The findings of this study are summarized as follow: The results of multi-answers to questionnaires indicate that causes of the defunct villages resulted from their internal factors are classified into eight types. Main types are [B: employment problems], [A: natural disasters], [D: natural disasters+employment problems], and [C: inconvenience of life]. Figure-2 shows the distribution of types of causes. Types which have the factor of [natural disasters] principally range on the snowy areas along the west side of main island of Japan. On the other hand, types like [B], [C], and [F] range mainly on the southwestern Japan. This study shows that type [B] has a more severe condition than type [C] in terms of the altitude gap and the distance from their own town hall. A cluster analysis of the percentages of causes indicates that the areas are classified into three groups, Northern Japan group, Western Coast Japan group, and Southwestern Japan group. The ratio of villages engaged in forestry correlates distinctly with the factor of employment problems, while the ratio of those engaged in rice farming correlates with the factor of natural disasters. And the ratio of those engaged in charcoal burning is higher in Western Coast Japan group.
