The author developed a new method of forecasting small area populations in 2017 and has constructed web mapping systems for Japan, the State of Washington, and Taiwan by applying the method to open data of their countries/areas. This study introduces the Web Mapping System of Small Area Population Projections for the US (https://onl.la/HfU9yPZ), newly released in April 2022. The calculation in this system was performed using ACS population data at the Block Group level. We smoothed the CCR and CWR indispensable for the Hamilton-Perry method, before applying it, using Inoue's method in two steps. This two-step method had already been adopted in the system for WA.

Timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) play a crucial role in the livelihoods of local communities in rural areas of Vietnam. The exploitation of forest products becomes a primary source of income for poor households living near nature reserves. Those NTFPs are diverse in types, including wild meat, fish, honey, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, vegetables, medicinal plants, rattan, etc., as food sources and sold in local markets. While forest product exploitation has been a traditional livelihood of local communities for generations, dependence on forest resources creates challenges for conserving natural forests and biodiversity. Understanding the spatial distribution of forest product exploitation can assist decision-makers in better planning and managing forest resources for the sustainable use of forest ecosystem services.

This paper explores neoliberalism’s impact on Japan’s medical co-op system. Over the last thirty years, the Japanese economy has transformed. Welfare policy has shifted from public to mutual or self-assistance. In the immediate post-war period under Keynesian economics, medical co-ops were established with an ethos of mutual assistance. The ethos of medical co-ops has also changed, impacted by the neoliberal transformation of the Japanese economy and public policy. The paper identifies the demographics supported by medical co-ops and the geographical areas established. It argues with examples that medical co-ops are located to compensate for the spatial imbalances in medical facilities.

We report our analysis of the negative correlation between April and August monthly mean temperatures in northern Japan between 1999 and 2011, as shown in a previous study by Kanno (2013), by extending the period to 2021. The results show that the correlation between April and August monthly mean temperatures in northern Japan persists even if the period is extended to 2021, and that the correlation is observed widely in Japan. The regression coefficient distribution of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) index for May for April and August showed a significant relationship around northern Japan in both April and August.

In this presentation I attempt to review the academic literature existing in the last ten years (2013-2022) that is concerned with the Japanese video game industry, in order to provide a general, fresh picture of the state of its research and the most addressed subtopics, and ultimately offer considerations that can be valuable from the standpoint of geography, assessing both the existing geographical knowledge and unexplored, potentially interesting approaches from this point forward.

It is important to clarify how the place images produced with the expectation of being seen by tourists create and change the images of places held by residents as a perspective on the various perceptions and tourism practices of local residents that have been pointed out in recent years. In this paper, I clarify the influence and restructuring process of place images held by residents in the production process of place images in a tourist area, using Kozushima Village, Tokyo. Kozushima Island rapidly developed as a tourist destination during the boom of the remote islands in the Izu Islands after the 1960s. However, due to the subsequent decrease in the number of tourists and the earthquake, Kozushima, along with other islands, was forced to create unique attractions, differentiate itself from other areas, and aim for year-round tourism in the 2000s and after. The utilization of the starry sky for tourism and the recognition of Kozushima as a starry sky protected area were part of these efforts. In this process, representations such as tourism pamphlets and posters by the tourist association and the village office, the creation of physical scenery such as benches, signboards, and monuments, and representations by external media such as magazines have developed, and a social place image of Kozushima connected to the starry sky has been produced. The personal place images of residents were categorized into three patterns: the image of the starry sky became stronger than before the production of the place image by the entity, the image of the starry sky was strong before that, and the image of the starry sky did not become stronger. It was concluded that the external factors that linked the residents' image of Kozushima to the starry sky included the tourist association's efforts to make the starry sky a tourism resource after 2016, the village office's designation as a starry sky protected area in 2020, tourists coming to the island for the starry sky, and community and interpersonal relationships. In addition, as factors intrinsic to residents, personal interest in the starry sky, gaze at the starry sky from outside the community, gaze at the starry sky as a living landscape, and awareness of the non-indigenous nature of the starry sky were identified. In conclusion, it was shown that the process of production of place images by the subject triggers the restructuring of place images by the residents. In addition, the restructuring of place images by residents is further promoted when they recognize that tourists visit the area based on the produced images. On the other hand, the results of this study also revealed that the restructuring of place images does not necessarily occur among all residents. The interests of individual residents and the gaze of the outside world form the residents' images of place separately from the production process by the subjects. In addition, the underlying gaze of residents as a living landscape, doubts about the uniqueness of tourism resources, and the influence of living space on the production of place images are factors that encourage negative attitudes toward the produced place images.

In this study, impacts of COVID-19 to middlemen were considered in Ca Mau province, Dam Doi district in Vietnam. To execute this study, interviews to ten middlemen in Dam Doi district were conducted in August 2022. It is concluded that middlemen in Dam Doi district were affected by the movement restriction according to their collection areas and class, therefore they couldn’t collect much shrimp and decreased their income.

This study aims to elucidate the interrelationship between alpine vegetation patterns and environmental factors in Rebun Island. In the west coastal area, WSW predominating wind in winter and topography blow snow and hinder forest expansion, resulting in the maintenance of the alpine plant community, although, in terms of climate zone, it is forestland that is most strongly established in that region. Seasonal wind, snow, and their combined factor cause heterogeneous soil conditions, which contribute to plant community’s diversity. The culture and history of Rebun Island characterized by fishery and conservation activity have maintained the alpine plant community.

Livestock data were obtained for each household in Khumjung, Khunde, and Portse to understand the current status of the livestock grazing. The maximum livestock number per household was 56 in Khumjung, 93 in Kunde, and 36 in Portse, and most households with multiple livestock owned both male and female yaks. The number of households owning only cows were minimal, ranging from 1 to 4 head attains14 in Khumjung and 5 each in Kunde and Portse. The data suggest that pastoralism is unlikely to disappear in the future, while yak husbandry is not necessarily central to the residents’ livelihood.

On the background of the increasingly serious wildlife damage problems, we investigated how local hunting activities are transforming. From the capture data of wild deer and wild boar, hunter attribute data, and a questionnaire survey targeting hunters in Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture, this study discussed that hunting activities have been significantly transformed against the backdrop of wildlife damage. The questionnaire results also suggested that hunting activities, which started as a way to prevent wildlife damage, are becoming socially and culturally significant for hunters.

The investigations on periglacial landforms and permafrost in the Daisetsu Mountains, Hokkaido have been conducted since 1965 by Koaze and 1974 by Fukuda and Kinoshita. In this presentation we show our recent investigations of permafrost and periglacial landforms such as frost crack polygons, palsas, solifluction lobes, a block stream, sorted polygons.

The Japanese government has set aggressive objectives in the exports of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products and foods. Miso is selected as one of the 28 priority items. How could the stakeholders form and cooperate in the miso exportation food system and what roles should each of them play in order to achieve such aggressive goals? This research aims to clarify the structure and the activities of the food system through investigating the cases of manufacturers who are exporting to France, the most stably growing miso market in Europe.