2003 Volume 49 Issue 5 Pages 395-414
The Japan Association of Economic Geographers celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 31st, 2003. This paper describes the development of major methodological approaches in Japanese economic geography since the Second World War. Four key factors, which have influenced the half century of the discipline's history, are identified in the paper. First, regional problems, such as rapid urbanization, depressed industries, regional disparities, and environmental disruption in Japan and abroad, have prompted economic geographers to theorize the mechanisms behind the apparent problems, and to provide analytical insights for regional policies. Second, the principal tradition of Japanese geography, from which most economic geographers came, has valued intensive data collection and regional description, rather than theoretical construction or reformulation. Third, economic geographical theories in Europe and North America also have influenced the work of Japanese economic geographers. Fourth, theoretical economics such as neoclassical, mathematical, Marxian, and historical economics has influenced many Japanese economic geographers who conduct research on location theories or spatial theories. Combinations of these four key factors have characterized four major periods of methodological development in Japanese economic geography in the last fifty years. In the infancy period of the discipline (late 1940s-early 1950s), prominent economic geographers, such as K. Iizuka (Tokyo University) and T. Kawashima (Osaka City University), criticized the methodologies of the prewar traditional geographical approach, which explained social and cultural phenomena in regions chiefly by physical environment with limited historical perspectives. The takeoff period (late 1950s-early 1970s) was dominated by two main methodologles. First, so-called "economic regional geography" (Keizai Chishi Ron), proposed chiefly by K. Iizuka, K. Obara (Hitotsubashi University), and I. Kamozawa (Hosei University), regarded regional descriptions as essential, and explained social and cultural phenomena in regions primarily by their historical and economic situations. Economic regional geography produced excellent studies on developing countries in Asia, such as India, the Philippines, Thailand, Iran, and Israel, as well as on industrialized countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The two key factors mentioned above, regional problems and traditional Japanese geography, strongly influenced this methodological approach. The second main methodology, location theoretical approach, rooted in A. Weber's manufacturing location theory, von Thunen's agricultural location theory, and W. Chistaller's central place theory, was advanced by scholars such as J. Ezawa (Senshu University) and T. Aoki (Hitotsubashi University), H. Nishioka (Aoyama Gakuin University). The other two key factors. Euro-American economic geography and economic theories, had substantial effects on this methodological development. In the maturing period (late 1970s-early 1990s), Regional Structure Theory (Chiiki Kozo Ron) was proposed by T. Kawashima and T. Yada (Hosei University, and later Kyushu University). This theory asserts that economic geography should analyze regional, or spatial, structures of the national economy by integrating industrial structure theories and industrial location theories. It has also succeeded in combining regional and national economics, economic theory, and regional problems, and has become dominant over economic regional geography. Many economic geographers were engaged in analyzing regional structures of the Japanese economy, and of regional problems, such as regional disparities, during the rapid growth period. The Chiiki Kozo Ron was influenced by the first factor, regional problems, and by the fourth factor, economic theories. The transitionary period (late
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