This paper aims to investigate the effect of local SNSs on their communities. A lot of local SNSs have been set up in Japan since middle 2000s. However, many of them have been said that they fell short of expectations to revitalize local community. In fact, the number of local SNSs has been decreas- ing recently. Prior studies investigate effects of local SNSs. However, most of them depend on qualita- tive case studies but not rigorous quantitative empirical study. Therefore, the author intends to clarify the effect of local SNSs on their local communities based on quantitative date. Moreover, the study compares the effects of three SNSs in different area.

 The first result shows that the effects of Local SNSs are different in each area and each category. The second result suggests that the number of friends in SNSs is important factor to predict SNSs user’s participation in their community.

 In Japan, the designated administrator system began to support local cultural faculties in 2003. Today cultural policy is made not only by government but also NPOs by or artists themselves. This paper discusses the role of NPO in managing or planning of cultural resource in local areas and the partnerships between local governments and NPOs by examining a case study. In prior research, local cultural policy has been analyzed from the viewpoint of citizen autonomy using cultural administration theory and sustainability with cultural economics. Especially in latter studies, they discuss resource al- location, redistributive efficiency, and emphasize on externality in studying cultural policy at local level. Additionally, it is increasingly important to discuss partnerships between local governments and NPOs and also how they undertake, implement and evaluate cultural projects. However, these relationships and there condition between local governments and NPOs except for those under the designated ad- ministrator system, have not been studied enough.

 To improve the scholarship in this regard, this paper presents a case study about the role of two NPOs consisting of performing artists in Kyoto, “Kyoto Performing Art Organization” and “NPO GEKI- KEN.” In this case, these NPOs collaborate with the city government in the field of performing art pol- icy, but they have their own goals and independent systems of making policy and undertaking projects apart from local administration. This paper especially focuses on the cultural projects undertaken by “NPO GEKIKEN” and describes the role of those NPOs in local context and the condition under which their partnership works. Finally, this paper concludes that the partnership between Kyoto and those two NPOs was accomplished because the NPOs recognized the differences of their goals and assigned task to achieve their specific goals. Additionally face-to-face network was instrumental for the task sharing. This result indicated that NPOs can be leading figures of local cultural policy, and the conclu- sion gives suggestions on further ways to establish partnerships in local cultural policy.

 The aim of this paper is to clarify characteristics of music prosumers through quantitative analyses mainly focusing on their purposes and digitized tools of production. The term “prosumer” coined by Toffler (1980) means consumer who produces something. Consumers’ productions in content industries have been suggested in previous studies. However, it has not quantitatively revealed what has led consumers’ creations. This paper contributes to suggesting a correlational relationship between digi- tized tools and productions and to understanding intrinsic motivations of the prosumer, which have not clarified in previous studies.

 This research reconsiders on a prosumer construct and its scale items based on Katsumata and Ichikoji (2010), Ikuine, Katsumata and Ichikoji et al. (2011), and collects both quantitative and qualitative data from a questionnaire survey. First, using Mann-Whitney’s U test, differences between prosumers and non-prosumers are examined to reveal some characteristics of the prosumers. Second, a free de- scriptive answer text is analyzed to reveal what are the purposes of creative activities. Third, a cor- relation analysis is conducted to examine the correlational relationship between each instrument and each production activity.

 Consequently, it is indicated that the purposes of consumers’ productions are mostly for self-con- tented and/or self-satisfying through analyzing answer data of the open-ended question in this research. For the music prosumers, creations are neither for sharing with the others nor for progressing in their skills and/or quality of the works. Distinguished from the non-prosumers, people who make creations prefer to others’ works released from not only major labels but also independent labels, individuals, and amateurs. Also, the prosumer has forwardness in listening, watching, and viewing other people’s works and learning from them. The prosumer seems to seek the contents of his/her own motion without much influence from mass-media appeals. This paper also clarifies the usage of digitized instruments has correlation with production activities such as arrangement of content, publishing the works, and making profits from them.

 Based on this research, it is thought that “production itself” and “acquisition of knowledge or skills” can be an object for consumption and/or be an experience good. Thus, business models should be designed based on those facts indicated in this paper. As further issues, it might be necessary to reconsider a construct of production, because technological developments have realized easy production without recognition of producing. Also, it is required to develop the scale items and to conduct more precise researches regarding the prosumer.

 This study will explore new combinations of arts, including intellectual property, as they pertain to inspiration creation, and will consider the integration of production and management.

