Okinawa is the southernmost prefecture of Japan and consists of a series of geographically isolated islands spread over 1,000km. Before it reverted to Japan from the USA in 1972, the Plant Protection Act had prohibited the shipment of vegetables from Okinawa to mainland Japan. However, that act for goya (bitter gourd), a local vegetable, remained in place until the eradication of the melon fly in 1993. After 1972, Okinawa was seen as a potential prime source for off-season vegetable production to meet the demand of mainland Japan. Until the mid-1980s, vegetable production in Okinawa showed favorable growth, but it slowed in the face of stiff competition from production centers in other regions. The situation changed in the 1990s once goya gained popularity following a nationwide “Okinawa boom,” and goya shipments from Okinawa to the Japanese mainland increased exponentially.

This paper examines how the increase in Okinawan goya consumption affected vegetable production and vegetable producers’ management systems throughout the province by examining in detail the expansion of goya production and shipments, focusing on production technology, production management, and shipment systems. In the case of Itoman city, an area in Okinawa known for its vegetable production, the increased goya production and shipment volumes were the result of strong collaboration among the government, agricultural cooperatives, private shipping companies, and farmers to improve goya varieties, standardize the sizes of gourds grown as well as cartons used for shipment to meet mainland market demand, introduce subsidies for goya greenhouse construction, etc.

After the expansion of the goya market, the once limited shipment routes were diversified and vegetable farmers in Okinawa could select the most appropriate shipment routes on their own initiative. The expansion of the goya market not only helped to build a strong production and shipment system to deliver vegetables to mainland Japan but also established a base for Okinawa to regain its position as the major remote vegetable provider for the mainland.

The changing system of land use on mountain slopes in depopulated areas was examined by focusing on the dynamism of multiple livelihoods, immigration, and emigration of residents. Data on land use on mountain slopes as a result of multiple livelihoods were collected for this study through interviews with residents in the case study area. The change in working styles was analyzed using workers’ age, gender, occupation, and emigration-immigration status. The case study area was the Kuroiwa settlement in the town of Ashikita, Kumamoto prefecture. The results can be summarized as follows.

The reasons for changes in the landscape were the predominance of cedar and cypress artificial forests, a decrease in the number of household members who migrated to other areas to secure jobs, and insect damage in the pine forest. Moreover, shifting cultivation, which played a role in pine forestry, ceased. However, the mountain slopes on which cedar and cypress were planted were not abandoned but are now used for small-scale operations such as bamboo shoot production and wild plant collection. Although the landscape is different, local residents have been unable to abandon the forest. They continue to use the mountain slopes, although the form of use has changed based on the levels of local and national demand.

A total of three to four beach ridges occurred along the coast in the central part of the Ise Plain (between the Tanaka River and Anotsu River) in central Japan. We conducted an array-coring survey, radiocarbon dating, and diatom fossil analysis of alluvium distributed on the north side of the Shitomo River. Four beach ridges, BR I–IV, numbered landward to seaward, occurred in this area. Based on the results of the survey and analyses, the late Holocene environmental changes in the back marsh and interridge marsh of the beach ridges were reconstructed. The geomorphological development processes of the beach ridges were as follows. BR I started to form around 7,000calBP and finished ca. 5,700–6,000calBP. BR II occurred around 3,300calBP and was completed ca. 2,700calBP. The complete timing of BR III is thought to be around 1,500–2,200calBP from the results of archeological excavations at BR III. In the lower Kumozu River lowland south of the study area, there is no beach ridge corresponding to BR I near the Shitomo River. This discordance in the geomorphological development of the primary barrier was likely caused by regional differences in the buried planation surface and river power. In contrast, between 1,500calBP and 3,000calBP, the complete timing of BR II and III in the study area corresponded to BR I and II of the lower Kumozu River lowland, respectively. This accordance indicates that the secondary barriers developed nearly uniformly over a wide area of the central part of the Ise Plain during this period.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the spatial pattern of the dieback of Castanopsis sieboldii in 2010 and topography on Mt. Mihara, Hachijo Island, in order to clarify the probability of tree mortality and to mitigate the damage caused by oak-wilt disease. The analysis using a geographical information system and the general linear model (GLM) indicated that the total amount of radiation, slope degree, and altitude were significant factors, and the probabilities of the dieback of C. sieboldii were higher on the ridges of the southwest-facing slopes of Mt. Mihara. We also compared the forest structure and composition before forest dieback, but no clear difference in the dominance and frequency of larger-diameter C. sieboldii trees was detected between the insect-damaged plot on the southwest-facing slope and less-damaged plot on the northeast-facing slope of Mt. Mihara. The observational data showed that the period of no rainfall lasted for 19 days in July 2010; furthermore, the total rainfall in August was 40% less than the normal value. The summer dry conditions in 2010 could have triggered the dieback of C. sieboldii because the mycorrhizal fungus carried by the bark beetle could have affected the tree water relations. Consequently, the dieback of C. sieboldii caused by the bark beetle in 2010 mainly occurred on the drier ridges of the southwest-facing slopes of Mt. Mihara.

This paper reveals the spatial structure on the religious practice of enshrining ashes and chanting sutras at the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha head temple graveyard. Hongwanji-ha is one denomination of Jodo Shinshu, which was founded by Shinran, and is also the largest traditional Japanese Buddhist denomination. Previous geographical studies on Japanese Buddhist denominations discussed the distribution of denominational influence based on the locations of temples. However, as in Shinto or mountain worship, variations in the religious practices of followers associated with a head temple that functions as a religious center occurs even in Buddhism. We obtained data on applications and requests for noukotsu, literally translated as “enshrining bones of the deceased in tombs after cremation,” and dokyou, or chanting sutras, at Otani Mausoleum, the graveyard of the Hongwanji-ha head temple. The data contain around 900,000 records of applications to enshrine ashes and chant sutras from April 2000 to March 2012.

Analysis of the application data showed that many people living in the Tokyo and Keihanshin metropolitan areas had applied to enshrine ashes in Sodan, where Shinran’s ashes are enshrined and followers’ ashes are mixed with others. Meanwhile, many residents of nonmetropolitan areas applied to enshrine ashes in Muryoujudou, a columbarium. In terms of Hongwanji-ha followers who moved to metropolitan areas from other parts of the country after World War II, many applied to keep ashes in Muryoujudou. They therefore inherited the attributes of followers currently living in nonmetropolitan areas where they or their families once resided. On the other hand, many people who live in metropolitan areas and belong to temples there applied to enshrine ashes in Sodan. This finding appears to result from a number of temples lacking lots in Muryoujudou and relatively high acceptability of enshrining ashes in Sodan in metropolitan areas. Finally, people in the two metropolitan areas more frequently applied to chant sutras for each deceased person compared with those in nonmetropolitan areas. We explain this geographical difference as due to the accessibility to Otani Mausoleum rather than to the characteristics of the religious practice of enshrining ashes.