To understand the roles of host foreigners in Japanese ski resorts, whose number is increasing with the development of inbound tourism, this study analyzed those individuals’ business activities and the transformation of the resort town of Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. Furthermore, the roles of host foreigners are characterized in relation to Japanese actors via the structure of actor transition in the resort development process. Host foreigners mainly operate accommodation services and expand their business significantly into other kinds of ventures. They have added services desired during foreign skiers’ stays and increased the number of accommodation and restaurant facilities in the resort town. They take on important roles in updating Japanese ski resorts where traditional Japanese actors have had difficulty in renewing and renovating services due to financial problems and the decline of domestic ski tourism. The business activities engaged in by host foreigners and their relationships with Japanese actors differ depending on when they started their business. Within Japan, inbound tourism developed later than in Western countries; therefore we are now witnessing the replacement of Japanese actors by host foreigners, not only in ski resorts but also in other types of destinations. The analysis of this actor transition will contribute to understanding the unique structural transformation of Japanese destinations.

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating from minerals (mostly quartz and feldspar) can determine the burial duration since the last reset (bleaching) due to sufficient sunlight exposure. Although OSL dating is based on the fact that minerals are bleached at the time of deposition, complete bleaching does not always occur. Incomplete bleaching of minerals before deposition can therefore cause age overestimation.

OSL dating has the potential to determine the depositional age of fluvial gravel layers, which is important for validating previous dating exercises and accurate age estimation. However, fluvial gravel layers undergo sunlight exposure during transport and deposition by strong currents such as floods and debris flows. Fluvial gravel layers are therefore considered to undergo poor bleaching due to the short transport times and water turbidity. In addition, fluvial settings in Japan can cause problems in OSL dating of minerals due to short transport distances from their sources. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of OSL dating using postinfrared infrared-stimulated luminescence (pIRIR) of alkali-feldspar from fluvial gravel layers in Japan. We conducted K-feldspar pIRIR dating of fluvial gravel layers from the Enoki Trench, western Musashino Uplands, Tokyo, Japan.

Our pIRIR dating results showed wide scatter in equivalent doses due to partial bleaching. Therefore, mean equivalent doses caused age overestimation of fluvial gravel layers. However, pIRIR dating using the Minimum age model (MAM) provided consistent age estimates of the fluvial gravel layers (Tachikawa gravels), which had previously been dated using tephra and radiocarbon dating. The pIRIR dating provided the first age results for the buried fluvial gravel layers (Ome formation) under the Tachikawa gravels in the Musashino Uplands. Our data suggested that the Ome formation had been deposited at least some 241 ka ago. The results of pIRIR dating using the MAM indicated the usefulness of estimating the depositional age of fluvial gravel layers.

This study investigated the process of formation and transformation of interfirm exchanges among manufacturing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Shimonoge area located in the extended core of the Keihin (Tokyo–Yokohama) industrial area. The significance of community formation among companies over time, such as generational changes in business owners, was examined.

In the Shimonoge area, companies formed an industrial neighborhood where small-sized factories and residences were compactly mixed in the 1970s as they relocated from the southern part of Tokyo. Interfirm exchanges increased at that time, and interfirm transactions started. In the 1990s, a generational change occurred in the area; young owners established a website for SMEs in the area to disseminate information.

Recently, as an increasing number of subcontractors have closed down, interfirm exchanges have taken on the vital function of providing information on technical abilities to select alternative subcontractors. In addition, new residents are flowing into the Shimonoge area due to estate development. It is important to show strong interfirm ties among SMEs to form good relationships with new residents.

The current Shimonoge industrial neighborhood has two functions: the active interfirm exchanges fostered since the 1970s; and the crystallization of the “sense of camaraderie” strengthened by the second generation. These functions are the foundation for the area to respond to the changing times.

This study revealed the formation of the moraine-like Saneyama Ridge as determined by geomorphological and geological surveys. It is located underneath the cirque in the Jodosawa Valley extending northward through the northern Japanese Alps, between Mt. Tateyama (3,015 m) to the east and the Midagahara volcano (approximately 2,670 m) to the west. The Saneyama Ridge consists mainly of lahar deposits, formed after glaciers on Mt. Tateyama melted due to pumice fall from the Midagahara volcano, with subglacial tills above and below them. These sediments were widely deposited in the lower Jodosawa Valley during the early stadials (95–47±9 ka) of the last glacial period. The eastern part of these sediments was eroded by running water in the Jodosawa Valley during a period after the early stadials (47±9 ka) of the last glacial period and before the phreatic explosions (30–18 ka) that blew away the western part of the sediment. The Saneyama Ridge was thus formed by the remaining sediment between the eastern channel of and the western craters in the lower Jodosawa Valley.

Mountainous areas are generally undeveloped and frontier areas compared to densely populated flat areas. People living in mountain villages have engaged in subsistence farming for centuries. However, their subsistence livelihoods have been challenged and changed in recent years due to increased contact with developed areas. Consequently, those who engage in agriculture in mountain villages have begun to experience difficulties in sustaining subsistence agriculture because of the influx of lower-priced crops from high-productivity areas.

The purpose of this study was to compare the extent of agricultural and land-use changes in three villages located at different altitudes in a tributary valley of the Indus River in Ladakh, northwest India. In this area, the staple food for people is secured through rations, and many people engage in migratory work within the Ladakh locality. In the most accessible village, profitable crops are replacing staple crops, whereas in the least accessible village, people continue to farm traditionally, although young people live outside of this village in order to attend school or to work.

Although agriculture is no longer the main income source in Ladakh, people still retain their farms. In the most accessible village, those employed in the city can possess land because they can visit their home village easily. In addition, the land division system in the Ladakhi community enables people eager to own fields to obtain land, resulting in small-scale land possession in the most accessible village. In the least accessible village, the scale of agriculture conducted by the villagers may not have changed, although the demographics of farmers are shifting from women with children to retired people.