This study presents the development of sandbars in the Nakhon Si Thammarat coastal plain of southern Thailand in the late Holocene. Sandbars in the plain are Pleistocene sandbar-X, Holocene sandbars as sandbar-I, -II, and -III, and buried Holocene sandbar-Y. Sandbar-I extends about 80 km from north to south. Sandbar-II develops east of sandbar-I, with a length of about 25 km. The most recent sandbar-III is located along the current shoreline and extends to the north. Buried sandbar-Y extends from the area around Mt. Phrabat to the south. Pleistocene sandbar-X in the western part of the coastal plain develops clearly and diverges in its southern part. Radio-carbon dating of the lower peat layers behind the sandbar-I indicate around 7,500 cal BP. Peat layers around the Lake Noi located behind the sandbar-Y indicate similar ages but the peat layer is overlain by muddy sediments. Based on the spatial shape of sandbars-X, -I, and -II, and buried sandbar-Y, they developed in the direction from north to south. Sandbar-III, however, developed from south to north. This reverse direction of sandbar development is due to the change in wave or littoral current conditions after 1,500 cal BP.

We analyzed the vegetation change during the last 40 years near the treeline in order to examine its upward shift on Mt. Rishiri, northern Japan. The land-cover classifications derived from past aerial photographs indicated an increase in the forest area and its expansion to higher altitude on the west-facing slope of Mt. Rishiri. The logistic regression model showed that the treeline has moved 41.9 m upward during the last 40 years, and the mean rate of treeline advance was 1.0 m year^–1. The temporal comparison between aerial photographs taken in 1977 and processed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images taken in 2019 demonstrated that the density of Betula. ermanii canopy trees significantly increased near the treeline. Moreover, some of the novel forest stands consisting mainly of B. ermanii were observed in the Pinus pumila community and sasa grassland above the treeline. These results provide direct evidence of the upward treeline shift during the last 40 years on the west-facing slope of Mt. Rishiri, but also indicate that the upward treeline shift was caused by the regeneration of Betula forests in the alpine zone.

Relief operations and shelter accommodations in areas impacted by massive disasters should be improved. This study focuses on the efficient deployment of operational bases for disaster relief, which dispatch relief workers, provide shelters, and distributes relief supplies to those affected. First, the time-based stages of disaster studies and geographic studies, especially the relationships between disaster-hit areas and disaster relief operation bases, were clarified. Next, Hidaka county in Wakayama prefecture was selected as the sample for this study. Hidaka county, which is a depopulated, aging area, would be severely affected if a Nankai Trough earthquake occurred in the vicinity. To illustrate, the potential disaster-hit areas and disaster relief operation bases were overlaid on the map of the current disaster relief system. Finally, to resolve the issues identified, a review was conducted of old town offices, schools and temples as possible locations for disaster relief bases to determine how best to utilize them in the event of a disaster. The study also indicated that conventional geographic studies can be useful for designing relief systems in the event of massive disasters.

This article focuses on the support provided by Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad (CRCS) members and former CRCS members, using the town of Urakawa in Hokkaido as a case study. It aims to delineate the situation and background of the support offered based on the backgrounds of the relevant actors. The results of a survey clarified that senior members performed “introductions of the human network,” “coordination of projects and activities,” and “support as a consultant.” Additionally, UI-turn migrants and local residents involved in intermediate support for CRCS members functioned as the starting point, and a “chain of support” was created in which those who received support provided it in turn to newly appointed members. These results are based on the experiences of CRCS members themselves, UI-turn migrants, and local residents. To maintain and strengthen this chain of support, it is necessary to expand the community of UI-turners and local residents involved in support and to reduce the burden on key personnel.

This study aimed to clarify management awareness in the central commercial area in the city of Kashima, Ibaraki prefecture. Located adjacent to the Kashima-jingu Shrine, the inclusion of tourists as a customer segment was discussed to revitalize the central commercial area. However, most shopkeepers still emphasized business for local customers. The aging of shopkeepers and shortage of manpower led to the formation of a status quo awareness. On the other hand, positive awareness of attracting tourists was born from a sense of crisis over the relative decline of the central commercial area. The good location of stores had an impact on management awareness in dealing with tourists, while stores that emphasized regular local customers did not necessarily want tourists to visit. In the future, it is forecast that businesses will be more oriented toward local customers rather than tourists, taking into account the awareness of the leaders of the central commercial area.

