The purpose of this paper is to examine the provision of home help services for elderly people, who require domestic help and/or personal care under the “Long-term Care Insurance” scheme in Japan, which has been in force since April 2000. Recently in Japan, both the number and ratio of elderly people have increased. This aging caused the government to reform the system of social service provision for the elderly throughout the 1990s. The Long-term Care Insurance scheme was the consequence of a law enacted in 1997. Under this system, home help service ranks as a major service, in which the government permits various sectors to participate as providers. Consequently, many private or nonprofit organizations have entered this market that had originally been dominated chiefly by the public sector, municipalities, or their fringe organizations (the Council of Social Welfare in each municipality) before deregulation with respect to the qualifications of the provider. The purpose of deregulation was to promote choice so that users can choose any of the various service providers.
In the study area, Anamizu Town, there are three home help service providers: the Council of Social Welfare (X), the Social Welfare Juridical Person (Y), and the Agriculture Cooperation (Z). Provider X provides no other service function except for home help, but it is in contact with the town office. Provider Y operates a nursing home and some related services, in addition to home help. Provider Z only functions as a home help provider, but does not have links to other related organizations. Regarding the characteristics of users, Z contrasts strongly with X and Y. Most of those who use Z tend to live alone or with their elderly partners, and utilize the domestic help service (cleaning, washing, cooking, etc.) . On the other hand, many users of X and Y live with younger family members and choose personal care that supports activities related to body functions (eating, dressing, toileting, etc.).
Since the beginning of the Long-term Care Insurance scheme in April 2000, X has been the largest provider, Y second, and Z the smallest in terms of service results. This has historical reasons, because many users had utilized the services of X or Y before April 2000. Since mid-2001, however, Z has increased its share and overtaken the other two providers, This change derives from the level of the service price that is compulsorily determined by the government. Generally, home help service profitability is not high because of the low official price. Consequently, X and Y are not eager to expand their home help services, because X can depend on the municipality office for financial and organizational functions, and Y has a nursing home and other service functions that are more profitable than home help. In contrast, Z cannot afford to reduce its level of service provision, because home help is the only way to survive as a provider under the Long-term Care Insurance scheme. From the analysis, a clear distinction is found between the comprehensive providers (X and Y) and the independent provider (Z) with respect to the characteristics of home help providers.

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The aging of population is defined as the rise of the percentage of elderly people in an area. An aging population brings various problems to a neighborhood through its distortion of the age structure of the local population. First, an aging population hinders the regeneration of the population of the area. Second, the systems of facilities and services for daily life are disrupted by the decrease in the number of residents and by changes in land use. Third, many residents become unable to continue living in the area because of the disruption in social systems.
This paper focuses upon the influence of housing renewal on the aging of the population in the inner areas of Tokyo. The analysis of statistical materials and an interview survey concerning the living conditions of residents were conducted. The results can be summarized as follows:
The combination of the narrow areas of residential sites and land-use regulation causes certain difficulties in the housing renewal which would enable three generations of a family to live together. When a house is rebuilt, the area of the legal site must be reduced because of serious site regulations such as restricted areas, the absence of an adjacent street, and the confused relationships of landholding. Therefore residents of the younger generation are unable to rebuild their houses and leave the neighborhood. The resulting outflow of younger residents causes an increase in the number of households consisting of the elderly only and accelerates the aging of the neighborhood population. If such a trend of inner areas continues, the lack of a young generation of residents and the abandonment of residential sites will lead to the emergence of undesirable land use in the inner areas in the near future.

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The Kitakami River lowlands are located along the lower reaches of the Kitakami River and fan Sendai Bay, northeastern Japan. This study discusses the periods of the formation of beach ridge ranges on the lowlands, using the analysis of borehole records, radiocarbon dating, grain size analysis, and interpretation of archeological data. The late Holocene sea-level change around Senda Bay is discussed based on the periods of the formation of beach ridge ranges and buried shallow valleys and the examination of the previous radiocarbon data showing the past sea level in the alluvial lowlands facing Sendai Bay.
Beach ridge ranges on the coastal part of these lowlands are divided into five groups. The bead ridge ranges, in order from. the most inland, were formed in the periods of the early Jomon period (6, 000 to 4, 600 yr B. P.), the middle Jomon period (4, 600 to 4, 000 yr B. P.), the late Jomon period (4, 000 to 3, 000 yr B. P.), the later Jomon period to the Yayoi period (3, 000 to 1, 600 yr B. P.), am before 1, 000 yr B. P. to the present, respectively.
The late Holocene sea-level fluctuations consist of five peaks and four troughs recognized from the study of the beach ridge ranges. Two peaks in 3, 500 yr B. P. and 2, 200 yr B. P. were clarified by the previous radiocarbon data, and two troughs, estimated from the study of buried shallow valleys, in 2, 500 yr B. P. and 1, 600 yr B. P. The range of fluctuations was considered to be within three meters above/below the present sea leve.

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