The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of agglomeration in Japan's food industry from 1980 to 2000. We measured agglomeration and co-agglomeration indexes, as suggested by Ellison and Glaeser (1997). The food industry was categorized following the four-digit system of the Japan Standard Industrial Classification. The result clearly shows that there was a strong agglomeration in “Agar”, “Wine”, “Tea” and “Starch”. From 1980 and 2000, industries that witnessed increasing agglomeration were “Sugar”, “Agar”, “Fish-meat”, “Ham” and sausage”, “Miscellaneous livestock products”, and “Tea”. We found that the reason for this was that regional concentration exceeded industry concentration. On the other hand, the following industries witnessed decreasing agglomeration : “Umami seasoning”, “Refined sugar products”, “Edible oils and fats”, “Frozen seafood products” and “Wine”. This could be because of increasing of regional concentration or that industrial concentration far exceeded regional concentration. We observed that industries with increasing agglomeration index, used mainly domestic inputs whereas those with decreasing agglomeration index relied heavily on imported materials. We also observed that co-agglomeration between “Frozen seafood products” and other seafood products. The index between seasonings showed increasing tendency. We found co-agglomeration between seasonings and plastics and glass industries.

JEL classification : R11