David Harvey (The Johns Hopkins University) visited Japan from 13 to 30 October 1994, by invitation of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. On this occasion the Working Group “Theories and Tasks of Social Geography” (head: Yoshiaki Takatsu, Niigata University), one of the research commissions of the Association of Japanese Geographers, organized this symposium. The attendance of approximately 300 members suggested growing interest among Japanese geographers in research on the relationship between space and society.
Harvey's keynote speech was preceded by the presentations of four Japanese scholars: Masami Fujii (Gauss) pointed out that Harvey had needed positivism only because he needed explanation in geography; Noriyuki Hirai (Hitotsubashi University) noted Harvey's intention to discover the social relations behind economics in his treatment of Marxian economics and crisis theory; Jun Kainuma (Nagoya University) explained how Harvey came to be an authentic heir to Henri Lefebvre's conception of space in his critique of postmodernism; and Keiichi Takeuchi (Komazawa University) examined Harvey's position in the development of “geographical thought” and discovered continuity in Harvey's work from the early 1970's until now.
The full text of Harvey's keynote speech and a summary of the discussions that followed are available in Series B of the Geographical Review of Japan, Vol. 67, No. 2, 1994.
