The Japanese automobile industry has developed remarkably by its high production technique and flexible production system. The production system is characterized by the hierarchical ranging from car producers to many parts-and-components suppliers. Japanese suppliers, especially first-tier suppliers, tend to locate their plants near the assembly plants for optimal operation of just-in-time (JIT) system. In Japan, Nissan and Mazda have been shifting their production to new assembly plants built in the peripheral region, Kyushu and Yamaguchi District. This restructuring has caused complexes of their suppliers transplants in this area. This paper focuses on Japanese first-tier suppliers in the newly rising automobile production region and an analysis of their locational patterns, manufacturing processes and deliveries to customers under JIT system. The results of this paper are summarized as follows; l. Nissan's transplant in Kanda-machi, Fukuoka Prefecture brought its 32component factories around the new Nissan's plant. The opening of component plants near the new assembly factory is more advantageous in maintaining JIT deliveries of components, rather than frequent delivery of components from a distance. Their plants are concentrated within about one hour driving time from Nissan's factory but dispersed at local scale so as to minimize labor market overlaps. 2. Mazda's construction of new assembly plant brought the concentration of branch plants of their first-tier suppliers in Hofu-city, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Because of relatively higher transportation cost of items, the first-tier suppliers which produce relatively bulky items like seats, glasses and bumpers, are eager to opt for location near customer rather than small parts suppliers. 3. Japanese first-tier suppliers often have business transactions between plural car producers. In this new automobile production region, some Nissan's components factories supply their products to Mazda and Honda as well as Nissan. 4. Japanese first-tier suppliers deliver their products to the customer under the JIT delivery system. Bulky components are required to be delivered more often, in order to minimize inventories at the assembly plant. 5. First-tier suppliers often use smaller subcontractors. But there is a few local firms which have production technique for the automobile industry in this region. As a result, these transplants keep business transactions with subcontractors which are located in the traditional automobile production area. 6. Shortages of labour force in the Japanese automobile industry have become an acute and serious problem. Japanese automobile production is going to shift from traditional core production to peripheral regions, because it is easier to acquire extensive and low-cost plant sites and adequate labour forces in those regions. Such a tendency will be more notable in the future.

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Since the second half of the 19th century the housing problem of working class has been brought into focus of the social policies in Germany as rapid industrialization and urbanization progressed. This led to the appearance of nonprofit building activities in order to supply affordable dwellings for the IOXV income families as an alternative housing allocation process to private housing market. These activities were undertaken by various types of organizations : municipal government, industrial or mining companies, housing co-operatives (Baugenossenschaft) and nonprofit building societies (gemeinutzige Baugesellschaft). We can regard these activities before World War I as important works because there were no national housing acts till 1918. The purpose of this paper is to assess the significance of these nonprofit housing strategies in those days, especially between 1880-1910, from the case study of industrial city Essen, Ruhr Area. In such a case we should pay attention to consider them with relation to city planning, spatial differentiation of the internal urban structure, that is to say, in their spatial context. The main results of this study are as follows : l) The first step of nonprofit building activities in this area began in186O's. Almost all the dwellings built until l890's were company houses supplied by Krupp and other major industrial or mining companies to secure skilled workers. Till 1910 more than 9,500 housing units were built by them. 2) On the other hand, the activities of housing co-operatives and nonprofit building societies entered this field in 189O's and participated actively since the early years of the 20th century. They have built a little amount of housing units, but supplied them mainly to lower middle class and skilled workers at lower rents compared to those in private market which were subsidized by municipal government, Krupp and financial institutions. 3) The direct municipal housing policy-council housing provision was restricted to build for municipal government employees and to relieve the poor in the municipality. In contrast, indirect municipal housing policies, consisted of financial support and housing-lot supply to nonprofit housing activities, were also put into practice closely connected with land policy and city extension planning. Therefore these policies have contributed not only to the improvement of housing conditions but also to the realization of desirable neighborhood especially in the southern suburb in future. Nevertheless they were focused mainly on the promotion for the middle class housing, so there was a limit to the improvement for working class housing condition.

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This paper shall provide a study of the competition which developed between producing areas for the Tokyo market which was the largest refined sake market in recent years, and how such competition resulted in the formulation of links between the producing areas and the market and how the character of these links served to regulate the producing areas, by studying practical examples presented by the sake manufacturing industry in Aizu Wakamatsu of Fukushima prefecture. By the end of the Meiji Era, this resulted in improvement of the grades of sake produced and the acquisition of regional markets, etc. which established a firm foundation making it possible for the sake manufacturing industry of that region to be sustained and also provided a basis for quantity shipments to the Tokyo market to become a reality. Entry into the Tokyo market however was achieved through connections established with the traditionally old wholesalers of sake. It become clear that such relationships were further cemented by the medium provided by known traditional brands distributed by the independently producing sake manufacturers. However market entry in this from eventually served to retrard the market expansion of the Aizu sake manufacturing industry, in the early years of Showa. The decline of market dominance by the traditional sake distributors was triggered at the time of the Kanto Earthquake and served to retrard any market expansion by the Aizu Wakamatsu sake manufacturing industry which relied upon the sale of traditional brands through the traditional sake distributors. This serves to indicate that the type of connection with markets and the form of distribution selected by independent sake manufacturers must be studied in the process of formulating modern sake producing areas which are now governed by market factors.

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