This paper aims to consider the effects of interregional and interfestival networks on festival culture in an entire region by analyzing the case of festival floats and music used in some festivals along the lower Tone River. A daily interregional bond exists in the subject area; a regional economy focusing on “Kashi” has developed in conjunction with Tone River transportation, and interregional transfers of people and resources are common. Against the background of these transfers along the lower Tone River, “the cultural area of Sawara” has developed, which has commonalities in festival floats and music. Relationships between individuals and these commonalities, which have developed through the daily movement of people, have formed networks between regions or participants in festivals, emerging as a transboundary joining of bearers, activities of festival music groups, and visits to festivals. In the cultural area of Sawara, it is distinctive that people have participated in festivals interregionally since the early development of festival culture. Against the background of shared cultural characteristics, networks among festival participants support each festival today.

In 2024, the Basic Act on Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas was revised for the first time in a quarter of a century. This paper focuses on food security, food system, and population decline as new key words for the revision and organize the discussions and prospects in geographical studies. First, food access, food trade, and food security in emergencies were discussed in relation to food security. Next, the food system was examined from the aspects of harmony with the environment, price formation, and the relevant persons of the food system, and finally, population decline was examined from the aspects of sustainable agricultural development and rural development. The paper points out that the vision of a food system that achieves harmony with the environment and rational price formation to supply food to the people lacks specificity and is unclear in realizing food security and suggests that the research results of geography be utilized to make it concrete. In addition, the author suggested moving away from the model case approach.

This study aims to propose an introductory unit in regional geography that empowers students to independently conceptualize regional identities, in response to the growing focus on the optimal approach to regional geography study amid the forthcoming revision of national curriculum standards. Drawing on the four spatial concepts articulated by the German geographer U. Wardenga, the unit was developed and implemented using China as a case study, beginning with students’ prior knowledge and mental image of the region. This pedagogical approach illustrates a model of student-centered, open-ended regional geography learning, wherein learners actively construct their own regional perspectives while critically reflecting on the significance of regional demarcations.

This study examines route selection behavior among travelers using historical mountain transport routes, focusing on the Usui Pass along the ancient Tosando route as a case study. Previous research has proposed two possible routes over the Usui Pass: the Usui Pass Old Road and the Iriyama Road. From the medieval period onward, the Usui Pass Old Road was predominantly used. Why, then, was the Usui Pass Old Road—despite its high elevation and perceived disadvantage for walking—selected as the primary route? This study investigates this question by analyzing energy consumption related to road topography and terrain steepness. The analysis of both routes revealed that while there was no significant difference in energy consumption—defined as the physical burden on the body—the steepness of the terrain made the Iriyama Road particularly hazardous. It is therefore likely that the Usui Pass Old Road was chosen for its relatively safer passage. The findings of this study suggest that long-term route selection by ordinary travelers through mountainous areas was based on rational decisions, particularly considerations of terrain. This conclusion is further supported by an examination of the historical context surrounding the routes that crossed the Usui Pass.

In the United States large Portuguese communities exist in Massachusetts, California, and Hawaii. This study focuses on this unique distribution pattern of Portuguese population formed by the nineteenth-century migration due to whaling and the present-day distribution of Portuguese population and their communities. Portuguese immigrants, especially those from the Azorean Islands, played an important role in the development of America’s whaling industry. Portuguese immigrants served as crews of ocean whaling ships that departed from the whaling ports in southern Massachusetts. In California, Portuguese immigrants engaged exclusively in shore whaling, operated seasonally at whaling stations along the long coastline. Portuguese immigrants who arrived in Hawaii on whaling ships, settled on the islands, and engaged in farm labor in sugarcane plantations. Even after the decline of the whaling industry around the turn of the century, the basic distribution pattern of the Portuguese diaspora established in the nineteenth century did not change. While the Portuguese diaspora is observed today in their unique distribution pattern, Portuguese cultural elements are recognized in the exhibits of the whaling museum, immigration museums, ethnic festivals, religious facilities, ethnic restaurants, ethnic foods, ethnic murals, and ethnic organizations.