This study examined the customer base assumed by hair salons in different locations in Tokyo using co-occurrence network analysis based on data collected by web scraping from a portal site. Twelve areas in Tokyo were identified as having particularly high concentrations of hair salons. The analysis of salon information revealed characteristics such as service prices and physical scale. Co-occurrence network analysis of store introductions indicated that each area has different expected customer segments, and that hair salons offer treatment menus and spaces that cater to those customer segments. Based on these results, the concentration of hair salons in Tokyo can be categorized into “terminals in the city center,” “downtown near the city center,” and “downtown in the suburbs. ”

This article reviews Japanese research papers and articles addressing tourism phenomena related to the Olympic and Paralympic Games to generate future research perspectives. In Japan, the research is divided into the eight topics of: Tourism Policy; Tourism Planning; Development of Urban Amenities and Infrastructure; Business, Systems, and Developmentalism; Public Consensus and Opinion; Tourism Divergence; Economic Cost and Impact; and Tourism Education. Compared with the English-language research reviewed in Getz and Page (2016), the topic of Tourism Education appears to be mentioned more often in the Japanese literature. Thus, Japanese tourism education research, especially considering the singularity of unique Japanese hospitality characteristics, needs to be more open internationally to publicize the results. In addition, research from a tourism marketing perspective, which is common in the English literature, is needed to emphasize global information exchanges on Japanese Olympic hosting and tourism research development.

Large migrations from major cities were observed in many countries in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide. In Japan, the number of out-migrants from the Tokyo metropolis has increased and the pattern of internal migration has changed due to the pandemic. This article examines changes in destinations of migrants from Tokyo special wards, the central part of the Tokyo metropolitan area. As a result, the suburban areas of the Tokyo metropolitan area and northwest and southwest regions outside it were identified as regional destination clusters that received increased numbers of migrants from Tokyo special wards. The characteristics of the regions and age and occupational compositions of in-migrants indicated that the pandemic facilitated so-called lifestyle migration from the metropolitan center in Japan.

In order to prepare for future flood disasters in developing countries where geographic information and disaster records are often insufficient, it is important to utilize technology that can easily visualize and share hazard information and help residents understand local flood characteristics. In this study, we produced 3D images of a flood-prone area in the Republic of the Philippines using Google Earth and flood calculation results from the Rainfall-Runoff-Inundation (RRI) Model and then created a 3D flood hazard map of the area visualizing the relationships between building heights and inundation depths. In addition, we prepared educational materials on this hazard mapping method, and provided lectures and tutorials during the online training conducted to transfer the technology to the Philippine side. Our attempt revealed that 3D flood hazard maps can be easily created by local people and are useful for understanding inundation risks in the mapped areas. As Google Earth is free multilingual software, the 3D flood hazard mapping method proposed in this study can be readily utilized in developing countries, where budgets and geographical data are often limited.

The purpose of this study was to clarify Kona coffee production by new farmers and the issues they face on the Island of Hawaii, and to examine their impact on the Kona coffee production area. Descendants of Japanese immigrants have produced coffee cherries, the source of coffee beans, since the 1890s, and millers in Kona have processed the cherries. After the 1980s when the worldwide specialty coffee boom occurred, new farmers immigrated to Kona from the US mainland and Europe and began to grow coffee. New farmers not only produce coffee cherries but also process them and roast the beans themselves. They then bag the beans for sale labeled with the farmers’ or plantations’ names. However, new farmers face issues of customer attrition as they must increase the sales price of coffee beans to compensate for decreased coffee cherry production caused by insect pests. New farmers must also deal with issues concerning flavor variances in coffee produced in the area because they each adopt new cultivars and processing methods different from conventional ones and pursue their own ideal flavors.

In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) technology has been employed in various educational practices. Using VR, educators can foster students’ geographical understanding more effectively than with the use of conventional paper maps and printed landscape photographs. We developed a VR application to “walk” through virtual space, and this paper discusses its potential contributions to geography education. The VR application reproduced the Taya Cave (Taya-San-Yu-Ga-Dou) in Yokohama, Japan. This artificial cave contains statues and reliefs, some of which have been collapsed and broken due to deterioration and weathering. A committee working for the conservation of the cave, including university researchers, has been conducting environmental surveys inside and outside the cave. In developing the VR application, we used 3D point cloud data of the cave measured by the committee. An exhibition event for citizens using the VR application was held, and a questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the effects of the application on the geographical understanding of users. The results showed that the VR application gave users a positive feeling regardless of their age, and most survey respondents felt that they had expanded their geographical perceptions of the cave and surrounding area.