North Island of New Zealand is a plate boundary zone controlled by oblique subduction of Pacific Plate beneath Australian Plate from Hikurangi Trough. Palmerston North area is the boundary between the uplifting northern Tararua Range of axial tectonic belt and depressioning Manawatu plain of eastern edge of Wanganui sedimentary basin. The depressional center of the basin is offshore from the mouth of Manawatu River. We have researched marine and fluvial terraces of the eastern Palmerston North area to clarify its geomorphic history and Quaternary tectonic movement.The results obtained can be summarized as follows:
1) Based on terrace topography, deposits, paleosoil, and tephra bed, terrace surfaces are subdivided into Tokomaru, Forest Hill, Milson, and Ashhurst surfacesin descending order following Fair (1968). Tokomaru terrace is the highest marine terrace in this area and correlated with MIS 5e transgressive stage. The age of this surface is 0.13 Ma.
2) Forest Hill, Milson, and Ashhurst terraces are fluvial in origin. According to our stratigraphic data and Palmer and Pillans (1996), Forest Hill terrace is correlated with Porewa stage dated around 70-80 ka, Milson terrace is correlated with Rota stage dated around 30-50 ka, and Ashhurst terrace is correlated with Ohakea III dated about 18 ka.
3) In Linton Quarry at the southern tip of study area, three marine deposits and Linton tephra bed are observed. Linton tephra at the basal part of the deposits of the Quarry should be correlated with Rangitawa tephra based on stratigraphic evidence and the main chemical components of volcanic glass analyzed using EDS-XMA. Linton tephra originated from Whakamaru ignimbrite in Taupo Volcanic Zone and its age is 0.35 Ma. Two marine beds overlain by Tokomaru bed are correlated with MIS 7 and 9 transgressive stages respectively, but they have no terrace surfaces. This area has been controlled by uplifting since elevation of Tokomaru terrace.
4) Altitudes of shoreline of Tokomaru terrace were measured using the Tremble GPS system toclarify deformation of shoreline at 0.13 Ma. Average uplift rates ranged from 0.8 mm to 1.1 mm per year. Shoreline of MIS 5e was tilted at 0. 003 gradient to the southwest direction. This is caused by cumulation of tilting to depocenter of Wanganui sedimentary basin.
5) Projection of terrace surfaces along Turitea River means that the higher terraces are, the steeper their gradients. In addition, Tokomaru terrace was crossed by younger Forest Hill terrace. This is caused by cumulation of basin building movement of the Wanganui basin. Assuming that Tokomaru surface had been flat, and Forest Hill and Ashhurst terraces had the same gradient as the present riverr bed, average rates of tilting to the northwest direction were accelerated after formation of Forest Hill terrace.

