As Japan’s population continues to age, the influx of migrants poses challenges to rural communities. By focusing on the behavior of a local majority population living together with migrant entrepreneurs, this study examines how conflict occurs and how it is prevented in the depopulated village of Minami-Izu, Shizuoka prefecture. We found that local residents over the age of 65 who were in daily contact with migrant entrepreneurs accounted for half of the village population and that they had a significant influence on the activities of the migrant entrepreneurs. Although most residents usually remained silent about migrant activity in the village, when a conflict occurred (or was predicted to occur), elderly residents tried to solve it by expressing their opinions in a step-by-step manner, ranging from offering suggestions based on minor differences in daily attitude to direct protests. Both groups affirmed the importance of carefully noticing small signs in daily attitude and learning lessons from conflicts so that all community members could live together stably. The open communication embedded in daily relationships is critical to improving community development.

An uplifted peneplain is a geomorphic stage of the classical model of the “cycle of erosion” proposed by W. M. Davis, although recent geomorphic studies suggest that low-relief mountains and hills in Japan should be reconsidered based on quantitative landform analyses. This study discusses the low-relief landforms considered to be uplifted peneplains of the Abukuma Mountains in northeast Japan. GIS analyses were undertaken using DEM10B data of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) in the Niida, Furumichi, and Natsui River basins located in the Abukuma Mountains. Longitudinal profiles indicate many knick-zones along the three rivers at the edges of the low-relief surfaces defined as boundaries between gentle- and steep-slope areas. These knick-zones range from 300 m to 420 m in elevation and are situated in various geological settings. GIS analyses show the various elevations of ridge lines within each basin and the edges of low-relief surfaces operating as the local base levels of erosion in the Niida and Natsui River basins, which suggest different geomorphic formations in the cycle of erosion including a stage of uplifted peneplain.

The consumption of Japanese wine, produced exclusively from domestically grown grapes, is on the rise. This trend not only signifies the product’s value but also highlights its potential multifaceted regional impact, including agricultural land restoration and tourism promotion. This study examines the current state of wine tourism in Nagano prefecture and the city of Shiojiri, two major producers of Japanese wine, focusing on their efforts to establish wine as a valuable regional resource. The former initiated the Shinshu Wine Valley Concept in 2013, aiming to stimulate regional development through wine-related activities and increased winery establishments. Looking ahead, the forthcoming Shinshu Wine Valley Concept 2.0 in 2023 is expected to build upon this success, further boosting tourism and regional development through wine-related initiatives. Additionally, the city of Shiojiri, renowned for its wine production, has embraced wine as a significant regional asset following its amalgamation with neighboring municipalities. Currently, the city actively hosts large-scale wine-related events, led by the local government, and utilization is being made of those events across primary to tertiary industries.

This study analyzed the regional characteristics of temporal variation in the intensity of convective heavy rainfall in the afternoon on summer days with long sunshine duration in the Kanto district. The data used for this study were the 10-min values recorded at AMeDAS observation sites in July and August between 2010 and 2020. The percentage of occurrence frequency of rainfall intensity categories 60 minutes before and after the maximum rainfall intensity (≥3.5 mm/10 min) helped identify four distinct types of temporal variations in the intensity of convective heavy rainfall events. Type I involved slightly more short-duration events and occurred extensively in the plains. Type II events had a slightly longer duration and occurred in the mountains of northern Kanto. Type III was a short period from the beginning of rainfall occurrence to maximum rainfall intensity and distributed near the foot of mountains or on the plains. Type IV was distributed in the southeastern part of the study area, and had a long duration and weak rainfall intensity 60 minutes before and after the maximum intensity. These regional characteristics are related to the spatial scale, occurrence, development, and passage of rainfall.

The vertical distribution of population in the Japanese Islands between 1995 and 2020 is clarified using the population census. The average elevation of residence in Japan has consistently declined since 1995. Since 2005, when the accuracy of the population distribution in the census improved, the average elevation of residence decreased from 62.7 m above sea level in 2005 to 58.4 m in 2020, and the population was concentrated in areas with an elevation of less than 10 m, while the population decreased in areas with an elevation of 40 m or higher. In 2020, nearly 40 million, or about 30% of the population, lived in low-elevation zones less than 10 m above sea level. The population concentration in low-elevation zones is increasing nationwide, but there are also regional differences. The results of the population census by elevation for each prefecture indicate that growth is remarkable in the low-elevation zone of the Pacific Belt, especially in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and that the population is declining in the low-elevation zones outside the Pacific Belt.

This study focuses on an online community organized by childcare workers and examines the status of diverse workstyles in childcare labor by clarifying participants’ work histories and the experiences behind their workstyle choices. The diverse workstyles practiced by the survey respondents included C-to-C babysitting, contingent childcare, and freelance childcare, all of which are undertaken as sole proprietorships, and there were many cases where workstyles were undertaken as a side job. Behind the emergence of these diverse workstyles, a sense of resistance is found to be a full-time daycare center teacher, which offers negligible wage increases and a heavy workload. In addition, there is a reality that people avoid working in daycare centers, which are hotbeds of human-relationship problems. The diverse workstyles of the survey respondents are both flexible and unstable. Furthermore, the number of childcare workers who practice diverse workstyles remains small compared with the total. In this context, online communities, which are not geographically restricted, provide a space for childcare workers who practice diverse workstyles to interact with each other and share their experiences and knowledge.

Everyday shopping behavior is being revolutionized by e-commerce (EC), as represented by online shopping. This study examined the characteristics of food EC users in Japan, mainly from the geographic aspects of the spatial diffusion and efficiency hypotheses. The spatial diffusion hypothesis predicts that EC use will diffuse from urban to rural areas, while the efficiency hypothesis predicts that EC use will increase in areas where access to brick-and-mortar stores is inconvenient. Analysis at the national scale using the chi-squared test revealed significant regional differences in food EC use, with greater use in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Multilevel analysis that considers both individual and regional levels revealed that regional differences in food EC use were related to regional variables such as population and the number of Internet supermarkets. This supports the spatial diffusion hypothesis of the two hypotheses related to geographic aspects of EC use. Analysis of the Tokyo 23 Wards scale showed that there is a discrepancy in the high frequency of food EC use between wards in the central and sub-central Tokyo area and the other wards.