The purpose of this study was to clarify regional characteristics of reductions in temperature when precipitation occurs in summer over the Kanto district. The standard deviation of temperature at the time of precipitation occurrence was greater in southern Kanto than in northern Kanto. In many cases in southern Kanto, temperature reductions occurred over a wide area when precipitation coincided with the afternoon high temperature and the midnight low. In the case of convective precipitation, temperature differences before and during precipitation were related to rainfall intensity. Furthermore, 5 to 8 hours were required for the decrease in temperature due to precipitation to return to the diurnal temperature variation of sunny days. Sunshine before precipitation occurrence, precipitation intensity, and time of precipitation occurrence contributed to variations in the standard deviation of temperature in both southern and northern Kanto.

This study examined the variations in crime rates of three different types of theft among social area types and identifies high-risk neighborhoods. Using a geodemographic classification based on multidimensional socioeconomic attributes of residents and crime open data for 12 cities in the Tokyo metropolitan area, our analysis showed that the geodemographic system effectively distinguishes crime patterns across regions for all types of theft. In addition, the result of the multilevel Poisson regression models revealed that crime rates vary significantly among these social area types, especially for burglaries, even if the neighborhood built environment and city-level differences in crime patterns are controlled for. These findings suggest the usefulness of geodemographics for policy interventions targeting neighborhood crime prevention.

Many regions have been trying to revitalize local industries that have lost competitiveness by introducing cutting-edge technology. To strengthen the local textile industry, in the Hokuriku region the prefectural government as a leading actor has aggressively promoted a central government-funded initiative to develop carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). This study aimed to unveil the current situation and policy deployment regarding research and development (R&D) of CFRP in the Hokuriku region, and to analyze the establishment of new businesses utilizing cutting-edge technology in the textile industry cluster. The results indicate that the main actor in CFRP R&D in Ishikawa prefecture is a university and that local firms have collaborated with each other. In Fukui prefecture, the main actor in CFRP R&D is a public research laboratory that has developed core technology. The development of CFRP will not mean that the conventional textile cluster will evolve into a high-value modern textile industry, but local industries will become embedded subordinates in the supply chain for airplane and automobile components as a completely different industry.

This article discusses how a rural settlement has been maintained by focusing on the values of I-turn migrants and settlement functions in the study area of Katetsu, Setouchi-cho, Amami-oshima Island, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan. Since the 1990s, the rural settlement of Katetsu has continually received migrants from urban areas of mainland Japan, such as Tokyo and Osaka. Migrants have chosen Katetsu as their new domicile rather than settling in urbanized and/or tourist areas of the island. Migrants to Katetsu must build social relations in and around the settlement and embed themselves in the social networks of property owners in order to find and acquire housing. Before a migrant begins living in the settlement, existing residents arrange opportunities to confirm that the individual will participate in a variety of events that characterize Katetsu, including Honensai (a festival celebrating the harvest). Reflecting a tightly knit community, its closed housing market and practice of consensus-building in relation to established settlement social customs have played crucial roles in screening people who wish to settle there. After migrants begin living in Katetsu, settlement events function as places at which current residents accept migrants as their new neighbours. The settlement of Katetsu is now spatially and socially maintained by the nexus between the presence of I-turn migrants who seek a nonurban life and the inherent settlement functions for screening and accepting them into the community. This article provides counterevidence to the “marginal settlement discourse.”

This study analyzes terminological problems in all high school textbooks on “Geography A,” “Geography B,” “Science and Our Daily Life,” “Basic Earth Science,” and “Advanced Earth Science,” focusing on geomorphological, geological, meteorological, and climatological terms. Many educational terms vary between “Geography” and “Earth Science” and even within “Geography” and “Earth Science.” High school textbooks partially neglect academic information on geoscience in terms of plate tectonics, orogenesis, seismology, slope processes, Quaternary landforms, meteorological circulation, and climatic classification. Future geoscience education should use academically appropriate terms in high school textbooks.

