The response rate is an important indicator of the reliability and validity of a sampling survey. Recently in Japan, especially since 2005, major social surveys have experienced a substantial decline in response rates, and researchers have become concerned about the worsened survey environment. In this paper, we sought to examine the regional differences in survey response rates and their individual and geographic determinants.
The data we used were individual data on survey responses to the national representative sample survey with face-to-face interviews in Japan (JGSS: Japanese General Social Surveys) in 2005 and 2006. We distinguished the two-stage process of survey response: (a) whether the investigator was able to meet with those surveyed; and (b) whether they participated in the survey. The differences were then analyzed based on individual and regional characteristics. Large regional differences, measured by the degree of urbanization and neighborhood typology, were observed in both processes. This means that the regional difference in the response rate was also large, because the rate can be obtained by multiplying (a) by (b). We also performed multivariate analysis adjusted for individual attributes such as age, gender, and house type and considering the clustering nature of the samples within the same surveyed area (i.e., multilevel analysis). The results showed that the regional differences in the survey response remained statistically significant, although they were partially explained by the respondents' individual attributes.
The current study elucidated that the survey response rate to a face-to-face interview is determined by geographic factors as well as individual attributes of the respondents. Additionally, we confirmed regional variations in the survey response rate between surveyed areas which cannot be explained by the degree of urbanization and neighborhood type, indicating the existence of “local survey environments” that have geographically unique and contextual factors that affect the response rate.

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In recent human geography, “place” has been redefined as follows: first, “place” contains internal differences and conflicts; and second, “place” is constructed by linking that area to places beyond. This paper aims at confirming the above definition of place through a case study of the Kamagasaki neighborhood in Osaka. Kamagasaki is an area in which day-laborers are concentrated and widely known as a day-labor market. This paper especially focuses on the area in the 1970s and the past decade and analyzes the process in which the identities of each of the area's social groups have been represented. It also shows how place names, such as Kamagasaki and Airin, and their borders functioned in the process of identity formation.
In the 1970s, the Kamagasaki Joint Struggle Meeting formed the identity of the labor movement by opposing the government or administration. On the other hand, Cheap Inn's Trade Association formed local residents' identity by opposing the labor movement. After 1974, when the Kamagasaki Joint Struggle Meeting basically ended, Romusha Tosei magazine inherited this group's identity in opposition to that of the local residents. The decade-long dispute over the place names “Kamagasaki” and “Airin” was reignited repeatedly.
After 2000, this paper focuses on community movements, revival of the regional economy, and art movements in this area and investigates how the place names have changed in those activities. In community movements and in regional economy revival activities, new place names such as Haginochaya and Shin-Imamiya have been established. In art movements, “Kamagasaki” was given a new meaning by artists active in the area. These names have been established through the activities of a variety of actors linking the inside with the outside of this place. A diversity of practices concerning its borders has also been produced by such activities.

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This study examined the causal structure of the willingness to use a web-based safety and security map for community safety and disaster prevention. Several evaluation studies on such web-based maps clarified some of their advantages and/or disadvantages by summarizing user evaluations. However, the previous studies did not show whether local citizens preferred a web-based map over a printed map for community safety and disaster prevention or which factors determined the willingness to use web-based maps. The analytical data for this study were collected through an interview survey of 44 individuals residing in the city of Kameoka, Kyoto prefecture. Since they tended to state greater willingness to use a web-based map compared with a printed map, a web-based map could contribute significantly to sharing community safety and disaster prevention information. Structural equation modeling of the willingness to use a web-based map also suggested that it is important to enable users to imagine clearly the possible uses of the mapping system as well as create an easily understood interface for enhancing the communication of community safety and risk information through a web-based map.

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The long-term variability of the western edge of the North Pacific subtropical high (NPSH) and its relationship to summer temperature variability at 17 weather stations in Japan were investigated for the period from 1901 to 2000. Using the Hadley Center sea level pressure dataset (HadSLP2), we developed NPSH indices (NPSHIs) to describe both the zonal and meridional variability of the western edge of the NPSH. The NPSHIs revealed that the western edge of the NPSH had shifted southwestward over the past 100 years. This study contrasts the correlation of temperatures over Japan with NPSHIs between 1901–1950 (pre50) and 1951–2000 (post50). In the post50, a significant positive correlation between temperature and the meridional displacement of the western edge of the NPSH was observed at the most stations, which indicates that temperatures over Japan increase (decrease) when the western edge of the NPSH shifts northward (southward). In the pre50, in contrast, a significant positive correlation between temperature and the meridional displacement of the western edge of the NPSH was found at only two stations. In the post50, a strong relationship between the meridional displacement of the western edge of the NPSH and the east-west gradient of summertime sea surface temperature (SST) between the South China Sea and the tropical western Pacific east of the Philippines was observed, while there was no significant connection between them in the pre50. The Pacific-Japan (PJ) pattern, which affects meridional displacement of the western edge of the NPSH, is closely related to the east-west gradient of summertime SST across the Philippines. It is thus considered that the PJ pattern is excited frequently in the post50, which may affect the relationship between the meridional displacement of the western edge of the NPSH and summer temperatures over Japan.

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