Yonezawa, the largest local center in the southern part of Yamagata Prefecture, has a population of 92, 764 in 1970 and is noted for the textile industry originated from feudal ages.
The population of the city has begun to decrease since 1960 when the Japanese econo-my entered a rapidly expanding stage. This change in population was mainly brought about, first by the relative shortage of employment for the growing number of labor forces and second by the specific characteristics involved in the city. The people who could not find suitable jobs were compelled to emigrate to the other areas, for instance, the Kei-Hin industrial belt where more employment opportunities are available. Many of these came from small farms which were relatively overpopulated.
The manufacturing industry accounts for about 30% of the workers and is the most important industry group providing the employment in the city. Though the textile indus-try is stagnant in . its development, it employs the greatest number of workers in the man-ufacturing (41.7% in 1971). The growing electrical machinery industry follows to the textile industry by number of workers but its proportion of workers is only 16.4%. The contrast of the sex ratio and age structure of workers between these two industries are re-markable. Workers of the textile industry are getting older and 70.8% of them are women. The electrical machinery industry absorbs younger people and 56.7% are women. Because of the poor conditions of labor such as low wages, deficiency of welfare facilities and so on, it has become difficult for the textile industry to acquire younger people.
The characteristics of the workers in manufacturing lie in the facts that it has older workers and more women than national averages. These characteristics are influenced by these two industries, particularly due to the nature of the textile industry. In addition to the 'shortage of employment, the manufacturing industry has such characteristics that the average age of workers are becoming older and existing jobs suitable for men are relatively limited in number. These factors caused the increasing emigration of laborers, especially that of younger men, and the decline of population in the city.

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Der Verf asser nahm Kuzumaki-Cho irn nördlichen Kitakamigebirge als Untersuchungsgebiet, wo er das traditionelle Rindviehaufzuchtsgebiet mit alter Produktionsweise durch die Einführung der Molkereien zu einem Milchwirtschaftsgebiet umwandelte. Er erläuterte historisch den Wandel der Bodennutzung, des Landbesitzes, der betriebswirtschaftlichen Situationen, des Produktionsverhältnisses und der Milcherzeugersgenossenschaften, welche die Organisationen zwischen den Erzeugern und Molkereien verknüpfen.
Historisch gesehen ist der Entwicklungsprozeβ der Milchwirtschaf t in Kuzumaki-Cho in fünf Stadien auf zuteilen. In den einzelnen Stadien sind die folgenden Punkte klar geworden : Erstes Stadium (1930-1939): Nachdem die Seidenzucht in diesem Gebiet durch die wirtschaftliche Panik zurückgegangen war, versuchten die Groβgrundbesitzer (Jito) in der Milchwirtschaft neue Einkommensquelle zu finden und führten im Iwaizumi-Mura (Nachbargemeinde) eine Molkerei, die zu eincn groβen Milchhandelsgesellschaft zu Tokyo gehört. Dann begann allmählich die Milchkuhhaltung in Ekari-Mura (jetzige Ortschaf t des Kuzu-maki-Cho) and Iwaizumi-Mura. Bald danach wurde eine kleine Molkerei der kleineren Milchhandelsgesellschaft in Tokyo nach Kuzumaki-Cho verlegt. Diese Molkerei wurdespäter von der bäuerlichen Genossenschaf t des Ortes gekauft und von ihr selbst betrieben. Die M ilchwirtschaft in diesem Gebiet wurde von gewissen Leuten, den Groβgrundbesitzern (Jito), bewirtschaftet. Die meisten kleinbäuerlichen Viehhalter trieben nur Aufzucht von Milchkühen, Zug-und/oder Fleischkuhen and Pf erden.
Zweites Stadium (1940-1946): Aus Mangel an Kapital der bäuerlichen Genossenschaft des Ortes wurde eine Molkerei der Milchhandelsgesellschaft zu Kanagawa Präfektur in Kuzumaki-Cho eingführt. Diese Gesellschaft hat den Bauern die Milchkühe vermietet, um die Milchlief erung sicherzustellen.
Dementsprechend haben die Mieter, welche meistens die Groβgrunbesitzer und reicheren Eauer waren, eine Milchgenossenschaf t gegründet. Die Milchhandelsgesellschaften aus Tokyo und Kanagawa haben dazu eine Grundlage geschaffen, um die Milchwirtschaft in Kuzumaki-Cho weiter zu entwickeln. Die vorher nosh zerstreut liegenden Milcherzeugungsgebiete wurde gröber and bildeten sich um die Molkerei emn Sammelgebiet.
Drittes Stadium (1947-1951): Die Agrarreform zerstörte die traditionelle Besitzstruktur. Die sozial-ökonomischen EinfllBe der Früheren Groβgrundbesitzer (Jito) ging zurück und die neue Freibauernklasse, die aus den früheren Pächtern (Nago) bestand, spielte nun eine Hauptrolle in der Milchwirtschaf t. Denn Spaltete sich die Milchgenossenschaf t in zwei Organisationen, die eine der früheren Grundbesitzer and die andere der Kleinbauern. Sie haben auch die Sammelgebiet geteilt. Die Genossenschaft des Kleinbauern lieferte ihre Mulch zu einer neuen Molkerei der groβen Milchhandelsgesellschaft zu Tokyo. In diesem Stadium entwickelte sich das Milchsammelgebiet von lokal zu regional.
Viertes Stadium (1952-1958): Die Genossenschaft des Kleinbauern gründete in Kuzumaki-Cho die Ekari Mulch AG und faβte die Mulch der Mitglieder. Aber diese Molkerei wurde im 1958 von einer grossen Milchgesellschaft in Iwaizumi-Cho (Nachbarstadt) übernommen. Der bäuerliche Einfluss war verschwunden und das Sammelgebiet wurde wieder von den zwei Molkereien, welche zum Milchmonopol Japans gehöhren, geteilt.
Fünftes Stadium (seit 1959): Da dieses Gebiet wirtschaf tlich noch unterentwikelt und zu weit von den groβstädtischen Märkten entfernt war, blieb der Milchpreis verhältnismässig immer niedriger.

