This paper describes local development in the city of Takarazuka, which values the viewpoints of children. It was confirmed that Child Committee members who were given opportunities to present their opinions and proposals on local development broadened the areas they perceived as their own neighborhoods through the learning process that led to their proposals. When the children examined and visited places in the neighborhoods where they lived, they perceived the neighborhoods in broader terms. They made proposals emphasizing neighborhood history, as a result of which their place perception expanded not only geographically but also chronologically. Such experiences give children the ability to broaden their perceptions of the areas in which they live to encompass wider areas.

This study clarifies the characteristics of the nightlife district based on sex workers’ relocation history and methods of livelihood. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted of the diachronic history of sex workers in Yokohama during the 1950s, which had one of the largest nightlife districts in Japan at the time. The results showed that the nightlife district in 1950s Yokohama accommodated numerous and varied sex workers, who were important members of that area. Some sex workers had relocated from other nightlife districts, and some had intentionally chosen to move there. Yokohama’s nightlife district attracted many people from throughout Japan, which in turn increased the number of sex workers in the district. Sex workers made various careers for themselves after beginning prostitution in Yokohama. Overall, the nightlife district of Yokohama was characterized as a highly heterogeneous space, maintained by the continual influx of numerous sex workers with diverse backgrounds and methods of livelihood.