The custom of otaue (rice-planting festival) in the Chugoku region has often been described in Japanese folklore studies and historical studies on Japanese performing arts. In the former, this custom has either been treated as what remains of traditional rice planting in Japan or as a typical ritual for the autumn harvest. In the latter, it has been emphasized as a means of clarifying preliminary steps toward the establishment of dengaku (traditional dance). Research on otaue has been driven by such academic interest and numerous studies have been conducted in line with these concepts. Despite the large number of research papers, however, only a few deal with the relationship between local communities and otaue. Most focus on the problems related to otaue itself, its style of worshipping the gods, or its performance.
Building on the awareness of these issues, the author researched a specific example of otaue held in Hattori, Saijo village, in the period between the Taisho Era and the prewar Showa Era and analyzed it with regard to the relationship between otaue and local communities. It was attempted to elucidate the following two points: 1) the social foundations of otaue; and 2) the meanings of this custom for local communities. This was done through a consideration of such detailed variables in the holding of otaue as timing, motivation, and order of the ceremony and through analyses of the social situations surrounding farming households and cattle dealers/merchants who were involved in the ceremony.
The conclusions can be summarized as follows.
1) In Hattori, the economic dominance of the head families (old families) was gradually declining throughout the Meiji–Taisho period. In the process, the traditional social environment in which a specific farming household held otaue and invited other inhabitants of the region to participate in it was weakening.
2) On the other hand, the social influence of cattle dealers/merchants who lived in Hattori increased at around the same time. This change was caused by factors such as the development of the livestock industry from the Meiji period, absence of nearby markets for mature cattle, and popularization of cattle tenancy with cattle dealers/merchants as holders. Cattle dealers/merchants were central in the distribution system of livestock and thus achieved the social standing of cattle-raising chiefs.
3) To raise funds for farmers who were going bankrupt, otaue were held by cattle merchants who had commercial relations with them. Therefore, some important characteristics were present in the ceremony for economic reasons, i.e., to minimize the hosting expenses and to maximize the contribution from the participants in otaue. Auctions featuring a parade of cattle and the informal holding of naorai (banquet with the gods after the ceremony) are good examples.
4) The meaning of otaue varied according to the position of each participant. However, due to the relationship with the livestock industry, coupled with the system of cattle tenancy, otaue functioned as mechanisms to stabilize the productivity of livestock in this area.

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The main purpose of this study was to determine the necessary condition for a region to be divided into subregions that are spatially contiguous and as homogeneous as possible. In geography, it is often attempted to divide a region into subregions in such a manner that the following two conditions are satisfied: 1) the subregions are spatially contiguous; and 2) the subregions are as homogeneous as possible. We refer to the former condition as the contiguity condition, and the latter as the homogeneity condition. When we divide a region with the intention of satisfying both the contiguity and homogeneity conditions, it is referred to in the literature as regionalization.
When a region is comprised of spatial units with attribute values, regionalization is carried out by grouping spatial units so that each group of spatial units forms a contiguous subregion and spatial units belonging to the same group should have attributes as similar as possible. Many methods for grouping spatial units and thereby performing regionalization have been proposed. However, none strictly satisfies both the contiguity and homogeneity conditions. For example, a method may satisfy the contiguity condition, but the grouping achieved is not necessarily as homogeneous as possible.
Regionalization can be understood as an optimization problem. Specifically, regionalization is equivalent to finding the best grouping of spatial units in terms of the homogeneity of subregions under the constraint that every group forms a spatially contiguous subregion. In general, strictly or approximately, certain necessary conditions are useful in solving optimization problems. Since regionalization is a type of optimization problem, if the necessary conditions for this specific type of optimization problem are determined, those conditions can be utilized to find the grouping of spatial units which strictly satisfies the two conditions or to outperform the existing regionalization methods. Hence, this paper theoretically determines the necessary condition for a region to be divided into subregions that are spatially contiguous and as homogeneous as possible when a region is comprised of spatial units with single attribute values, and the homogeneity of subregions is measured by the total sum of squared deviations. We also discuss whether it is possible to group spatial units in a manner so that the contiguity and homogeneity conditions are strictly satisfied.
The conclusions are threefold. First, the necessary condition for regionalization is satisfied when a region is divided in a manner so that the boundaries of subregions are isopleths. Second, even if the necessary condition is used to perform regionalization, it still appears virtually impossible to find subregions that are both spatially contiguous and truly as homogeneous as possible. Third, although it appears that the contiguity and homogeneity conditions cannot be satisfied by any regionalization method, it is expected that the regionalization method based on the necessary condition would outperform any currently used method.

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This paper focuses on knowledge linkages among global firms by applying social network analysis to interorganizational structures using the data on the results of the introduction of foreign investment into Japanese firms. In addition, using covariance structure analysis, the study considers the relationship between the network indices that depend on knowledge linkages and the performance of firms. The following findings were obtained. First, 18 industry sectors can be classified into six groups based on network indices such as the number of components and the average degree. The structures in complex networks that consist of many Japanese and foreign firms can be contracted or reduced by block modeling, and groups of nodes like global hubs, which play a crucial role in knowledge linking, are extracted. Second, by simultaneous analysis of multiple groups, it is shown that a network advantage results in the improved performance of firms. Furthermore, the influence of a network advantage works strongly in specific industry sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, electric equipment, motor vehicles, and precision instruments, that require scientific and analytical knowledge.

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This study explores the actual conditions of the utilization of closed public facilities, specifically public elementary and junior high schools, in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Further, it discusses regional differences within this area and their relationship with regional conditions.
In recent years, the population of Japan has been on the decline. With the decrease in the population in urban areas, the demand for space will also decline in future. Therefore, the question of how to address the problem posed by the closure of various public facilities is an important issue. To understand the structure and meaning of the utilization of these facilities, an analysis of their individual history and regional conditions is necessary because there are various ways in which a site can be utilized and these are likely to reflect the individual and regional conditions of the site.
In this study, the author enumerated all the public elementary and junior high schools in the research area which have been closed during the past 20 years. A questionnaire survey and three case studies were conducted. To understand the regional differences within the research area, the author divided the Tokyo metropolitan area into four geographic entities: central; inner suburban; outer suburban; and rural. The questionnaires were created for each individual school site and sent to the municipalities under whose jurisdiction they fall. For the case studies, Chiyoda ward, Koto ward, and Tama city were selected; these are in the central, inner suburban, and outer suburban area, respectively.
Generally, municipalities avoid converting public school sites into utilities other than those for the purpose of serving the public interest, i.e., education or welfare. Therefore, even if there is a high demand for these sites, they are unwilling to transfer them to private organizations unless they are utilized for the public interest. In such cases, municipalities temporarily utilize these sites themselves until they find organizations that will use them as facilities serving the public interest. On the other hand, if they find the right buyer, they will consider transferring the sites to private organizations and by doing so avoid expenditure on site maintenance.
In the central area, it is difficult for private organizations to manage public facilities because of the high land prices, and the municipalities must manage the facilities themselves. However, it usually takes some time to open the facilities because of limited fiscal resources. In addition, in the outer suburban area, vacancies the size of school sites do not have scarcity value. In comparison, in the inner suburban area, these difficulties occur to a lesser degree, and many sites in this region have been transferred to private organizations for permanent utilization.

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