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The weaving industry in Chichibu had developed as a silk industry in Bushu district toward the end of the Tokugawa Period. Since the Mei ji Restoration, it has kept forming a part of the so-called silk industrial region, which contains Kiryu, Ashikaga, Isezaki and Hachioji, along the piedmont area in Kanto district.
In 1953, with Chichibu City as their core, 515 factories were distributed throughout Chichibu County and formed a producing center of plain fabrics, such as the textures for bedclothes, for tanzens (a kind of padded garment) and for cushions. In 1970, the number of factories are 414. They employed 1, 747 workers, and their distribution is expanding to the central part of Chichibu City, such as former Takashino village (now belongs to Chichi-bu City), former Haraya village (now belongs to Chichibu City), Yokose village, and former Misawa village (now belongs to Town of Minano). However, the extent of distribution is shrinked in comparison to the one set in 1953.
After the period of the rapid growth of Japanese economy, the advanced weaving districts of Kiryu, Ashikaga, and Hachioji have been trying to maintain their production by means of changing the kinds of their products or expanding the serving area of “debata”. On the other hand, the weaving industry in Chichibu has been continuously in operation without any noticeable change even in the kinds of its products. However, around 1965, the remarkable change in demand structure forced them to convert from the texture of narrow breadth to that of wide one. In addition to these circumstances, labor-intensive in-dustries have extended their influence into Chichibu County and shaken the very foundation of the weaving industry in Chichibu. As a result, the numbers of factories and workers have remarkably been diminished, and many of the factories have been laid under the ne-cessity of pursuing side business or of changing their own job.
In its coping forms, the weaving industry in Chichibu can be classified broadly into the following three groups.
I. The group trying to maintain their own business, but they have changed their forms of production and management.
II. The group of subcontractors or subworkers in business enterprises of I or III.
III. The group of those who have changed to other businesses.

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In this study for Aichi Prefecture, the threshold sales, which stand for the minimum sales volumes necessary to support a retail store, are measured. They are determined by least squares averaging technique which computes for each central function the best fitting relationship of the equation S=aF^b (where S is the annual sales volume of centers, F is the number of stores located in the centers, and a and b are parameters to be estimated, see Table I).
Then, the threshold sales are converted to the threshold populations which mean the minimum numbers of consumers necessary to provide a sales volume adequate for the good to be supplied profitably from the store. And 64 business types located in urbanized area are ranked according to the threshold populations and divided into 6 groups suggesting the discontinuity of functional levels.
It may be necessary, in the real world under imperfect competition in the provision of goods, to determine the level of a function not only by the threshold population but also by the population per store which is variable according to the levels of demand in market.

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