View full abstract

The UK does not have special laws governing new retail development like the Large-Scale Retail Store Locating Law in Japan, but promotes retail developments through the land-use planning system. In the 1980s, many out-of-centre retail developments took place in UK cities. But since the end of the 1980s, the government has severely restricted out-of-centre retail developments. Japanese researchers believe that the UK's planning policy has been successful in revitalizing central areas, although the number of retail outlets in the UK has decreased as in Japan. This paper aims to evaluate the retail planning policy in the UK by analyzing the city of Nottingham, England, as a representative example.
In England, retail development control is operated through development plans prepared by local planning authorities. The Nottingham City Council published the Nottingham Local Plan Review as a development plan in 2005. The Nottingham local plan must comply with the Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Joint-Structure Plan published by the Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council in 2006. In turn, this structure plan must comply with the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East Midlands (RSS8) and Planning Policy Statement 6 (PPS6) published by the government in 2005.
In England, the government's land-use planning aims to achieve sustainable development. Therefore, retail developments are concentrated in existing centres to sustain and enhance them.Out-of-centre retail developments are restricted to reduce reliance on private cars, encourage the use of public transport and walking and cycling, and ensure that everyone has access to a range of retail facilities. Local planning authorities balance the hierarchy of centres to ensure that they are not overly dominated by the largest ones. Local planning authorities ensure that the scale of development matches the role and function of each centre within the wider hierarchy.
The issues in retail planning policy in the UK are summarized as follows:
There is a slight inconsistency among RSS8, the structure plan, and the local plan in terms of establishing the hierarchy of centres. It may be important to resolve this slight inconsistency.
Nottingham city centre is very prosperous. However, there are some vacancies on the fringes of the city center. There are district and local centres where the number of vacancies has increased in the inner city. Although a superstore opened in a district centre in the inner city, this centre has many vacancies, especially on the fringes. Even though Nottingham has been successful in revitalizing its city center, it appears that revitalizing district centers or local centers in the inner areas is a difficult task.
In Nottingham, there are retail parks, free-standing retail warehouses, and superstores. Most of them are concentrated in the inner area. The Nottingham local plan severely restricts new out-of-centre retail developments that would seriously affect the vitality or viability of existing centres. However, there are already many stores selling comparison goods in retail parks in Nottingham. They would seriously affect the vitality of existing district and local centres rather than the city centre with many attractive entertainment facilities and restaurants.
In the Nottingham local plan, although out-of-centre retailers are important elements in the urban retail system, they are excluded from the proposals map because it may be difficult for people without cars to travel to out-of-centre retailers easily. Some of out-of-centres developments with easy, convenient access by public transport are important elements in the urban retail system. In the 1950s, Berry (1958) proposed an urban planning system that includes all types of shopping centres for US cities. It may be necessary to establish a more flexible land-use system for retail developments in the UK.

View full abstract

Japanese beekeepers migrate seasonally to find nectar-producing plants for honey production. This migration has two main purposes. First, the time lag of the flowering season in different locations lets beekeepers use a more diverse variety of nectar plants, and second, wintering and summering in warmer environments is vital in maintaining the activity of honeybees. However, within the past few decades, beekeepers have narrowed their sphere of migration and have developed new methods of generating income in addition to that from honey. These changes were closely related to a specific feature of the beekeeping industry, that is, the indirect use of natural resources. This study examines these current changes and their causes through statistical documents and interviews with 131 beekeepers.
Approximately 30% of the 131 beekeepers interviewed have shifted their main destination from Western Japan to the Tohoku region within the last few decades. The interviews further revealed that this regional shift was primarily because major herbaceous plants used for honey production in Western Japan almost disappeared during the high-growth period. The Tohoku region, on the other hand, provides new areas for producing honey because the growth of acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), an invasive species but a profitable nectar plant, has been expanding there. As a, result, traveling throughout Japan for honey production has been declining, and the areas used for beekeeping have been reduced to Eastern and Northern Japan. Further, the aging labor force and the lack of people from younger generations joining the industry are accelerating these trends.
As honey production has declined, beekeepers have adopted new ways of earning to diversify their income. In particular, renting honeybees for the pollination of agricultural crops has become an important source of income for beekeepers. Although this income is lower than that from honey, production, beekeepers can expect a steadier income from it. In relation to the patterns of migration for honey production, income from pollination has ambivalent effects. If a high demand for pollination exists in an area that is also a destination for honey production, beekeepers can supplement their earnings from honey production. On the other hand, if beekeepers can earn enough from pollination in a local area near their homes, they have no need to travel for honey production. Thus, the first factor has the effect of maintaining the seasonal migration of beekeepers, and the latter has the effect of restricting their migration.
The beekeepers have endeavored to adopt diverse types of income generation considering the cost of travel and labor and the distribution of nectar plants. The Japanese beekeeping industry has flexibly responded to a change in the environment by altering its travel destinations and by establishing new methods of generating income. However, substantial problems still exist within the beekeeping industry; examples are inefficient conservation of resources and passive attitudes toward the degradation of the environment.

View full abstract