Abstract: Smart agriculture is the new trend of agriculture development in the era of big data and artificial intelligence. In face of the impact of agriculture development challenges and trade liberalization, the Japanese government proposed to develop smart agriculture to overcome the shortage of agriculture workforce, promote the productivity and revitalize Japanese agriculture.Therefore, the Japanese government set five development objectives for smart agriculture. Thedrone, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of things are the main technologies applied in Japanese smart agriculture.Support from Japanese government and participation of all parties are the characteristics of the development of Japanese smart agriculture. Meanwhile, Japanese government made great efforts to strengthen the international competitiveness of Japanesea griculture by developing smart agriculture. The development of Japanese smart agriculture offers a valuable reference for Chinese agriculture, which is in the process of informationization and intellectualization.

Key words: Japan, smart agriculture, drone, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things