Analysis in this study is based on the point-of-sales (POS) data supplied by one of the largest conve-nience store chains. Data from 99 stores around the Tokyo metropolitan area were available for this study: the chain operates several hundred stores in the same area. Classification of store types is pro-posed through analysis of diversity in the pattern of sales by commodity group. Based on the pro-posed store types, a systematic interpretation is given for the correlation between diversity in the pat-tern of sales and that in store locations.
The result of factor analysis by commodity group suggests five factors to explain the sales pat-terns of convenience stores:
1) non-neighbor customer factor, indicating purchases by non-neighbors;
2) confectionery and soft drink factor;
3) replacement factor, indicating articles usually purchased at supermarkets, etc.;
4) household article factor; and
5) alcoholic beverage factor.
According to the result of cluster analysis on each factor loading, stores are classified into the follow-ing seven types
1) Multipurpose neighborhood convenience stores are located in high-rise housing development dis-tricts with numerous residents and few (or no) competitive retailers in their trade areas.
2) “Liquor shop” convenience stores are those with a license to sell liquor, attracting customers from considerably larger areas, especially at night.
3) Convenience stores in business districts sell sundries to cover various immediate needs, includ-ing lunches and snacks sold intensively in the daytime.
4) “Replacement” convenience stores are general store-like convenience stores with few competi-tors in the neighborhood, which sell high-priced articles usually purchased at supermarkets, etc. at lower prices.
5) Roadside convenience stores are those facing highways, with smaller sales in household articles.
6) Convenience stores with combined type 3) and 4) functions are located in areas with business offices and condominiums, adjacent to central business districts, where the basic function of the
stores changes during the daytime and nighttime, selling different articles at different times of the day.
7) Convenience stores for younger people are located near railway stations or schools, selling arti-cles mostly to the younger generation.
Convenience stores, with their advantage of one-stop shopping, are believed to acquire part of the potential sales of supermarkets and other competitors. This assertion has been proved through the analysis of POS data. This aspect of the functions of convenience stores basically reflects retailers' competition in local markets. It is noteworthy, however, that younger customers show a different pattern of store choice behavior from older ones. It is also notable that some convenience stores exhibit a clear-cut change in sales patterns by day and night, meeting the needs of office workers or college students in the daytime and the replacement needs of local residents at night.

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The geomorphic development of coastal plains is considered to be influenced by sea-level changes associated with glacial-interglacial cycles. The author has selected the middle and lower reaches of the Toyo River as the study area to discuss the relationships between the geomorphic development of the coastal plains and sea-level changes since the Late Pleistocene, and identified the stratigraphy of the river terraces and the subsurface deposits by analyzing boring data. The main results are summa-rized in the following.
The fluvial surfaces formed by the Toyo River are classified into five levels: highest terraces; higher terraces; middle terraces (Toyohashi terrace and Kozakai terrace); lower terraces; and allu-vial surfaces, in descending order (Fig. 3). Older fans and younger fans were formed by tributaries of the Toyo River. The highest terraces and higher terraces were formed before the oxygen isotope stage (abbreviated as St. 6). The middle terraces were thought to be formed after St. 5 and before St. 2. The lower terraces and alluvial surfaces were formed during the period of St. 2 and St. 1, respec-tively.
Two sedimentary cycles associated with the glacio-eustatic sea-level changes are recognized under the alluvial and Kozakai surfaces in the lower reaches of the river, respectively (Fig. 7). The depos-its beneath the alluvial surface are composed of an alluvial basal gravel bed (ABG), lower sand bed (LS), middle mud bed (MM), and upper sand bed (US) The ABG was deposited during the lower sea level at St. 2. Radiocarbon ages on mollusks of 6, 640, 6, 620, and 6, 494 yr BP have been obtained from the MM (Fig. 9). The MM is the deposit resulting in the postglacial transgression. The deposits be-neath the Kozakai surfaces are divided into four members: Kozakai basal gravel bed (KBG); Kozakai sand bed (KS); Kozakai mud bed (KM); and Kozakai gravel bed (KG), in ascending order. The KBG was formed in the lower sea level at St. 6. The KM is thought to be marine sediments resulting from the transgression during St. 6 to St. 5e. The KG was deposited as a fluvial deposit during the regres-sion after the last interglacial transgression.
Geomorphic development during the period of St. 6-5e was mainly influenced by sea-level changes, in particular the rapid transgression at St. 5e. A similar process is also observed during the period St. 2-1. A rapid sea-level rise dominated the geomorphic development during the period from the glacial to the interglacial stage.