 Over thirty years have passed since the concept of arts management was introduced from the West. But there is still doubt as to whether a uniquely Japanese style of arts management has been es- tablished. In Japan, a concept of arts production is needed. Unless the handiwork of individual producers is integrated with realistic cultural policies, support and creation, surely Japan’s ability to communicate will wither?

 Arts and business share an intimate relationship, and their integration is important. In this study, rather than business profit as the starting point of production, the focus is on arts (impression - value) as the starting point. They start from the creation of impression and value, create objects and draw closer to the development of products. Producers lead dreams and visions towards realistic forms, and give rise to innovation.

 One way of enabling arts production, would be to interview artists and creators and explore the possibility that producers and managers have inherent mindsets, and verify the origin of inspiration creation in relation to the making of objects.

 The “Thousand Tones” project that kicked off in March, 2012, is growing and developing in a va- riety of ways. The pine wood and beams that supported people’s lives in the past, are now producing sound, and reaching people’s hearts profoundly. This is surely an event that should be continued.

 We need not only to research, debate, conceptualize and identify challenges, but to resolve prob- lems by putting ideas into practice. Thinking about arts production may be considered beneficial in the resolution of the challenges of inspiration creation.

 This paper aims to clarify 1) the process of life recovery and the current conditions of the victims of the Great Sichuan Earthquake, who were collectively relocated, and 2) the elements to affect the recovery process of life system. The authors focus on the Beichuan County of the Sichuan Province as the stricken area. This paper primarily describes the results of the collection, analysis and discussion of primary data obtained from interviews of victims. Specifically, an interview survey was conducted from February to March, 2012, of ten subjects who were victims and lived in the disaster recovery housing in the new country area of Beichuan (prerequisites: the subjects were subjected to enormous personal and material loss due to the Great Sichuan Earthquake, are in their 30s to 50s, and are responsible for the livelihood of their households).

 From the results of analyzing the transcripts of the interviews, the following model of life recovery was extracted. The following three elements regulate satisfaction of current situation and view of the future (which constitute life recovery): 1) internalization of the experience of suffering (composed of the subordinate concepts of relationship between village and self, attachment to and release from previous life system, recognition of self-change, and re-recognition of life values); 2) evaluation of society and nature (composed of the subordinate concepts of expectations of government policies, relative depriva- tion, role expectations, and disaster prevention); and 3) reacquisition/redistribution of living resources (made of the subordinate concepts of home, work and rewarding challenges, income and expenditures, physical and mental health, and social support”. Satisfaction of current situation and view of the future” in turn is composed of self-reconstruction, relationship with others and nature, and adaptation to the stricken environment.

 In this paper, we focus on knowledge management for critical situation of Fukushima Atomic Ac- cident. For the purpose, we try to clarify the importance of boundary condition management against critical situation. In this accident, the word "Unanticipated" is used so frequently for the excuse. On the other hand, they said that the nuclear reactor is free from danger under the assumed boundary condition.

 Risk management should start from requiring a boundary condition of an "anticipated situation". An evaluation of "anticipated situation" is also required. Many dialogues for Fulushima accident among specialists remain opaque about a boundary condition for "anticipated situation", that are indispensable for inducing a logical result.

 In this paper, we try to clarify the failure of sharing "anticipated situation" among stakeholders. We also focus on establishing a boundary conditions for "anticipated situation" that becomes presupposed grounds for risk estimation. Thus, we introduce the view points of knowledge management and distin- guish two independent issues about Fukushima accident as follows.

 The first one is the evaluation of social risk under the boundary condition about the situation of meltdown. The second one is to estimate "anticipated situation" that causes the situation of meltdown. In addition, we try to clarify the problem of knowledge management where the social risk management under the meltdown is not executed at all. It is also clarified that the second issue is not treated as pure scientific and engineering matter but treated as a matter of cost management. It is a typical organiza- tional failure under the contamination by the viewpoint by cost.

 We investigate these new aspects of the social and organizational crisis management from knowl- edge management point of view.

 For the input-output analyses using non-square matrix, we propose the method of repeated calcu- lation including the processing of wastes and by-products. Row values which have no counterparts of that of columns are divided proportionally. The proportion is decided beforehand.

 We show that errors occur in the estimation of the products which relates to the wastes and the by-products, when the wastes and by-products are added with the major products to make the square input-output matrix.

