Geographical Review of Japa,. Ser. A, Chirigaku Hyoron
Online ISSN : 2185-1735
Print ISSN : 0016-7444
ISSN-L : 0016-7444
Volume 62, Issue 1
Displaying 1-3 of 3 articles from this issue
  • Junji NISHINA
    1989Volume 62Issue 1 Pages 1-24
    Published: January 01, 1989
    Released on J-STAGE: December 25, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this study is to discuss precipitation distribution in Japan during the winter monsoon from the point of view of the generation of local anticyclones and cyclones (or local high-and low-pressure areas), and the landing of Convective Band Clouds (CBCs).
    First, the author divides Japan into three districts: Central Japan, Southwest Japan, and Northeast Japan. Second, he classifies the cloud distribution patterns into either five groups (Central Japan) or four groups (Northeast Japan) according to the landing locations of CBCs. In the discussion of Southwest Japan, he refers repeatedly to the five groups classified in the discussion of Central Japan. These classifications also correspond to those of upper wind directions at 850mb.
    The results are summarized as follows:
    1) Central Japan
    Under the influence of westerly upper winds, a local low-pressure area is generated at Fukui and extends northeastward or east-northeastward. High precipitation is obtained along the eastern side of this local low-pressure area. The landing of CBC from East Korea Bay seldom affects this high-precipitation area, where several heavy-precipitation peaks are found at intervals of 100 kilometers or more. These heavy-precipitation peaks are considered to correspond to the generation of local cyclones at meso-β scale.
    Under the influence of northwesterly upper winds, high precipitation is obtained around Tsuruga, where a local cyclone is generated. CBC lands on the coast of Wakasa Bay (Tsuruga is situated on the eastern side of Wakasa Bay); however, when CBC does not land, high precipitation is obtained around Tsuruga. From this, we find that the generation of a local cyclone has a greater influence on the high precipitation around Tsuruga. Also, high precipitation is obtained around Takada, which is situated in the leeward of Toyama Bay; a local low-pressure area is generated at Toyama Bay. High precipitation is also obtained there when V-type Cloud Pattern, which has been considered to bring high precipitation, does not appear. From this, we find that the generation of a local low-pressure area has a greater influence on the high precipitation around Takada.
    When an upper wind alternates between westerly and northwesterly, precipitation distribution has both the features mentioned above. This can be attributed to the fact that the local weather map in this case gives both features under westerly and northwesterly upper winds. When the Hokuriku Discontinuity Line is not created, high precipitation is obtained around Takada. From this, we find that its creation seldom has an effect on the high precipitation there.
    2) Southwest Japan
    High precipitation is obtained extending eastward from the landing location of CBC from East Korea Bay. In this high-precipitation area, several heavy-precipitation peaks are found. These are considered to correspond to the generation of local cyclones at meso-β scale. This high-precipitation area corresponds to the generated location of a local low-pressure area. However, when CBC does not land there, high precipitation is not obtained, in spite of the generation of a local low-pressure area.From this, we find that the landing of CBC has a greater influence on the high precipitation.
    3) Northwest Japan
    In the Tohoku District, CBC rarely lands and local anticyclones and cyclones are hardly generated. High precipitation is obtained in the mountainous ranges. From this, we find that high precipitation can be attributed to orographic rifting.
    In Hokkaido, under west-northwesterly upper winds, high precipitation is obtained around Rumoi, where a local cyclone is generated. CBC from the Mamiya Straits often lands there; however, when it does not land, high precipitation is obtained there. From this, we find that the generation of a local cyclone has a greater influence on the high precipitation around Rumoi. High precipitation is also obtained on Ishikari Plain.
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  • the age of reviving American geography
    Yoshio SUGIURA
    1989Volume 62Issue 1 Pages 25-47
    Published: January 01, 1989
    Released on J-STAGE: December 25, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper aims at rethinking the Quantitative Revolution on the basis of the particularistic and contextual perspectives on the history of geography (Johnston, 1983). Focusing on William L. Garrison, the charismatic leader of the Washington group leading the Revolution, it attempts to elucidate the circumstances under which he became a lion of his day and to examine the characteristics of his geography. Rough sketches of features of the Washington group (Johnston, 1987; Sugiura, 1986) and recollections of Garrison himself and his former Ph. D. students (Buttier, 1983; Halvorson and Stave, 1978; Morrill, 1984) have been published recently. But they are rather fragmentary, and not detailed enough to provide a full account of the group as a whole. This is the very motive of writing this paper. In order to solve this problem, the social environment surrounding Garrison and the Department of Geography at the University of Washington in those days are reconstructed as precisely as possible by a survey of the relevant literature.
    The Quantitative Revolution was not only a scientific movement to promote the start of nomothetic geography and the end of idiographic geography. In retrospect, it was also a crusade to awaken geographers' sense of the danger of other social sciences invading the field of geography. Through their wartime experience American social scientists had discovered the new field of area studies and after World War II interdisciplinary institutions were established at various universities in the United States, specializing in courses which were centered on a particular area (Sugiura, 1987). With the advent of the urban age, sociologists and economists for example, D. J. Bogue, O. D. Duncan, R. Vining and W. Isard - inaugurated urban studies, a type of area studies. Their research styles were more positivistic and theoretical, as if they were geared to the coming computer age. As the United States rushed into the space race with the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, quantification in the social sciences was greatly intensified.
    As symbolized by the elimination of the geography department at Harvard University, the top-ranked institution in the American system of elite higher education, geographers were worried about the status of their field as a science (Sugiura, 1987). Applied geographers such as E. Ackerman and G. F. White were eager to establish scientific geography since they were sensitive to the current of the times through interdisciplinary contacts with other scientists: White later steered HSGP to introduce “New Geography” into the teaching of geography in high schools (McNee, 1973), and Ackerman attempted to innovate the discipline by means of a proposal based on The Science of Geography (1965). G. D. Hudson, in response to the same concerns, made a decision to rebuild a graduate program by making the discipline more practical and scientific when in 1951 he was appointed the new chairman of the Department of Geography at the University of Washington. Garrison was hired to play a role in this reform: he was given opportunities to study quantitative methods while participating in an interdepartmental project sponsored by the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads. These opportunities caused him to approach Isard, and to open his eyes to location theory in the course of event.
    This encounter allowed them to identify common interests for their different purposes: Isard was anxious to remake the field of geography in terms of the regional science paradigm; Garrison intended to reform the discipline by emphasizing the products of applied research. The latter was also Hudson's hope. Garrison's concern was explicitly connected with the actual region, however, in that he believed that theory should be modified in the light of the results of practice (Garrison, 1957b, 1962c), which seems to be closely associated with the crucial fact that he had started his professional career as a field worker.
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  • 1989Volume 62Issue 1 Pages 48-49,56
    Published: January 01, 1989
    Released on J-STAGE: December 25, 2008
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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