The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of work and life without employment relationships in a local city through a case study focusing on networking and coordination among young business owners in Ueda, Nagano prefecture. Statistical analysis reveals continuous shrinkage of the number of self-employed persons. However, this trend is not caused solely by the fact that workers who belong to the large cohort of baby boomers are reaching retirement age. Rather, it is noteworthy that a group of “startuppers,” who are distinct from the orthodox category of self-employed persons, exists. Precursory studies described their distinctiveness as they embrace face-to-face interactions with local customers rather than derive maximum profit from the anonymous market, which implies their potential to become a type of community builders.

In-depth research on young business owners in Ueda, Nagano prefecture, underlines the stories of previous studies: Their praxes, which are buttressed by tight-knit multiscale networks such as same-school alumni, place-based relationships, or chance acquaintances, are not subsumed to the urge for profit maximization. Even though their businesses and activities do not generate massive economic gains in the local economy, they nurture local culture, art, and social capital and make the community more inclusive.

Referring to the work of K. Polanyi and J. K. Gibson-Graham, the conclusion of this paper reinterprets the findings and shows the diversity of the praxes of young business owners which are not subsumed by the market exchange.

In the past few decades, multilevel studies, which aim to explain individual outcomes in terms of both individual attributes and contextual exposures, have been rapidly increasing worldwide. For example, health geographers have paid more attention to how a neighborhood environment affects the health of residents. However, such multilevel studies are still relatively limited in Japan. One of the reasons for this is the difficulty in collecting data at the individual and contextual level, both of which are necessary to construct multilevel geographic data. Since 2000, and especially after the enforcement of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information in 2005, traditional surveys for collecting individual data (e.g., door-to-door surveys) and contextual/aggregated data (e.g., the population census) have shown significantly declining response rates. To compensate for the lack of multilevel geographic data, we propose a new method that will combine online surveys to collect individual responses and systematic social observations to measure neighborhood-level characteristics.

First, we conducted an online survey with the registered members of a survey company, who were aged 20 years or older and living in Bunkyo ward, Tokyo, for the purpose of maximizing the number of respondents. In total, 989 responses were collected from all postal areas (n=20) in the study region, which was considered sufficient for a small-area multilevel analysis. Next, we assessed the geographic patterns of neighborhood characteristics by conducting a systematic social observation of the streetscape (2,718 street segments in Bunkyo ward) using Google Street View to improve efficiency. Finally, we examined the association between habitual walking for leisure among respondents and micro-scale walkability in the neighborhoods by analyzing the multilevel geographic data constructed through the online survey and neighborhood observation. The results of the multilevel logistic regression analysis confirmed a significant positive association between them (odds ratio=1.54, 95% confidence interval: 1.11–2.14), after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

These results indicate that constructing multilevel geographic data using online surveys and systematic social observations is useful for advancing multilevel studies as a complement to traditional data collection methods. Given that the traditional methods, including door-to-door surveys and the population census, have become increasingly difficult, the method proposed in this study may contribute to collecting original data and conducting multilevel geographic analysis with neighborhood-level resolution for broader geographic areas.

Many small-scale oxbow lakes formed by meandering cutoffs are distributed along the lower reaches of the Ishikari River, northern Japan. We conducted soundings in five oxbow lakes (Pira, Toi, Tsuki, Hishi, and Ito) using a rubber dinghy equipped with a hand-controlled trolling motor and a GPS-equipped fish finder, which are easily handled by researchers, and produced bathymetric maps. We also collected bottom sediments from the lakes and measured wet and dry bulk densities, particle size, and loss on ignition (LOI). In all lakes, the maximum water depth occurred at a site with a large curvature remaining from when it was previously a channel of the Ishikari River. In particular, the maximum water depth of Lake Hishi is greater than that of the other four lakes, and it is thought to have been deeply scoured. The bending sections in Lakes Pira, Hishi, and Ito are deeper along the outer than the inner shores, which is a typical morphological feature of meandering channels. In contrast, the deepest parts of Lake Tsuki and the northern part of Lake Toi are not noticeably close to the outer shore, with shallow water and little irregularity of the lake bed. These characteristics may reflect the difference in the initiation of the oxbow fills. The particle size of the bottom sediments shows that fine silt and clay have accumulated in all the lakes. In particular, very fine-grained sediments rich in organic matter have been deposited on the surface in areas of greater water depths in Lake Pira and Lake Hishi.

This paper analyzes current and future accessibility to daycare centers in the city of Takatsuki, Osaka prefecture, using a more appropriate method than the existing technique in Japanese urban areas and examines the effects and challenges based on changes in demography and childcare policies. In the study area, we found a significant spatial mismatch between the demand for and location of daycare centers in 2018. In particular, 1- and 2-year-old children overwhelmingly lacked sufficient access to daycare centers near railway stations in the city center. Converting public kindergartens into certified childcare centers to increase the capacity of childcare services can address daycare center shortages to an extent but cannot fully satisfy the current demand. Conversely, implementing a transportation service to daycare centers would serve as an effective auxiliary measure to reduce the inequality that exists among districts in terms of the demand for and supply of childcare services. Finally, it is predicted that the number of children will decrease, but the demand for daycare centers will increase; thus, flexibility in adjustments made to the supply is necessary to prevent an increase in the number of children who cannot use childcare services. Based on these results, we confirmed that the accessibility index and the scenario analysis method proposed in this paper are beneficial in creating solutions to problems related to the quality, quantity, and location of childcare facilities.

This study discusses making and maintaining social relationships with foreigners in Japan through religious activities. It is based on interviews with Filipinos living in the southern part of Ibaraki prefecture on the outskirts of the Tokyo metropolitan area regarding the relationships between their activities in Catholic churches and daily life. Filipinos in Japan comprise two main groups: middle-aged women who came to Japan in the period from the 1980s to the 2000s; and young people who have migrated via the technical intern training program since 1993. Both groups visit Catholic churches for spiritual fulfillment and develop social relationships with compatriots. They emphasize that the churches provide a link to their home country. Many middle-aged women have married Japanese residents and have lived in Japan for a long time. However, they have been unable to develop their own concentrated resident areas. As a result, the churches continue to be the main centers for building contacts for the immigrants. Filipinos frequently change jobs and move from one location to another. This makes it difficult for them to maintain social relationships in a workplace or neighborhood. At the same time, they regularly attend churches, which helps them sustain connections with other Filipino immigrants. Thus, Catholic churches function as a node for Filipinos after they settle in Japan. From these results, religious facilities are important for multitiered, multigenerational communities of Filipinos.