This article examines the community welfare activities and livelihood support services offered by a social welfare council in a hilly, mountainous area. Gohoku district, in the town of Ino, Kochi prefecture, has a shortage of human resources to support in-home living and monitoring requirements despite the existence of livelihood support needs identified during a municipal merger. The social welfare council, which was entrusted by the local government, has addressed livelihood support needs by recruiting home-grown talent and driving the elderly to a small-scale, multifunctional support center for daycare before returning them home, which is not covered by nursing-care insurance or mutual assistance. An interview survey demonstrated that service users enjoy conversations with each other and attending or participating in events. However, providing access to retail stores, banking facilities, and medical services is another important function of livelihood support.

The purpose of this study was to clarify factors related to early evacuation in the case of widespread flooding caused by typhoon Hagibis in 2019. A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine the evacuation behavior of residents on the right bank of the Nakagawa River in the city of Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. First, we analyzed the relationship between early evacuation and 43 variables obtained from four aspects of basic characteristics of residents, information acquisition, hesitation to evacuate, and advance countermeasures. Next, quantitative variables related to the geographic conditions of each resident’s house were added to the analysis. As a result, factors facilitating evacuation were the elevation of residences and a 20-m distance by road to an elevated site. In other words, residents who lived near or relatively close to slightly elevated areas within predicted flood zones tended to delay evacuation. Therefore, it is important to urge residents in such areas to evacuate early.

This paper investigates the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in relation to North–South Korean relations, security policies, environmental problems, and the reuse of sporting facilities based on the discussion of Boykoff’s “celebration capitalism.” Bids for hosting the winter games in PyeongChang were submitted three times, and in each case, the sites and orientations differed considerably along with internal and international political conditions. State securitization was also seen in PyeongChang, and a Japanese inspection team was there to study the effects in preparation for Tokyo’s 2020 Summer Olympic games. The environmental problems criticized internationally were major deforestation, and that the burden on the environment was not ameliorated compared with the Sapporo Winter Olympics held 46 years previously. The construction of sporting facilities in Nagano, Japan, proceeded despite the fact that it was foreseen that they would be difficult to use after the games, and the same occurred in PyeongChang.

As part of the movement restrictions imposed to curtail the spread of COVID-19, Japanese residents were requested to refrain from travel between prefectures. This paper considers these movement restrictions from a regional point of view. Regions where COVID-19 infection is widespread are considered to be uniform. One of the main factors in the spread of Covid-19 is human mobility. The range of human activity is considered to be the nodal point. However, when movement regulations were established by the government, they were imposed on a formal regional basis, using prefectural borders as clear boundaries, although there were no means of legal enforcement. This resulted in a regional discrimination, that was particularly detrimental to rural areas. This paper proposes that movement restrictions based on the concept of each nodal region of movement within the sphere of daily necessities are realistic in cases where legal enforcement is not in play.

After centuries-long relationships between snow leopards and human nomads in the Altai Mountains in western Mongolia, numerous interspecies contact experiences have been passed down as oral history and/or folklore. Oral folklore, legends, and narratives on contacts between snow leopards and nomads are also a local ecological tradition known as “traditional ecological knowledge” (TEK), which reflects and supports recent scientific achievements and evidence. In this paper, we propose the development of a multifaceted, multilayered, complex bibliography of wildlife ecology. The fieldwork was carried out from July 19 to August 22, 2016, and 2 to 16 August, 2017, through interviews with 117 informants living near Mt. Jargalant, Mt. Bonbut, and Mt. Munkh-Khairkhan. Oral histories based on animal folktales narrated by local residents sometimes prove more informative than researchers’ scientific knowledges of ecology. In addition to elucidating the scientific basis of snow leopard ecology, science-based verification of native animal folktales may suggest new forms of conservation ecology which integrate local residents as actors in protecting snow leopards as well as indigenous wildlife elsewhere.

This paper discusses the significance of holding sporting events in the city of Hiroshima from the following four perspectives: as an originator of messages of peace; efforts to create peace; the effects of peace education; and citizens’ enlightenment. The results of my investigation showed that holding sporting events in Hiroshima, which is known worldwide as the first city to have an atomic bomb dropped on it and as a destination for dark tourism, is of great significance for efforts to achieve world peace. It is also effective for cities like Hiroshima to promote the policy of world peace. Those efforts combine sports tourism by holding athletic events that welcome participants and spectators and dark tourism to learn from humanity’s negative legacy. In addition, enhancing education programs on sports and peace is important to make new forms of tourism effective.

While “race” is a commonly used term, it is easily misunderstood without knowledge of the definition of the concept. Misunderstanding the concept of race diminishes the comprehension of past and present discrimination in Japan and elsewhere. Moreover, it may cause negative attitudes toward discourse on discrimination and prejudice against others. This paper analyzes the descriptions of “race” and “Black” in current high school geography textbooks. It also identifies problems associated with these descriptions. This study found that the explanations in textbooks remain insufficient for understanding the concept of race. It is necessary to use the words “race” and “Black” cautiously rather than avoid them completely since some realities can only be expressed through their use. Meanwhile, students must not be led to a simplistic understanding of a region by unnecessarily representing it through the concept of race. It is essential to increase the understanding of race and aim for geography education that does not promote discrimination or prejudice.