The purpose of this paper is to clarify the location dynamics of the Japanese semiconductor industry in the midst of rapid technological innovation. The production of semiconductors in Japan started in the first half of the 1950 s and a technological complex has been developed in Southern Tokyo. The formation of advanced machinery production can not be taken into consideration without the existing production system. The government has played an important role in raising the technological level of semiconductor production, which was behind that of the U.S.A., in a very short time. At the same time, it is very important that many enterprises in competition with one another have taken part in government projects to develop technology from a cooperatively long-term point of view. The production of semiconductors has been supported by the growth of the electric calculator and other durable consumer goods industries and has made great progress in the 1980 s.
Semiconductor manufacturers which developed in the big city areas such as Tokyo and Osaka have moved their production bases into Kyushu, Tohoku and other provincial areas since the latter half of the 1970 s. On the other hand, R & D functions and the nucleus of the industry has remained in the Tokyo and Osaka region. As semiconductor production is strongly linked with various high-tech industries which are concentrated in the Tokyo region, only this region can cope with very rapid technological innovation, and the nation wide production system, with Tokyo as its core, has strengthened. The formation of a global network for the semiconductor industry is now in progress under the strong control of trade in each country. In order to cope with keen international competition, the globalization of the Japanese semiconductor industry is in progress, linked with a nation wide production system.

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Increasing interaction between natives and newcomers within a local area, brought about by repopulation in the countryside of contemporary Japan, has changed the system of local community organizations. The patterns of social change and the character of local communities vary within rural areas mainly according to their distance from a city. Therefore, there are considerable relationships between regional demographic patterns and the reorganization of local communities. In this article, first the author classifies Niigata Region by cluster analysis of population structure. Second, he induces the types of neighborhood associations, one of the most important local organizations, in terms of their spatial relations with agricultural associations, and examines correspondence between the classified sub-regions and the types. Last, he investigates the case of Kurosaki in the southwest suburbs of Niigata City.
In the concluding remarks, the following categories are established. First, rural dynamics from the 1960s onward resulted in a regional differentiation composed of four sub-regions. Three of them are arranged into the rural-urban continuum: commuters' housing districts on one side and farmers' villages on the other. The other, which contains both housing estates and farming settlements, is placed outside it. Second, both on the urban fringe and in the housing estates, the new types of neighborhood associations have emerged since the 1960s through the division of existing neighborhood associations or newly established associations without relation to any existing organizations. Third, in some places, newly formed neighborhood associations league together within the village before the divisions. Fourth, the patterns of these reorganizations depend upon the regional population and the regional policy of their municipalities. Consequently, the simplified system of a village organization has been changed into a more stratified and pluralistic structure, which characterizes contemporary suburban local communities.

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This paper aims to describe the spatial segregation of ethnic minorities in some West German metropolises in which the proportion of foreign inhabitants to the total population is very high, and to explain it by referring to housing conditions. Although some scholars stress the similarity of intra-city distribution of ethnic minorities among West German cities, the degree of spatial segregation differs markedly from city to city. It is more severe in Duisburg and Berlin (West) than in Munich and Stuttgart. The proportion of Turks to the foreign inhabitants is higher in the former cities than in the latter. The situation in Cologne is intermediate between these two types, although the proportion of Turks in this city is as high as in Berlin (West). In order to explain the difference, it is more appropriate to adopt a structural approach than an approach emphasizing the choice of individuals of ethnic minorities. There are researchers who attach greater importance to the structural factor, but they do not adequately consider the role of charitable and co-operative housing corporations (gemeinniitziges Wohnungsunternehmen) and the significance of publicly assisted dwellings (Öffentlich geförderte Wohnungen=Sozial-wohnungen) in the congregating process of ethnic minorities. I shed light on these factors and explain the difference with special reference to Duisburg and Munich. As a result, it is proved that discrimination does not always bring about the strong congregation of an ethnic minority in a specific area in a city.

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The locational structure effects on spatial interaction in distance-decay models have been discussed since the 1970 s. This discussion has led many geographers to obtaine distance-decay parameters affected not by spatial autocorrelation but by friction of distance. As BENNETT et al. (1985) stressed, however, we should recognize that spatial structure and spatial interaction are interdependently related. Thus, the present study explores spatial interaction effects on spatial structure. First, using the SIMODEL developed by Williams and FOTHERINGHAM (1984), a distance-decay parameter was estimated for intra-urban trips travelled by pensioners to daycentres in Malmö, Sweden. In addition, location patterns of those daycentres and spatial autocorrelation between them were identified by the nearest neighbour measure and Moran's coefficient, respectively. Second, through solving a location-spatial interaction model, effects of spatial interaction on spatial structure were examined in three cases of distance-decay parameter. It was proven that the three cases of distance-decay parameter caused different location patterns. Combined with previous studies addressed to the spatial structure effects on spatial interaction, the interdependency between spatial interaction and spatial structure was explicated.

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This study identifies the location patterns and attributes of Japanese companies in the Chicago Metropolitan Area and explains their reasons for locating in Illinois and at their current sites. Japanese companies in the Chicago Metropolitan Area began to increase in the 1960 s. The distribution of Japanese companies demonstrates that there are two patterns of concentration: one is in the Central Business District represented by the banking industry, and the other in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, specifically near O'Hare International Airport, represented by the general machinery industry. Currently, suburbanization of Japanese companies with that of Japanese employees is continuing. The result of a questionnaire put to 114 Japanese companies reveals that Japanese companies in the Chicago Metropolitan Area chose the state of Illinois for its geographical centrality. On the local scale, accessibility to O'Hare International Airport plays a crucial role for Japanese companies when locating in the suburbs of Chicago, while accessibility to the City of Chicago is a critical reason when locating in the City of Chicago. Also, Japanese companies in the Chicago Metropolitan Area contribute to the local economy by increasing employment opportunities in the area.

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