Recently, mountain regions have become targets for conservation, so the impact of mobile pastoralism on mountain environments needs to be studied comprehensively. This study assessed the distribution of the livestock load in rangeland by examining the vegetation, the migration schedule and routes of the herds, and the extent of their daily grazing. A field survey was conducted in a Tibetan village in Yunnan, China, for 15 months between 2000 and 2004.
The livestock herds migrated seasonally according to the vegetation patterns and air temperature with altitude; this dispersed the livestock over a wide expanse of rangeland. Additionally, new economic opportunities and population-control policies may have decreased the number of mobile livestock herds, and the characteristics of the mountain rangeland may have limited the scale of individual herds. Consequently, little rangeland was damaged excessively. Nevertheless, the rangeland was not grazed evenly; for example, rangeland located near arterial roads attracted many livestock herds.
A detailed analysis of the county livestock records suggested a biased distribution of the livestock load across altitude for the entire rangeland in Xianggelila County; alpine rangeland was grazed sparsely, while low-lying rangeland was grazed extensively.
Biased grazing patterns were noted in parts of the mountain rangeland, such as low-lying and easily accessible areas. These grazing patterns might have caused localized rangeland degradation. Consequently, the biased grazing pattern needs to be resolved.
Mobile pastoralism in mountain regions was analyzed based on the concept of “verticality” to elucidate the typical production form of the mountain regions. When considering effective conservation programs, it is important to determine both the vertical and horizontal migration patterns of livestock herds and assess the distribution of the livestock load in detail.

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In the late 1970s, geographers began to engage with issues concerning the voluntary sector. Since then, with the emergence of various social expectations following political economic shifts in many capitalist countries, the sector has drawn the attention of many geographers, particularly in Western countries such as the UK and USA. The aim of this paper is to review the (Anglophone) geographical literature on the voluntary sector in order to understand why, and with what interest in mind, geographers began studying the sector, and how the literature has developed, and also to explore how Japan's voluntary sector can be approached by geographers.
As not only the public sector, but also the voluntary sector took on a public role, geographers concerned with public service distribution, such as the siting of public facilities, became interested in studying the voluntary sector to understand fully the allocation of public services. The early research in the late 1970s and 1980s, mainly guided by Julian Wolpert and Jennifer Wolch, explored the potential the voluntary sector had within the urban economy and for welfare provision. Then, Wolch linked the geographical and social issues raised in the exploratory research with political economic shifts and discussed critically how the state affected the voluntary sector using her influential concept of the “shadow state.”
Since the 1990s, while the sector has been encouraged to take a more important role in public service distribution, often acting in partnership with states, geographers have critically discussed the emergence of the voluntary sector and its association with the restructuring of the welfare state under neoliberalization. In particular, they have quantitatively and qualitatively demonstrated the spatial characteristics of the sector, such as the spatial mismatch between the needs and distribution of the voluntary sector. They have also critically examined in great detail how the closer relationship between the sector and states affects the sector's independence in the particular context of place, partly based on the concept of the shadow state. However, some recent studies have also revealed the more complicated interactions between the voluntary sector and states, which cannot be explained wholly by the shadow state concept. Meanwhile, some researches have examined the members of organizations, i.e., volunteers, and what volunteering means to people or in particular places. These studies may lead to a broader understanding of the voluntary sector, including the positive impact on the sector resulting from state restructuring.