The author released a trial version of “The Web System of Small Area Population Projections for the Whole Japan” in June 2015. This system offered web-based access to small-area (cho-cho and aza),long-term (2015–2060),nationwide population projections for Japan (by age-group and gender) for the first time. To develop this system, the author proposed a new method for smoothing small-area demographics, and after improving the trial version substantially, released the regular version in July 2016. This paper describes how the system was developed and the new smoothing method with the theoretical background. It also gives an outline of the system focusing on the methods and accuracy of projections, briefly explains the operating methods, and concludes by referring to further studies on small-area population projections.

This paper discusses progress in approaches to the accessibility study using GIS from the accessibility of equity and mobility in the potential accessibility of public transportation. The availability of GIS has led to greater social recognition of the importance of geographic information. GIS changed research methods for the study of accessibility and enabled clarification of spatial variations in accessibility at the local level. As the result, the accessibility study can now focus specifically on: 1) widening the areas analyzed; 2) analysis at the micro level; 3) changes in methods for measuring distance; 4) consideration to multimodal transportation from single modal transportation; and 5) visualization of accessibility. The concept of accessibility is changing from the viewpoint of the distance separating places to the viewpoint of the ability to conquer the distance through mobility. GIS enables analyses of intermodal accessibility through multimodal transportation as a measure of the ability to overcome distance and schedule accessibility considering departure and arrival times.

This paper introduces a method to monitor the location and scale of commercial accumulations in Japan using a digital telephone directory, which is one form of micro geodata, and to verify the reliability of the data by cross-checking with existing census data and field survey results. This method detects zones of separate commercial accumulations as polygon data, referred to as “commercial accumulation statistics.” In addition, the consistency of the commercial accumulation statistics with the Commercial Statistics of Japan was verified. The results show that these data can monitor the location and scale of commercial areas in the Commercial Statistics of Japan. Moreover, field surveys in some actual commercial accumulation districts showed that the data used in this study accurately reflect the spatial distributions of those accumulations.

This study used “commercial accumulation statistics” derived from micro geodata to analyze and examine how commercial and service industries have accumulated within the basic planning area of central district revitalization basic plans. The results showed that local governments with smaller population sizes tend to have higher concentrations of commercial and service industries within the basic planning area. Additionally, the conditions of accumulation differ depending on the type of industry: where higher-level industries tend to accumulate, the proportion of those used on a daily basis is lower. Moreover, the composition of industries in the basic planning area varies by region, can be categorized into groups, is related to the population size of municipalities, and has unique characteristics based on geographical distribution.

In order to enhance the crisis management response using the example of the Nankai Trough Earthquake in Kochi, we developed micro data that can be used to estimate high-definition damage based on big data accumulated with improved observation technology. People flow data generated by interpolating probe data from mobile phones equipped with GPS with big data such as residential maps and telephone directories can demonstrate the detailed flow of people over 15-minute time blocs during 24-hour periods. We developed a method for the integrated estimation of fatalities caused by building collapses, fires, and tsunami using the people flow data. By analyzing various damage estimation results, we clarified the distribution of the likelihood of damage by region and clarified the maximum damage and maximum likelihood of damage that could occur in each. The estimations indicated that fatalities would likely be significant in coastal areas.

The Environmental Map Contest, started in Asahikawa in 1991, has developed as the only map contest of national or international significance held in Japan. Its achievements are diverse, including those in environmental education, geography education, map education, lifelong learning, etc. This paper focuses on those achievements of the environmental map contest closely related to “outreach,” particularly in relation to the unreplaceable roles played by Hokkaido University of Education Research Center for Lifelong Learning and its yearly journal Reports of the HUE Research Center for Lifelong Learning, and through collaboration with individuals involved in various sectors. It has been reconfirmed that the activities related to this map contest offer numerous suggestions for the promotion of university outreach or extension activities. It should be stressed that a network of primary, secondary, and higher education with support from government agencies and the private sector and centered at a university has driven cooperation and co-creation efforts among science, education, and society. Those efforts have resulted in the largest educational map contest in Japan, creating a model of outreach by a university and science circles.

