Japan is a nation in which natural disasters

including landslide

floods

debris flow

and soil erosion

occur frequently every year. The government has paid much attention to controlling the natural disasters since the end of World War Two. As a result

there was also a great progress in research dealing with natural disaster during this period. In this paper

the universities and authorizations dealing with water and soil conservation

as well as main leading researchers in Japan are introduced

the history and characteristics of soil erosion and conservation studies

as well as some important results up to now are systematically evaluated.