History of schoolyard turfing for popularization in Japan

In Japan, the school grounds covered with turfgrasses were rare until the 1970s. Starting in the mid‐1970s, the national and local governments began to support planting turfgrasses on school grounds. The planted turfgrasses in larger schoolyards remained longer, while those in smaller schoolyards in urban areas disappeared soon after planting. It has often been the case that the governments only provide budgets for the initial planting, not leaving enough for maintenance. Therefore, maintenance work became a heavy burden on teachers and school staff, leading to decades of stagnation of the development of the school turf. Then, the turfgrasses at stadiums began to draw attention due to the opening of the J League in 1993 and Japan and Korea's joint hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2002, making turfgrass planting on schoolyards more popular. Government offices and various organizations joined to support turfgrasses in several ways, making it popular for school children, parents, and residents to participate in the process of planting and taking care of turfgrasses, as well as variety of events to be held on the lawn. Turfgrasses on school grounds ended up building beautiful communities with creative activities and interactions. Before 2000, most turfgrass species were Zoysiagrasses ( Zoysia matrella and Z. japonica ), while more schools started to use Bermuda grasses (Cynodon spp.), especially Tifway, starting around 2000. Some schools have been overseeded with perennial ryegrass. Until around 2000, most school grounds in Japan were planted with square turfgrass sods, while the use of potted seedlings has now become widespread.