The Hokuriku district, as well as irany other regions in north-east Japan, has been known as one of the population decreasing districts since the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1911). The reason for this decrease is due to the fact that many people living these districts moved to such cities as Tokyo, Osaka and other big cities.
From these districts also many workers moved to other districts to seek seasonal jobs. The number of such migrant workers has been increased year after year from the middle of the Meiji era to World War II. After the War, however, the conditions of this migrant workers have changed.
1. the number of the migrant workers decreased rapidly after World War II
2. the kinds of jobs which they were engaged in changed
3. their motives for going out to other districts to seek jobs changed
As to the first point, the number that went out from the Hokuriku district decreased from about 30, 000 to about 8, 000. And about half of 8, 000 seek their jobs in the vicinity of their villages, though almost all of the 30, 000 who went out to other districts from the okuriku before the War, sought jobs in distant districts.
As to the second point, their jobs were silk-reeling, fishery, cotten-spinning, sericulture, medicine-peddling, silk-weaving, carpenting, timber-cutting, labouring, etc.. But now they engage in such jobs as ricereaping, fruits (orange)-picking, fishery, packing-industry, house-building, etc.. The sake-brewery industry attracts migrant workers now as it did prior to World War II. Comparing both cases, we find noticeable changes in the kinds of jobs. There may be two reasons: the first is the change of agriculture itself and the second is that of the structure of Japanese industry.
As to the third point, before the last war many people from the Hokuriku district found it necessary to seek seasonal employment in order to buy the necessities of life. The living conditions of many farmers in these districts were very bad till about 1945, and many farmers had to work to earn their living even after their harvest was over. At present, there are few who go to other places to seek jobs seasonally because of their bad living conditions, except those from mountain villages where there are limited cultivated lands and from small fishing villages.
That the economic conditions have improved in the last ten years is shown by the fact that more than half of all migrant workers are housewives. The motive they go out to work in other places is mainly to earn their pocket money for sight-seeing trip or shopping in the big cities, when their work is over.

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The western part of the maturely dissected Tanzawa Mountains nearly 100km. west of Tokyo is well characterized by a great number of debris-avalanches. Some of them, however, are very densely distributed in a limited number of small areas. The writer of this paper names such areas as “hokai-danchi” (debrisavalanche concentrated areas) and sought for the cause of the occurence of “hokaidan-chi”. His research was primarily concerned with slope distribution, soil texture, soil depth, micro-relief and so forth in and around the areas.
As a result, the following facts were discovered. The immediately lower areas of “hokai-danchi”, which are always located at the heads of streams, have steeper slopes, coarser soil textures, thinner soil depths, and more rugged textures than in the case of “hokai-danchi”. Furthermore, there always exist remarkable knickpoints on the boundaries between “hokai-danchi” and the immediately lower areas.
Thus, he came to the following conclusion. These “hokai-danchi” have been protected for a long time from vigorous down-deepening and accompanied denudation because of the existence of such krick points. For this reason, the soil in “hokai-danchi” is now thicker than that of the immediately lower areas and also shows homogenous depth in general, causing almost homogeneous reaction thi oughout the “hot ai-danchi” against heavy rains or big earthquakes both of which are motives of debris-avalanches. Such a process, the writer presumes, may be a major cause of the existence of “hokai-danchi”.

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