activities of aid agencies. To conduct this research, the carried out questionnaire survey by Yame City, the disaster report on the agricultural land and facilities was analyzed, and interviews were conducted to an NPO, and the leaders of the local. The results of our research led to the following conclusions: (1) Following a comparison of the reported disaster densities in the managed cultivated areas, it was ascertained that the damage was concentrated in Jouyo Town, Hoshino Village, and Kurogi Town, with totals ranging from 170.5 to 299.7 incidents/km2, and particularly in the Kasahara District of Kurogi Town, with a total of 1503.1 incidents/km2. (2) The damage to roads in the semi-mountainous regions and it was shown that this situation exacerbated the difficulties of the recovery. (3) It was reinforced that the presence of an NPO with a base in the disaster area meant that the initial support for the recovery was highly effective..
6. Agricultural Production and Consumption Activity of Pre-marginal Hamlets of Rural Area in Northern Part of Aragón, Spain.
7. This is a report of the “Student Workshop for Recon-struction Assistance to the Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake.” The disaster occurred on March 11, 2011, and the reconstruction support activities were con-ducted by the executive committee of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture in Minamisanriku-cho, Miyagi prefecture, from September 4, 2011 to May 2, 2012. The activities consisted of three phases—phase 1: on-site workshop, phase 2: polishing of the student’s proposal and presentation of a report at the academic conference, and phase 3: reporting of activities to the local residents. The following four results were drawn from these educational activities: (1) perspective of landscape design, (2) activities were carried out six months time after the earthquake occurred, (3) education as an opportunity for college students, (4) collaboration with local stakeholders, universities, and companies. On the other hand, several issues were noted for future activities of educational institution in disaster affected local areas: (1) safety measures to reduce disaster risk at the site, (2) making a sincere relationship with the local people, (3) fund-raising. In conclusion, work in disaster areas is crucial and further contribution from our design education should be enhanced..
8. Kazuo Asahiro, BTCV Standards Leader Training Program for Environmental Conservation Volunteers in Japan, Journal of Landscape Architecture in Asia Volume5, October 2010, Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture, Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture, Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture., 5, 118-123, 2010.10.
9.   The Analysis of Forest Crowns by Same-Color-Region Determining Method Utilized Image Range Features of Castanopsis cuspidata Coppice Woodland and Cryptomeria japonica and Chamaecyparis obtusa Artificial Forest
.
10. The Aerial Photograph Image Character and Forest Structural Factors Relationship of Castanopsis cuspidata Coppice Woodland and Chamaechiparis obutusa Artificial Forest..
11. Kazuo Asahiro, Toshinori Shigematsu, International Conservation Working Holidays in Fukuoka, Japan and Strategy of BTCV in United Kingdom, Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture, Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture, Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture, Journal of Landscape Architecture in Asia Volume 2 (2巻、p109-114), 2006.08.
12. The Analysis of Forest Crown by Determining Same Color Regions in Aerial Photograph Images of a Northern Kyushu Satoyama Rural Forest, Journal of the Institute of Landscape Architecture.
Works, Software and Database
1. 豪雨被災中山間集落における修景デザインによる復興支援 : 平成29年7月九州北部豪雨で被災した福岡県朝倉市志波平榎集落における櫟山見晴台づくりを事例に,芸術工学研究, 37, 17-30.
2. .
3. .
Presentations
1. Kazuo Asahiro, Day1:Post-disaster Landscape Reafforestation Projects in Hoshino and Hiraenoki Japan, Day2:Drone Applications in Japanese Landscape Architecture :
present and future considerations, Miyawaki mini forests & smart green networks, 2022.06.
