This paper reviews studies on mental health in anglophone human geography and examines the background and focus of those studies.

With changes in the standards of psychiatric care, researchers on anglophone human geography became interested in problems related to mental health in the 1970s. After World War II, large-scale institutional care, once the mainstream of psychiatric care, was replaced with community care in Western countries, referred to as “deinstitutionalization.” Early studies investigated issues concerning deinstitutionalization in urban spaces in the UK and North America in the context of residential neighborhoods and public facility location theory. Restructuring of the welfare state was also an important perspective from which to examine regional differences in the progress of deinstitutionalization.

The next stage of research criticized the studies that were conducted until the end of the 1980s, which were argued to have overemphasized the social and spatial exclusion of people with mental health problems. Based on that awareness, the focus of research shifted toward issues of institutions. Accordingly, the history of asylums and the “lived geographies” of people with mental health problems in current community care were clarified. Studies on lived geographies have been particularly interested in identity. The findings of such studies demonstrated the difficulties that people with mental health problems had, despite changes in the ideal method of care and support practices.

Lived geographies have been clarified mainly through analyzing narratives of people with mental health problems to enable a detailed understanding of their experiences. That approach developed into an interest in the emotional aspects of the daily experiences of people with mental health problems around the year 2000. The concept of the therapeutic landscape has also been an important approach to understanding their feelings connected to places. These approaches sought to rethink dualisms such as reason/emotion and mind/body and demonstrated alternative perspectives to elucidate aspects that could not have been grasped through existing expressions like “disorder” and “disability.” These perspectives stimulated awareness of the subtle differences among people with mental health problems.

Recently, geographers who have investigated mental health have become interested in constructive research themes. Furthermore, interdisciplinary perspectives have strengthened, blurring the distinction between human geography and related fields concerning mental health. Simultaneously, the awareness of multiple differences such as gender and ethnicity has increased, and approaches to the intersection between these differences and mental health have developed.

In Japan’s manufacturing industry, various resources are intensively invested in R&D (Research and Development) functions. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the machinery industry also have been strengthening prototyping and/or R&D functions. However, it is not easy for one small-sized company to enter such business alone. Some industrial agglomerations attempt to strengthen the capability for producing prototypes and manufacturing new products by means of cooperation among SMEs through their networks. Taking Japanese companies in the Kyoto and Yokkaichi regions which joined SME networks as case studies, this research considered how to strengthen prototyping and R&D capabilities as well as cooperation among SMEs.

In the Kyoto region, the Kyoto Shisaku Net has more than 100 participating enterprises. Participants construct hierarchical systems and respond to various development and/or processing demands through weak ties among them. In the Yokkaichi region, Shisaku Supporter Yokkaichi has 16 participating enterprises, which conduct joint development through strong ties. The background characteristics of both areas affect these networks. In the Kyoto region, there is a dense accumulation of various suppliers and contractors. In contrast, there is less accumulation in the Yokkaichi region. Therefore, efforts have been made to foster cooperation among SMEs based on such regional characteristics as well as on prototyping and development capabilities.

The purpose of this study was to detail the rapid increase in the reuse of machiya (traditional wooden townhouses) as guesthouses in Kyoto, their characteristics, and effects on local communities. The research area was Rokuhara in Higashiyama ward, Kyoto, which is a center of growth for machiya guesthouses. The study was carried out by investigating statistical data and conducting interviews, while also examining the social phenomenon and impact of machiya designated for reuse as guesthouses from a local and community perspective. It was found that due to the narrow streets and highly condensed communities where many machiya are located, problems such as noise pollution and trash left behind by guests have occurred, which has spurred local residents to organize. This study documents and evaluates the actions among local residents to deal with those problems as well as the surge in real estate prices which has occurred as a result of changes in local communities. Additionally, this study points out some of the effects of tourism gentrification that occur in areas of local communities.