The northern district of Okinawa's Main Island is a main forest area in Okinawa Prefecture. The man-made forest mainly composed of Ryukyu-matsu(Pinus luchuensis) will soon reach the final cutting stage, but the trees will not always show sufficient growth. Because of susceptibility to termites, the lumber frorm Ryukyu-matsu is not used for construction which accounts for the majority of the lumber demand in Okinawa Prefecture. Generally, in Okinawa Prefecture, forest resources are not mature, and are still recovering from the heavy cutting and damage during the past war. The main species used for reforestation has changed from Ryukyu-matsu to broad leaved trees since Okinawa was returned to Japan following U.S. administration. Recently, the Okinawa Prefectural Government promoted the development of two-storied forests. Since there is no history of this new working arrangement in Okinawa Prefecture, private forest-owners are not enthusiastic. Generally, the private forest-sector has not developed in Okinawa Prefecture. In addition, since the national forest in this district is under U.S. Military control, public forests must play an important role in local wood-based economies. However, the municipalities are not supportive of the forestry activities. In the northern district of Okinawa's Main Island, Kunigami-Village Forest Cooperative is the chief support for timber production and forest-products industries.This cooperative has received various kinds of su bsidies and owns a chip-factory,a mill and so on. In April 1992, a laminated-wood-factory was started. The chip-factory is unique in Okinawa Prefecture. The logs used for chip production are obstacle trees removed during various kinds of developmental works, i.e., construction of agricultural land, golf courses, dams and so on. Tourism and public works are the most important economic sectors in Okinawa Prefecture. Recently, as developmental works have decreased, the chip-factory depends on cutting trees in the public forest. The main forest-products from the mill of the Kunigarmi-Village Forest Cooperative are the sheet pile made from Ryukyu-matsu and support-logs made from broad leaved trees. As to the former, the degree of processing is too low and the forests which produce Ryukyu-matsu are mainly private sector and poorly managed. As to the latter, the demand is certain due to Okinawa's Production Preferential Usage Policy, but it is an unprofitable business. The average diameter of the cut trees has decreased continuously, and the supply of logs from broad leaved trees is increasingly difficult. Under these conditions, a laminated-wood-factory was started, but there are many problems, such as supply, technical improvement and marketing. A common difficulty in this cooperative enterprise is the difficulty in obtaining logs for processing. To develop the wood-based industries in this district, it is necessary that the national, public and private forests cooperate in supplying logs for the local forest-products industries. Since islands have limited land, the stability of log-supply is the key problem in continuous utilization of logs from the island. Therefore, forest planning is essential. However, under the Forest Law, the Local Forest Plan is applied uniformly all over Japan. It is necessary to create a new forest plan which considering that this prefecture consists of many islands and that forestry in this area has many unique characteristics compared to those of the Japanese Mainland.

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Since the period of high economic growth, the economic linkages between cities have significantly been strengthened by the nationwide covering of branch offices of many large Japanese enterprises. They led to the intensification of hierarchical structure in urban systems, as M. Hino (1979, 1983) pointed out. If so, are there no economic linkages of other types, as postulated by A. Pred (1977)? Considering the locational pattern of supermarkets and department stores, it seems that there exists the economic linkages of other types. By analyzing the changes in Iocational pattern of large scale stores this paper aims to clarify the existence of such linkages differing from hierarchical structure of the general types. As a result of investigations the following findings were obtained :In the 19O0's departrnent stores have already begun to operate in larger cities but the locational pattern of large scale stores has greatly changed by the entry of supermarkets into retail trade in the 196O's. In the early l97O's the turnover of supermarkets already exceeded that of department stores. Not only the size of supermarket companies but also the locational pattern of their stores varies greatly. In serious competition with other supermarket chains, the networks of chain stores are established with various extent, from covering almost whole country (type A) to only a part of a prefecture (type E). It is also recognized that the headquarters of supermarket companies are not neccessarily established in the largest city of the store networks. In addition, the chains of stores do not always correspond to the economic territory (tributary area) of a city or a regional urban system. Rather, supermarket companies are more concerned with stocking goods in large quantities in order to smoothly distribute goods to its branch stores, and to organize each store in good condition by the headquarter or operating center. Because the demand of consumers living around a store is not so great, it cannot be filled up by a single larger store but need to form chains of stores. The locational pattern of supermarket establishment is not consistent with the urban hierarchy as well ; stores are not always set in larger cities earlier than small and medium-sized cities. There are supermarket companies which prefer to set their stores in suburban areas or rural areas. Usually, supermarkets are established first one after another around their own headquarter, so that the store network becomes intensive. Moreover, supermarket companies exhibit a tendency of expanding chains of stores after increasing density of their stores in their indigenous regions. It seems that supermarket companies try to lay the foundation of their operation firmly in their indigenous regions, while they expand the store network into neighboring regions in order to enlarge their profit. As compared with supermarkets, department stores are located in cities larger than a threshold size. Though most of them have a single store or a few stores, only a few companies locating their headquarters in metropolitan areas have more than 10 stores, distributing in provincial cities of the whole country ; they expand not only the chain of their own stores but also supply the goods to other companies in non-metropolitan areas. Since a department store usually neccessitates selling facilities of bigger size and more patrons than a supermarket, it tends to be located in larger cities. The locational development of detcartment stores is affected by the competition to indigenous stores or supermarket stores in non-metropolitan areas. Thus, it is not completely consistent with the principle of hierarchical effect in diffusion. Through such an examination we can confirm the existence of the economic linkane of non-hierarchical structure in Japanese urban systems. Many multilocational enterprises of the general type such as large campanies of