2. This research aims to make clear the farmland restoration volunteer attribution and consciousness, and the volunteer experiences before-after of this disaster of the Torrential Rainfall in Northern Kyushu in July 2012. The questioner research was carried out to NPO Sansonjyuku’s volunteer, 897 persons by post mail, and three private company by web mail from Nov. 27th 2014 to Jan. 31th 2015. As a result, post mail recovery rate was 30.2%. Most high portion of volunteer occupation etc. were the private company worker, 40’s and Fukuoka city urban peoples. Volunteer recruiting was carried out by people who have experience with NPO Sansonjyuku before disaster. The volunteers worked 2.97day per person during one year and eight months as average, and the repeat rate was 49.0 %. In terms of volunteer experiences of before disaster, 33.7% volunteers had the disaster volunteer experience, and 76.1% volunteer had experience that had been visited to this region. As for NPO Sansonjyuku volunteer seems around ten percent both before and after of disaster. Thus, this research confirmed that the importance of activities in farm village from before the disaster, not only the conservation volunteer but tourism so on..
3. 朝廣 和夫, Support for farmland restoration after flood disaster in hilly and mountainous areas: Cases affected by torrential rainfall in Northern Kyushu, Japan., Developing Sustainable and Resilient Rural Communities in the Midst of Climate Change: A challenge to disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies UP -SURP in cooperation with the DENR and Asia Center Japan Foundation Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria Hote, 2015.12, A considerable amount of farmland was destroyed by a flood disaster that struck in 2012 in Yame and Ukiha, in Fukuoka prefecture in the northern part of the island of Kyushu, Japan. This presentation is a case study of the volunteer farmland restoration activities that were carried out in the hilly and mountainous areas after the flood. The purpose of this study is to outline the activities in three regions and to show the character of the volunteer farmland restoration groups. Interview surveys were conducted with the manager of each volunteer group, and data on the process of forming volunteer groups, the monthly process and distribution of activities, and intermediaries between affected farmers and volunteer activities were collected in field surveys. The results revealed the formation of three types of NGOs after the disaster: “civic groups for conserving lands in and near the village and neighboring mountains”; “cooperative organizations between residents and governments”; and “organizations under administrative instructions.” Residents in each region had experienced conservation activities for terraced paddy fields with residents in urban areas before the disaster, indicating that NGO activities before the disaster are the base of disaster volunteers for farmland restoration.
This study is a result of the “Study on Restoration Support Models for Farming and Forestry after Water Disasters in Hilly and Mountainous Areas“ in the promotion project for strategic creative research in 2012 (social technology research and development) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency. This study was published on Journal of Disaster Research (JDR Vol.10 No.5 Oct. 2015) with others. This special issue was coordinated by Dr. Haruo Hayashi (National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, President) as title on “Special Issue on Creating Community-Based Robust and Resilient Society”. It is very glad that share these experiences in this conference.
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4. A Study of Disaster Volunteer Activities of Farmland Restoration by the Torrential Rainfall in Northern Kyushu in July 2012 .
5. The Type of Farmland Conservation by NPO Assistance in Yame City and Ukiha City from the Heavy Rains in the Northern Part of Kyushu in 2012..
6. Social Forest’s the Current Condition in Teknaf Peninsula of Bangladesh.
7. Asahiro Kazuo, Ayane Nakagaki, Md. Abiar Rahman, Masakazu Tani, Current conditions of social forests in Teknaf and Shilkhali ranges of Bangladesh, 5th International Conference on Environmental Aspects of Bangladesh (ICEAB), 2014.09, This study discusses the current conditions of social forest (SF) in Teknaf and Shilkhali ranges in 2013, ten years after the first implementation of the SF scheme in Teknaf. Field and interview surveys were carried out from 9 to 17 September 2013 and 4 to 9 March 2014 and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was analysed from the satellite imagery taken in 2010. Correlation matrix was used to describe the relationship between these factors. We found that 70.3% of SFs was with active cutting of the trees until 2013, but in eight Acacia spp. SFs, thinning management was delayed from the predicted SF regulations; in 11 SFs, thinning was done properly, and five broad leaved and seven cleared SFs were confirmed. These results were mapped, to show the differences in SFs current conditions as well as the local measurement requirements. The findings would help to conserve the SF in the study area..
