Many geographical stuides have focused on man's relationship to his environment, with-out much consideration to man himself. For such geography it is sufficient to presuppose interactions of determinism or possibilism between man and his environment. When we intend to describe the history of modern geography, what kind of perspective should be kept in our mind? In regard to this problem, we have usually tried to get an insight into the method and the structure of geographical science, and to trace their changes in a historical context, identifing its status in the classification of sciences. This perspective, however, does not tell us how and why the method and the structure of geography have been brought into existence and have been subject to change. Therefore, we need another perspective which seeks the “logic of change” in the method and the structure of geography. This paper is a tentative essay, although highly metaphysical, on the history of modern geography interpreting it in some broader perspective.
Both determinists and possibilists in the history of geography have interpreted the following point in common: geography simply deals with what there is in the objective (sachliche) world, i. e. phenomena and relationships among phenomena. In this objective world, man is also viewed as a kind of “object”. But I believe that man is not an “object” in the ordinary sense, for he does not merely live in a realistic world, but also in a philosophi-cal world.
This paper develops a humanistic approach which distinguishes man from a sphere of non-being (compared to being of man) which, as a result, allows him to maintain his subjec-tivity. This approach is made from a philosophical point of view as oppossed to a (traditional) geographer's point of view, which is concerned with the external character-istics of man in relation to the objective world.
As a science of our “external world”, geography is concerned with man in the objective world. Man is assumed as “being”, but its presence is not to be questioned. In order to understand this man in the objective world, adequate methodology must be used for satis-factory understanding. As a result of this methodology, the geographer places man as “subject” whose being thereby conforms. This placement sends man as “subject” to the “external world” as a result of being separated from his “pure subjectivity” in a philoso-phical sense. This shifting process of man to the “external world” is the logic which is based, in my opinion, for the historical development of modern geography, which can best be characterized as “Humanization of Man.”
In the light of this process, this paper analyses the historical development of modern geography from Hartshorne to Harvey. The result of my investigation reveals that man who enters into geography has evolved from “physiological man, through ”intelligence to “subject with intentional consciousness”. At each stage of the evolution, each para-digm of geography is established respectively. Hartshorne's geography ( The Nature of Geography, 1939) belongs to the second stage and Harvey's (Explanation in Geography, 1969) to the third. Some fundamental aspects of the history and the structure of modern geography are summarized in the following table.
The History and the Structure of Modern Geography
This schema requires some explanations. First, it is important to recognize that the mode of determining man conditions the mode of geography logically.

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The purpose of this paper is to delineate some characteristics of recent changes of agric-ulture in the Hirose section of Toyooka village and the Ryuchi section of Hamakita City, which are both in Shizuoka Prefecture. It should be noted that the physical location of these two areas are in the downstream region of the Tenryu River. An important given factor in this study is the central government's allotment quota of rice growing acreages.
Constructions of two large scale dams, the one installed at Sakuma in 1956 and the other at Akiba in 1957, in the upperstream of the Tenryu reduced the supply of materials such as gravels, sands, and silts to the downstream, in comparison to the supply obtained prior to construction. One results was the lowering of the riverbed. Another conributing factor was the removal of existing river supplied materials for urban construction in recent years. The overall result consisted of lowering of the ground water and poorly preserved water condi-tions in the paddy fields of the nearby areas.
To somewhat alleviate this problem, some local governments introduced a “Paddy Field Improvement Project”, which called for replacement of gravels immediately below the top soils by old alluvial soils, obtained from the slopes of hills nearby.
Many factors have to be taken into account when considering actions taken by individual farmers and/or groups of farmers in relation to decisions made by the local governments. Some of these factors are; (1) the size of the area under cultivation ; (2) the incentive of the individual farmer; (3) urban influence. For example ; Ryuchi is closer to Hamamatsu than Hirose; and (4) degree of enthusiasm and capital investment in administrative pro-grams by local governments.
In Hirose, the village administration originated and utilized to a large extent, the “Paddy Field Improvement Project”, which brought increased rice production per unit of land and previous unused land under cultivation. As one result of the above, it was assumed that number of owner-farmers (whose sole occupation is farming) would increase as opposed to the previous situation. Taking into consideration of political factors and administration enthusiasm, this village would be used as a model for other local governments.
In Ryuchi, on the other hand, the “Paddy Field Improvement Project” fell behind the expectations of the local government, because of lack of cooperation between the local government and the farmers. The allotment quota in Ryuchi was easily achieved, be-cause unused acreage has increased in recent years. The lack of a choice of local impro-vement programs resulted in the diversification of agriculture by individual and groups of farmers. One problem, which confronted the agricultural development of Ryuchi, was the urban influence of nearby Hamamatsu City. Many job oppotunities resulted in the break-up of full-time farmers into part-time farmers.
The administrative effort of the Toyooka village resulted only in a slight rise in income of farmers. In both areas, if we take full-time farmers, for example, we find that both followed the same process of occupational specialization, due to the overall Japanese economic syst-em. As a result of the above, it can be concluded that local government assistance is limited under the present agricultural system.

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The writer made a review on the research papers of urban geography written by Japanese geographers during the period of 1974. In a review of urban geography in Japan for 1972, K. Hattori pointed out that urban geography had assumed an aspect of “Urbanization Geography”, which was predominant in the 1974 papers. Most of the cities chosen for study were large cities and cities with the seat of prefectural office, while very few small cities were taken up. In this paper the writer deals with 48 articles, of which outlines are shown below;
(1) Urban Geography in General : trend and review for studies of urban geography done in recent years
(2) Urban Function : central management function o cities from the viewpoint of con-centration of office-workers or of branch offices, and the industrial bases of Japanese cities
(3) Urban Areal Structure : functional regions based on interregional automobile flows, location of multi-storied buildings, and transformation of central business districts
(4) Urban Trade : location of retail function in urban areas, isolated territories in trading areas, modern significance of central shopping districts, and modernization of shopping centers
(5) Urban Industry: lumber shops in urban areas, and integrated industrial-residen tial areas
(6) Urban Population : concentration, decentralization and natural increase of popu-lation in metropolitan areas
(7) Urbanization : classification(positive or negative) and measurement of urbanization, urbanization of local and small cities, formation of megalopolis or conurbation, sprawling phenomena, theory on growth of urban area, urban space and environment, mechanism of the growth of residential area, the urban fringe of Mexico City, and study of CBD-ratio
(8) Urban Problems : natural environment, urban transportation, land use, distribution of public nuisances, urban living environment, and optimum size of the city
(9) others : cities from the viewpoints of historical core and DID, warehouse location in metropolies, newspaper circulation behavior in metropolis, and cities in developing countries of Asia

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