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This paper investigates the patterns of freight flows carried by railway containers and regular road hauliers in Japan in 1980, by using data of 1980 Interregional Freight Flows Statistics published by the Ministry of Transportation. These two selected transport modes are considered as major components of physical distribution system and develop their wider networks over the whole country, excepting for small islands. The author has attached importance to the analysis of physical distribution system and the properties of transportation modes in geographical studies. However, recently only a few geographers have evidenced similar interest in studies of physical distribution system or freight flows. Currently the transportation and physical distribution is mentioned only in reference to decision-making behaviour concerning location-determining factors. In the industrial restructuring process after the petroleum crisis of 1973 and 1979, the activities of foot-loose industries have grown steadily. The changed circumstances raise questions about whether these studies of freight flows, or physical distribution, are properly addressed within the sphere of transportation geography or in the economic geography of circulation, thus darkening the possibility of the future development of fturther studies on these topics. The purpose of geographical studies of freight flow is to elucidate the structure of spatial relation between origins and destinations using various means of multi-variate analysis. Its central concern is the structure of interregional freight flows of miscellaneous kinds of freights. Further concern has been shown by some geographers about the intensity of spatial interaction, the hierarchy of nodes and the distance decay indicated in flows. While the study of physical distribution is to describe the circulation system of one good from location of production to consumers via intermediate channels. This study is to confirm especially the realms and spheres of dispatchment of goods from each depot or factory, the choice of transportation modes and the location of depots. However, this method of study often remains introductory description of the physical distribution systems, and does not fully elucidate regional patterns or spatial structures in physical distribution. Taking these matters into consideration, the following statistical analysis have been applied to the Ministry of Transportation data : simple percentage pertotal transportation volume, the largest flows from each origin, and R-mode factor analysis of interprefectural flows. As a result, the following regional patterns and structures of freight flows have been determined. 1. Percentages per total transportation volume ; In both modes the shipments and arrivals has been concentrated in Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, Fukuoka and Hokkaido. The shipments and arrivals by the regular road hauliers has been more widely dispersed than that of railway container system.2. The largest flow from each region ; Transpotation by railway container system has been more widely dispersed than regular road haulier. The cargo carried by railway container has been concentrated in Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido and Fukuoka. While in regular road hauliers, the cargo has been concentrated at Osaka in West Japan, and at Tokyo in East Japan. Its flow is a dual structure. 3. Cargo flow patterns confirmed by factor analysis ; Illeris and Pederson (1968) found that in each factor of R-mode factor analysis, high absolute value of loadings indicates major destinations and high absolute value of scores indicates dominant origins. The R-mode factor analysis with Orthogonal-Varimax rotation is. applied to the 46 X 46 origin-destination matrices of interprefectural flows by railway containers or regular road hauliers in 1980. These data are assymetrical materices including diagonal elements. From the matrix of railway cotainers, the six factors are extracted,

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Since the l970's, agriculture in Japan has suffered from several structural problems, such as an increase in the aged population engaged in farming and a lack of labour, besides the liberalization of trade in agricultural products. Under these unfavorable conditions it has been hard for farming households to earn as high an income as other industrial sectors. Therefore the younger generation deserted their villages and many farmers have sought other sources of income from alternative sectors, resulting in the economic weakness of Japanese agriculture. Such a tendency is especially noticeable in remote and mountainous regions. Howerver, in many villages farmers have been struggling to overcome such conditions through cultivating certain high-value products. This paper describes ume (Japanese plum) farming in Minabegawa-mura, Wakayama Prefecture, as an example of such farming, in order to evaluate the possibility of survival for Japanese agriculture in isolated or mountainous areas. The Minabegawa-mura village is situated in such a mountainous region, far from the communting zone of the Osaka Metropolitan Area. In this village many households have conducted aggressive farming and majority of the households are either sen-gyo-noka (=full-time farmers) or daiisshu-kengyo-noka (=mainly farming part-time farmers). They are engaged in ume farming and have enjoyed high and stable incomes since the l98O's. This village is roughly divided into a traditional ume farming area and a new area converted from citrus cultivation. The author investigated how ume farming in this village emerged and has become prosperous. There had been many ume processing factories around the Minabegawa village since the pre-war time. Following the increasing demand for umeboshi (ume pickles), ume production has increased remarkably during the early l98O's. Ume farming consists of a short busy season for harvesting, which lasts about one month, and a long non-busy season. Every household has to distribute its family members to some other agricultural sector or non-agricultural occupations during the non-busy season. This sample study uncovers the importance of additional incomes for the farmers during the non-busy season, in order to sustain their life in the village. Interviews were held in two sample settlements to clarify how each farming household maintained a high income. One of the settlements was selected from the above-mentioned traditional ume growing area, and the other from the new area. The former area is located in the plains, and the latter in the mountains. The quality of ume produced in the traditional area is much better than that in the new area. In the former, during the period when ume farmers are not busy, they generally cultivate vegetables and flowers in their fields, while those in the latter area work for the non-agricultural sectors in the village in order to maintain their families. As a key crop the high price of ume has been maintained by increasing demand from the processing factories in the village. The efforts of the Agricultural Cooperative Association improved the quality of ume to make it the well-known product of this village, and as a result, the price of ume here has been boosted twice in these few years. The accumulation of umeboshi factories in the village was one of the major factors in the development of ume farming. This accumlation enabled the farmers to sell their crop at a high price as well as to get part-time jobs. A boom in umeboshi as a healthy food in the 1980's expanded the domestic market and increased the import of half-processed ume from Asian countries, especially from Taiwan. Ume produced in this village was used mainly for the high-quality ume-boshi, while the imports were used for the low-priced. The final processes, such as seasoniutg, sorting and packing in umeboshi production were formerly done in factories near consuming areas.

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