8. This research focused on the hilly and mountainous area of Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, which suffered damage due to the heavy rains that occurred in the northern part of Kyushu in July 2012. The objective of this research was to identify the distribution of damage to agricultural land in the Yame City area and the districts in which it was concentrated. In addition to characterizing the damage, the research was aimed at revealing the activities of aid agencies. To conduct this research, the carried out questionnaire survey by Yame City, the disaster report on the agricultural land and facilities was analyzed, and interviews were conducted to an NPO, and the leaders of the local. The results of our research led to the following conclusions: (1) Following a comparison of the reported disaster densities in the managed cultivated areas, it was ascertained that the damage was concentrated in Jouyo Town, Hoshino Village, and Kurogi Town, with totals ranging from 170.5 to 299.7 incidents/km2, and particularly in the Kasahara District of Kurogi Town, with a total of 1503.1 incidents/km2. (2) The damage to roads in the semi-mountainous regions and it was shown that this situation exacerbated the difficulties of the recovery. (3) It was reinforced that the presence of an NPO with a base in the disaster area meant that the initial support for the recovery was highly effective..
9. Asahiro Kazuo, Mayu Takada, Md. Abiar Rahman, Masakazu Tani, Tree Census and Household Lifestyle in Homestead of Bangladesh -A Case Study in the West Coast of Teknaf, 4th International Conference on Environmental Aspects of Bangladesh (ICEAB), 2013.08.
10. Agri-friendly Self-sufficient Lifestyle of Pre-marginal Hamlets of Rural Area in Northern Part of Aragon, Spain.
11. , [URL].
12. This research aims to clarify the relationship between image properties of aerial photograph and structural factors of Castanopsis cuspidata coppice woodland and Chamaechiparis obutusa artificial forest, and to develop an algorithm of tree crown analysis using the images. The aerial photographs were taken in May, 1999, the season of flowering Castanopsis cuspidate, and converted to monochrome 45cm ground resolution digital images. Fourteen plots were chosen in the field to measure vegetation and forest structure. Correlations were analyzed between image properties such as SD (standard deviation) and CF (cumulative frequency of tree crown edge) and forest structural factors such as tree crown area, tree density, relative illuminance under tree crown, etc. As a result of only Chamaechiparis obutusa artificial forest, a -0.79 correlation between SD and CF was obtained. Also, a 0.79 correlation between SD and the relative illuminance under tree crowns was found. Furthermore, in terms of CF, a 0.72 (tree crown area) and a –0.82 (tree density) correlation was found. The results suggested that these images contained the information of the tree crown..
13. Characters on composition of canopy tree layer in broad-leaved urban forest reserve.
Membership in Academic Society
  • Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture
  • Society of Landscape Ecology
  • The City Planning Institute of Japan
  • The Japanese Forest Society
  • Center for Environmental Information Science
  • The Association of Rural Planning
  • The Ecological Society of Japan
  • Japan Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
  • Landscape and Ecological Engineering
Awards
  • It was awarded for excellence presentation in Kitakyusyu conference of Kyushu branch, Landscape Design Society Japan in 2019
Educational
Other Educational Activities
  • 2022.04.
  • 2020.03.
  • 2020.01, It was held in disaster site, Hiraenoki at Asakura City in Fukuoka, that was damaged by heavy rain in July 2017. Prof. Sakamoto and 10 students had visited there and investigate the situation with local guide. This was carried out as Architectural program of NUS, field trip is part of “Option Design Research Studio Module”.
    Two day field and one day campus. KU and NUS students had exchanged thier idea, I had learned a lots from them. They pointed out from Grobal warming, Depopulation, Eco-network and Hyperobject. The project was just started this month. I hope their study going well..
  • 2017.10.
  • 2009.06.
  • 2007.06.
  • 2007.04.