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This paper discusses how the elderly support their livelihoods by camellia seed harvesting in Toshima village, a small, remote island that is part of Tokyo municipality. The harvesting of camellia seeds is a suitable form of farming for the elderly because it requires only light labor. In Toshima, where most residents are elderly, the harvesting of camellia seeds is an important means of livelihood.
A life-course analysis of the means of livelihood of camellia farmers based on information collected mainly from interviews with them revealed that farming type varies corresponding to the generation into which they were born, and differences in farming type affect the agricultural earnings of each generation. Farmers classified in cohort I, who were born from 1927 to 1936, expanded farmland inherited from those who had retired from camellia seed harvesting. Cohort I earns about one million yen per year from camellia seed sales after the expansion of farmland. Farmers in cohort II, born from 1937 to 1946, chose multicrop farming, for example, camellia and Parasenecio delphiniifolius, because of the shortage of farmland suitable for camellia seed harvesting. Therefore, most of cohort II earn less than a million yen per year. However, they may expand camellia seed harvesting after the retirement of cohort I in the future. Farmers in cohort III, born from 1947 to 1956, are engaged in nonagricultural jobs and harvest small amounts of camellia seeds on the side.
The livelihood of the elderly in Toshima is supported by income from two sources: camellia seed harvesting; and public pensions. Camellia farmers more than 70 years of age receive the greatest benefit from this dual-income structure. Although elderly farmers younger than 70 years receive less benefit from camellia seed harvesting, they may expand production after the retirement of older farmers. On the contrary, those who are not elderly and need larger incomes to support family expenditures must engage in nonagricultural jobs. They have few opportunities to support their livelihood by the harvesting of camellia seeds. The inheritance of farmland from elderly farmers by younger generations will be a pressing issue in sustaining Japan’s aging society in peripheral areas such as Toshima.

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Analyses of the sediment cores around the Lake Hamana, a coastal lake along the Pacific coast of central Japan, indicated stepwise environmental change from a shallow marine (intertidal zone of a bay) to a freshwater pond or marsh, which occurred during the middle to late Holocene. We carried out an array coring survey using a handy geoslicer and hand corer in two lowlands, the Rokken-gawa lowland and the Miyakodagawa lowland. Drilling cores collected by the local government and private companies were also analyzed. The depositional environment of the cored section was estimated from the depositional facies with the help of diatom and molluscan assemblages and electric conductivity. The timing of the environmental changes was estimated from 16 radiocarbon ages determined using the AMS method. The following three steps of environmental change were recognized in both lowlands: 1) 5,000–6,000 to 3,800 calBP, gradual environmental change from a muddy intertidal zone or shallow bay to a brackish lagoon or freshwater marsh; 2) 3,500–3,800 calBP, temporal expansion of the seawater invasion into the Lake Hamana resulting in the formation of a brackish marsh; and 3) 3,400–3,500 calBP, rapid environmental change from the brackish marsh to a freshwater pond or marsh. The environmental change in the lowlands around 3,400–3,500 calBP was synchronous with the environmental change from brackish to fresh water in central Lake Hamana, which was reconstructed from the analyses of sediment cores in a previous study. We infer that the environmental change reflects a rapid decrease in seawater invasion into the Lake Hamana, which was related to the development of sandbars sheltering the Lake Hamana from the Pacific Ocean.

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In Okinawan agriculture, stable supply systems for farm products in production areas have not been adequately established. The author studied the mango supply system in the production area of Tomigusuku city, focusing on the establishment of the selling system of an agricultural cooperative, its transition after integration into JA Okinawa, and the selection of distribution channels by farmers.
Since the initiation of mango production, it has developed under farmers' initiatives in many regions in Okinawa prefecture owing to agricultural cooperatives’ reluctance to become involved in the mango business. As a result, the agricultural cooperatives have had a low share in mango sales. In Tomigusuku city, on the other hand, due to the willingness of the supervisor of the agricultural cooperative to support mango farmers, a close relationship between farmers and the agricultural cooperative was established, and the agricultural cooperative had a high share in mango sales. Its marketing strategies were unique and the most advanced in the prefecture.
After integration into JA Okinawa in 2002: 1) the supervisor, a key figure in mango production, was transferred to another department; 2) the advisory services were downgraded; and 3) the fruit grading standards and shipping package were changed and unified. Subsequently, mango farmers began to complain about the reorganization and started shipping mangoes by themselves. Their reaction shook the supply system of the agricultural cooperative. Farmers can sell high-quality mangoes for premium prices through their own channels, and such sales provide strong incentives for innovative farmers. In response, the agricultural cooperative imposed preconditions on farmers for joining its distribution organization and undertook completely subsidized mango projects in the city to retain its share of mango sales.

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