The academic world is based on good faith, even in its peer review system, and therefore assumes unconscious agreement among the parties involved, rendering it vulnerable to potential threats. This study aims to examine the uncritical acceptance of internationally unrecognized and demarcated borderlines in academia. For this purpose, it extracts 242 maps of China and the South China Sea area from 25,144 articles published in five representative international journals on Elsevier’s ScienceDirect. The presence or absence of the Nine-dash line in these maps is binarized, and the extent to which the depiction could be explained by their authors’ attributes is examined. The adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a logistic regression model with the presence or absence of lines as the objective variables. The adjusted odds ratio for Chinese and foreign researchers was 2.44(95% CI: 1.77–3.38, p<.01) and 0.08(95% CI: 0.01–0.65, p<.05), respectively, indicating a positive relationship for the former and a negative relationship for the latter. The present analyses reveal that current academic journal submission guidelines, which entrust authors with discretion over map representations and refrain from scrutinizing content, carry the potential risk of tacitly condoning “unilateral attempt[s] to change the status quo by force” by specific countries or regions.

This paper examines the spatial factors that influence the career and educational choices of beauty school students in Tokyo, using data from a questionnaire survey. The results indicate that most respondents live with their parents within the Tokyo metropolitan area and implicitly choose schools located within commuting distance. By contrast, many students who do not live with their parents originate from outside the Tokyo region, and for them, the school’s location in Tokyo and its reputation were key selection criteria. Students’ preferred employment locations were concentrated in highly competitive areas with a high density of hair salons, primarily due to better access to information and a wider range of job opportunities. Some students living apart from their parents intend to eventually return to their hometowns, viewing local connections as essential for their career development. This suggests that the type of factor prioritized by students vary depending on their career stage. The spatial structure of these career trajectories indicates that the reproduction of hairstylists is shaped not only by students’ residential locations within Tokyo but also by their continued ties to their hometowns.

Around the northern region of Aso volcano, controlled burning (“Noyaki”) is performed on Sundays from late winter to early spring, with weather conditions being important for implementation. Analyses of “Noyaki” records from the fourth Sunday of February and from the first and second Sundays of March in 2007–2024 revealed that (1) “Noyaki” was conducted when no precipitation occurred on the day before and on the event, (2) “Noyaki” was postponed if precipitation occurred on the day before or on the morning of the event, (3) “Noyaki” was conducted when precipitation was forecast for the afternoon of the event. Based on these criteria, we examined “Noyaki” occurrence for Sundays in February/March in 1978–2024 using meteorological data from AMeDAS Aso-Otohime station. Except for the fifth Sunday in February (0%, n=1 year), the probability of “Noyaki” was highest on the first Sunday in February (66%), and lowest on the third Sunday in February and on the first and fourth Sundays in March (40%). The difference between the highest and lowest probabilities was statistically significant (p<0.05). Comparing sea-level pressure on days with the highest and lowest probabilities to the long-term mean for that week revealed significant differences in pressure anomalies on the day before “Noyaki.”

This study examines the tsunami evacuation in Kushiro City, Hokkaido, as a case study to analyze resident evacuation behavior and municipal response triggered by a tsunami warning issued after a major earthquake near the Kamchatka Peninsula on 30 July 2025. This study examines the actions taken by the Kushiro City Office following the earthquake, including information dissemination and the opening of evacuation centers. Several issues were identified in the evacuation process and municipal response, including the need for more evacuation centers than originally anticipated and delays in issuing evacuation orders via the L-Alert system. Moreover, map-based visualization of resident evacuation behavior revealed that residents evacuated to areas far beyond the tsunami inundation zones specified in the tsunami warning. To encourage appropriate evacuation actions, effective approaches include providing disaster-prevention education utilizing Geographic Information System to enhance residents’ spatial awareness, alongside establishing improved systems so administrative disaster-prevention staff can focus exclusively on disaster response activities.