The Association of Japanese Geographers presently has four types of qualification and approval systems in the two areas of GIS and regional geography. These systems aim at enhancing the social status of geography and contributing to the association by promoting the development of geography in university education. We did not pay much attention to the association's outreach programs at first, but the above systems contributed to the appeal of the association by emphasizing that qualified persons should at least have a background in geography. It now appears necessary for the association to take further steps from a specialized perspective to activate its projects such as summer school programs. The association should take various measures to revitalize its outreach programs by improving social collaboration and contributing networks in geography.

This report examines the outreach of geography from the perspective of the publishing industry and bookstores. Using sales data from bookstores, I investigated the level of acceptance of geography-related books intended for the general public by bookstores and readers. The results showed that fewer geography books are published and sold compared with books related to history. The geography readership is also biased toward middle-aged men. It was clarified that few bookstores consciously set up special displays of books on geography and conditions for their optimal promotion and sales are not in place. These study results indicate the current degree of public interest in geography and the extent to which geography-related books have penetrated the publishing industry.

Several geographers contributed to the documents on the 2011 tsunami disaster published by the town office of Yamada, northeastern Japan. In the chapter on the tsunami inundation and evacuation from it, we reconstructed the verbal evidence on evacuees' behavior as information on spatiotemporal sequences presented in detailed maps and time–location diagrams. We used personal-scale descriptions of the behavior, which were interpreted on the environmental characteristics of each settlement as a spatial base of evacuation and daily living. The documents demonstrate a type of geographic outreach on natural disasters, which contain valuable, applicable information for both education on personal emergency evacuation and long-term regional planning including settlement relocation in tsunami-prone areas.

In this study, we examined geography outreach by undergraduate students, how society reacted to student activities such as the publication of magazines and television appearances, and how the students reacted in turn to those public perceptions. Initially, it was intended to promote the outreach of geography by publishing the outcomes of an undergraduate class. Reactions to the media coverage demonstrated that people in broader society were surprised that young women studied geography, as it is generally perceived as a “masculine” subject. The attention of the media on female students taking geography classes frustrated the original intention of the students to promote the outreach of geography more generally. However, as a result of that focus on “girls in geography,” many media outlets covered the story, which in itself facilitated the outreach. Student-based outreach can attract people who are not directly interested in academic knowledge because young people can communicate their familiarity and interest in a different dimension from academic expertise. Because student-based outreach differs in objective, purpose, and content from the outreach by scientists intended to convey advanced research results, it is thus an effective approach to communicating with society.

Most people majoring in geography find employment in private companies, as civil servants, etc. In other words, they work in fields other than education and research. Therefore, it is useful to promote the field using careers that most geographers are working in. It is important for the discussion of geography to integrate “identity and geography” and to strengthen the support of geography education and research at universities. This paper analyzes the support of geographers working in fields other than educational research. To demonstrate the points, this paper analyzes two case studies of activities carried out by national civil servant volunteers. The results show that it is important to: 1) create a network of geography-minded individuals; 2) discover human resources who can contribute to those networks; and 3) create an environment for students to share their identity as geographers. In order to establish such a support system, I suggest a fourth point: strengthening information dissemination through social networks and other platforms and increasing awareness through such means as conferring public awards in geography.

The author reviews geography outreach activities in which he was involved to utilize their outcomes for policy making. Examples of those activities include the systematization of counteractions against urban heat islands in support of administrative sectors which was noted worldwide and the editing process of Global Environmental Outlook reports of the UN Environment Programme. Relevant recommendations are included. Nowadays, research activities are supported by considerable public funding and scientific outreach activities are not only “one-way social contributions” but also the processes of reviewing and strengthening research activities. Feedback consisting of reactions to research activities from other stakeholders is particularly important.