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The primary aim of this study is to investigate tourism, by analyzing it in terms of its potential role or contribution to autonomous regional development. This study focuses on the hotel industry in Pokhara, a city in western Nepal. It examines three aspects of the activities of ethnic entrepre-neurs and employees: the foundation of the hotel industry; the process of development; and the labor market. The field research was carried out in Damside, a tourist area of Pokhara, in March/ April and July/August 1994, and August and November 1996, for a total of three months. Data were col-lected primarily through participant observation of local events in the tourist area and unstructured interviews with hotel keepers, their employees, and local government officials. Statistical data were also collected. early stage of tourism development in Damside. The structural changes in the hotel industry, how-ever, have pushed local hotel keepers to the periphery, or have made them give up their businesses. Fail-ure to change the government policy which favors outside investors without support to, or protec-tion of, ethnic entrepreneurs will mean that tourism in Pokhara will increase the dependence on out-side capital rather than promoting progress to an autonomous regional development.

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The upper limit of the backshore is given by the base of the sea cliff, the seaward end of coastal dunes, or the seaward limit of vegetation colonization. These positions coincide with the uprush limit of storm waves. There have been few studies on the height of the upper limit of the backshore. This report investigates the relationship between the height of the upper limit of the backshore and the grain size of beach material, using field data obtained from the Pacific-exposed coasts of Japan.
The measurements were made on locations well away from obstacles to incident waves (head-lands, reefs, artificial structures, river mouths, and so on). The relative height from the still water level at the strand (measured with a handy water-level gauge) to the upper limit of the backshore was surveyed. The height of the upper limit of the backshore from the mean sea level, BH, was obtained by compensating for the relative height with wave set-up and tides. Sediment samples were collected from the beach face, and the mean diameter, D, was obtained.
Figure 5 shows the relationship between BH and D. Although there is considerable scatter in the data points, it is found that BH first increases with increasing D until BH reaches a maximum of about BH=9.5m at about D=10mm, beyond which BH decreases with a further increase in D. In the case of D<10 mm, since (1) an inner bar with a strong wave filtering effect is not likely to develop in the surf zone on a coarser material beach, and (2) the water depth of a step formed in coarser material is larger, the maximum possible shore break height, which strongly controls the maximum possible uprush limit, on a coarser material beach is higher than that on a finer material beach. Consequently, BH on a coarser material beach is higher than that on a finer material beach in the case of D<10mm.
On a cobble beach (in the case of D≤10mm), on the other hand, since (1) cobbles at the strand work as wave absorbers, (2) water from the wave swash is easily lost by percolation into the beach, and (3) cobbles give rise to high friction to wave swash, the maximum possible uprush limit is restricted. Moreover, (4) because the backwash is weakened by the effects of (1)-(3), the backwash vortex, which builds a step, must be smaller in size, and therefore the water depth of a step becomes smaller. Since the efficiency of (1) -(4) increases with increasing cobble size, BH decreases with increas-ing D.
Figure 5 also shows that BH on a single-bar (=outer bar) beach is lower than that on a non-bar beach, and that there seems to be a limit to BH (≤5.5m) on single-bar beaches. These reflect the wave-filtering effect of nearshore bars. Although it had been expected that BH on a double-bar beach, on which storm waves are affected by the double wave-filtering effects, would be lower than that on a single-bar beach, it could not be fully confirmed in the present paper because of the inade-quate quantity of data.

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