 With the proposed method, the industry of the columns of the input-output analyses can be agents.

 We show that the agent-based input-output analyses are possible, using the case of the electric power generation and the paddy rice tillage.

 The Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake and its tsunami wave disabled the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)’s nuclear power plants on March 11 in 2011, causing one of the worst crises in human history. Besides, the Fukushima power plants made more than 100,000 residents nuclear refugees. But, from then till now, the refugees have not been yet fully compensated by the TEPCO although it has marked up electricity prices or power rates more than several times just like as the TEPCO wants to keep its officers’ earnings at still high levels.

 It is well known as the Ramsey-Boiteux’s price formation for any natural monopoly (decreasing average cost) that this kind of price markup, say β_i, should be proportional (∝) to the reciprocal of the price elasticity of demand : Namely, the less elastic demand; the higher the price markup like the above daily necessity. It may be worth noting here that their pricing reciprocal elasticity rule like consists of maximizing the total surplus made from the difference of demand and supply functions under the condition of non-negative profit or zero profit.

 Instead of the maximization problem for the pricing rule such as , however, we would like to employ another one for an optimal price formation to the fully distributed cost method under the condition of positive profit, by maximizing the total surplus made from the difference between demand and average cost functions. In addition, we would like to show here not only a few of new rules for marginal sacrifice corresponding to our total surplus but also a closed-form solution, both of which no one has yet provided in the literature.

 When conducting empirical analyses of the structures of industrial technology, macro statistics in Japan typically uses the input-output structure of the Input-Output Tables. On the other hand, if it is possible to measure transaction-based corporate activities, the expectation is that it will be possible to understand intermediate input structures by item produced on a month-by-month basis (Sakaki, 2011). Then, by means of transaction-based measurements, it will be possible to bring about a qualitative conversion from static statistics that indicate no more than the input structure or the conditions at a specific point in time, to measuring dynamic statistics that reveal changes in the technology structure. In this paper, we investigate and develop some indices that measures the movement of the industrial structures based on the Input-Output Tables. This paper defines and estimates the indices such as subcontract dependences and demand to wide divisions. On the other hand we have hitherto devel- oped the technology for crowd-sourcing and managing the transaction data of individuals, firms and governments by exchange algebra and Algebraic Accounting Description Language (AADL). We found that it is difficult to identify the movement of estimates over time between structural factors such as industrial technologies and temporary demand-supply factors based on macro statistics data and that transaction-based measurement can solve this problem.

 The purpose of this study is to examine the “legitimacy factors” expressed by corporations in their process of achieving social innovation initiatives in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

 As a case study of social innovation by a corporation, this study examined the “Ten Yen for Every Parcel We Deliver” initiative program initiated by the Yamato Group and analyzed qualitatively the process through which the program was conducted. In particular, the study focused on how the idea arose, how the final model was established, and what kind of legitimacy was expressed to acquire the necessary resources and empathy. As a result of the examination, three factors were detected that affected the legitimacy of the “Ten Yen for Every Parcel We Deliver” initiative program: “corporate culture,” “a sense of crisis in society caused by the earthquake” and “the Yamato Group’s awareness of CSR activities before the earthquake.” Furthermore, the study discloses the fact that these three factors of legitimacy were not already in place at the time the idea arose, but were created flexibly after the event as the situation demanded, obtaining consent and support from the stakeholders of the Yamato Group.

 This paper aims to clarify the following questions based on data obtained from paper questionnaire surveys: 1) How has perception of risk changed as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake? 2) What kinds of relationship are there between trust in agencies involved with risk management and risk perception? This study compares results from Japan, China, and the U.S.

 When discussing risk perception and risk communication, trust is considered a critical concept. In this research study, trust in risk management agencies by people is considered on the basis of the following three elements: trust in risk information presented by management agencies, trust in the agencies’ ability to deal with risk, and the posture of the agencies toward risk management. The author seeks to understand trust involved in both natural disasters (earthquakes) and man-made disasters (nuclear incidents).

 The primary results are as follows. After the earthquake, the possibility that an earthquake would occur and its unknowability were perceived to be significantly high. With regards to atomic power plants, the possibility that an incident would occur, the severity of the consequences, the incident’s unknowability, and its uncontrollability were perceived to be significantly high. Also, with regards to data after the earthquake, significant relationships could be seen between risk perception and trust, especially trust in information presented by the national government on nuclear incidents, trust in its management ability, and trust in its posture.