The encouragement of geographical thinking by inspiring “geographical imagination,” i.e., an expanded vision of spatial phenomena, can be a useful approach for the outreach of geography. We developed a method to visualize spatial phenomena using three-dimensional (3D) geospatial information to reconstruct the palaeolandscape including the settlement ecosystem in the Jomon period and examined its effectiveness. Specifically, we first acquired 3D geospatial information on the present landscape using a small unmanned aerial vehicle and performed data analysis for reconstruction of the palaeolandscape. Then different visualization methods and their effectiveness were examined, including an online system of 3D visualization of the palaeolandscape and an exhibition at a cultural museum. For this, we performed trials not only of the integration of research outputs in geography, archaeology, and Quaternary research but also of the integrated expressions of artists. We found that these integrated approaches are effective in promoting an intuitive understanding of palaeolandscapes by supporting the spatiotemporal geographical imagination of various people. We expect that the further development of these methods will contribute to the dissemination of geographical imagination and thinking for the outreach of geography.

The author conducted a training session based on geographical contents for renewing educational personnel certification in August 2017 at the Chiba Institute of Science, Chiba prefecture, central Japan. The session was held as a combination of fieldwork, in-class practice, and final examination. It comprised outdoor wandering to enjoy local nature, interpretation of topographical maps and aerial photographs, and presentations using illustration drawings. The 20 participants, who were teachers of nursery, elementary, junior high, and high schools, were generally satisfied with the session and evaluated it as sufficiently useful for application in their own school lessons. Such sessions based on active learning are effective as an outreach of geography for school teachers who are not specialized in geography and should be extensively carried out in the future.

Tokyo will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020. In 1964, this event accelerated the growth of Japan after the Second World War. In 2020, it could promote the reorganization of the city for the era of deindustrialization instigated by globalization. Using fieldwork, this study analyzes the urban and regional development resulting from the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988, Nagano in 1998, and London in 2012 to sharpen the perspective for Tokyo in 2020. This article also explores the 2016 G7 Summit, held in Ise-Shima, as it served to test the security policies for the upcoming 2020 Olympics. The research findings were as follows. The developments resulting from the games in Seoul and Nagano provided an engine of economic growth for the former and caused a significant deficit for the latter. Nonetheless, the development in both host cities proved to be a foundation for their urban infrastructure and local industry. London provided a model for the redevelopment of socially deprived areas, while the heavy security presence at the G7 Summit produced an unforeseen source of tourism.

In order to able to examine the likely political, economic, and sociocultural impacts of the 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo, this article reviews urban development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro hosted two mega-events in rapid succession, the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. This research is mainly based on a literature review and complementary fieldwork. The financing of and investment in the Rio Olympics resulted in a large amount of public money being paid to certain private companies due to favor-driven politics. A significant portion of the investments was made in Barra da Tijuca, which was the locus of venues for the Rio Olympics and home to a small number of low-income residents. The investments benefited very few people, and many low-income residents were evicted from their favelas. In addition, most of the city's residents were forced to make extraordinary sacrifices. These situations should not be attributed to the nature of the mega-events themselves; rather, the mega-events amplified the existing political and economic dynamics, which have a broad, intense effects on various parts of society.

Since August 25, 2017, over 670,000 Rohingya refugees have flooded into Bangladesh fleeing the tyranny of the Myanmar military. The government of Bangladesh, various agencies of the United Nations, and nongovernmental organizations have provided emergency humanitarian support for them. This study explores the current circumstances of the support for Rohingya refugees by conducting fieldwork in some camps in Bangladesh and examines the issue of disparity in support among camps and households. The field data show that the disparity is caused by problems in the support system and geographic conditions of the camps. The present support system coordinates aid organizations and their work through inter/intrasector cooperation. Open-access information on the needs and populations in all camps is updated frequently and meant to be fed back to the coordination centers. However, there are some hard-to-reach camps located in disadvantaged areas because site selection by each aid organization takes priority over the coordination based on gap analysis of support and relief. In addition, this paper points out other problems in the relief distribution process and methods and maintenance of common facilities.