The autumn rainy season called akisame is one of the two major rainy seasons in Japan. The aim of this study is to clarify the characteristics and causes of the akisame, paying attention to the seasonal transition and the year-to-year variations of the frontal frequency over East Asia during August to November. This study was carried out using the National Center for Environmental Prediction reanalyses data. The frontal frequency is defined as the percentage of the occurence in the surface weather map published by the Japan Meteorological Agency from 1979 to 2000.
In the seasonal march of the frontal frequency distribution, some abrupt changes are recognized. Concerning these changes, the akisame is divided into three periods: the early (Sept. 3-Sept. 12), the mid (Sept. 13-Oct. 7), and the late autumn rainy seasons (Oct. 8-Oct. 22). In each period of the rainy season, the areas with the largest amount of precipitation closely correspond to the high-frequency zones of fronts.
In the akisame, the seasonal marches of the circulation patterns at 850 hPa are characterized by the four pressure systems: the Pacific high, the Indian monsoon low, the high over China, and the low-latitude trough from the South China Sea to the Philippine Sea. Two mid-latitude troughs which exist near Japan (100-150°E) and near the mid-Pacific Ocean from the Bering Sea (160°E-160°W) are also important. The development of these pressure systems and mid-latitude troughs cause the differences in the frontal frequency distribution in the three periods of the akisame. These seasonal marches are also accompanied by seasonal changes in the mid-latitude westerly and the subtropical jet near the Tibetan Plateau at 500 hPa.
The year-to-year variations in the frontal frequency are closely connected with the development of the Pacific high and the low-latitude trough from the South China Sea to the Philippine Sea. These pressure systems seem to be related to typhoon activities. The place and time that the Pacific high, the low-latitude trough from the South China Sea to the Philippine Sea, and the mid-latitude trough expanded from the Bering Sea have a strong influence on the timing of the akisame. The subtropical jet near the Tibetan Plateau does not contribute so directly to the year-to-year variations in the frontal frequency.

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This paper analyzes the landscape of the Zuisen-ji temple street of Inami-machi in Toyama Prefecture, and considers roles of woodcarvers in forming a new landscape. The author adopts concept of“theater” which was suggested by Goffman.
In the 1910s, two-storied wooden stores lined the street. Roofs of equal height formed a straight skyline. Financial institutions made of stone were added, symbolizing modernization and the arrival of central functions. Inami's economic landscape conveyed a powerful image of vitality. However, the central place function of Inami deteriorated after the 1960s.
Inami developed rapidly as tourist area after the latter half of the 1980s. While commerce has declined, woodcarving artisans have begun to be accumulated in the street. Half of the woodcarving studios in the street use the old merchant-style buildings, allowing tourists to watch the work and see the sculptures from the outside. When woodcarvers rent premises for studios in the street, they select traditional merchant-style buildings intentionally. They combine traditional building and traditional industry, and develop a “traditional” image of the stubborn artisan who silently wields a mallet in an old merchant-style building.
According to Goffman's theory, tourism and manufacturing in two stages coexist in the street. The settings of the tourism stage include a row of old merchant-style buildings and woodcarving studios. The woodcarvers strengthened “tradition” of the landscape by fitting into the “traditional” stage settings. Local government and a street community preserved the old merchant-style buildings in good condition and decorated the street with stone pavement and woodcarving signboards. The historical background of the woodcarving industry differs from that of the old merchant-style buildings. However, tourists who do not know this regard the landscape as simply “traditional.” The stage shows tourists a performance of which the theme is “tradition.” In the beginning of tourism development, the woodcarvers participated as directors. However, the local government and the community then occupied the position of director and they bestowed the leading onstage role upon the woodcarvers. They utilize the woodcarvers as a tourism resource. The local government and the community have thus cleverly shifted the theme of the woodcarvers from “production” to “tradition.”
At the manufacturing stage, the woodcarvers behave as honest producers according to a production theme. They are managers of small businesses, and their dramaturgy is to obtain the trust of customers. From the position of the tourists who cannot understand the manufacturing stage, the woodcarvers' earnest and honest manner is the most attractive. Exposure to tourists leads the woodcarvers to new customer acquisition. The woodcarvers therefore utilize the direction of the local government and the community for their own profit.
The landscape of the street reflects the strategy of the woodcarvers, the local government, and the community. The dual structure of the two stages is hidden behind in the landscape of the street.

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Our aging society is one of the most serious problems confronting Japan today, especially in the mountainous Chugoku region where the population has steadily decreased. Iwami Town, Shimane Prefecture, the area targeted in this study, has communities where elderly people remain.
The purpose of this article is to clarify the mechanism of sustaining the life of the elderly in depopulated mountain villages. In this article, a “strategy concept” is introduced to develop analysis. The “strategy concept” establishes a framework for utilizing our own resources and for analyzing mechanisms to allow us to adapt to given limitations. The trend toward the elderly living in depopulated mountain villages is positioned as a “life strategy, ” and a life strategy to sustain life in a mountain village is regarded as the development of an “adaptive strategy.” The following is clarified in this article.
Sustaining the life of the elderly in mountain villages is explained by an understanding of the mechanism of forming social relationships between the elderly and others under changing environments due to aging. The conditions of possession of “resources” differ depending on the conditions of the parent-child relationship. For a number of elderly who live separately from their children in depopulated mountain villages, resources obtained from the children are the most stable and important.
However, the spatial relationship between elderly parents and their children affects the supply of resources obtained from children living separately. As the distance between them lengthens, it becomes more difficult. To supplement the resources that should be supplied from children living separately, elderly people feel the necessity of receiving resources from others. When functions and arrangements of resources obtained from people other (neighbors and friends) than distant children were examined, it was found that neighbors are the closest to the daily lives of the elderly and a critical life support is provided by them. In addition, when observing the spatial arrangement of others in relation to the individual attributes of the elderly, there is a tendency to take in others in the neighborhood as aging, and rearrangement of resources due to environmental changes from aging are formed.
In the examination of the “adaptive strategy” of individual conditions of the elderly, the importance of neighbor relations was confirmed. With the onset of the later stages of senility, the tendency for the elderly to make an approach to obtain resources by themselves weakens, and others provide resources to the elderly. In particular, neighbors take the initiative in supplying resources as part of the neighbor character and offer resources while also involving people other than their neighbors. This shows that the involvement of livelihood assistance within rural communities is effectively functioning as life supports of the elderly in mountain villages. On the other hand, the adaptive strategy of the elderly has limitations in development with aging. Elderly people have developed an adaptive strategy by receiving resources voluntarily during the early stages of old age.
However, as they reach the later stages of old age, the power to receive resources weakens and they become strongly dependent upon the obtainment process through others.
Sustaining the life of the elderly in depopulated mountain villages is possible, while the network of the elderly and others has flexibly evolved with aging.

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