Recently, because there has been increasing of people who get disturbed sleep and have heatstroke, urban heat island phenomenon has become a serious topic of public concern. At the same time, it sometimes brings about disaster that is caused by localized torrential downpour into urban area that is covered with asphalt or concrete. This paper aims to clarify the cooling potential of urban green spaces during the night in summer. Specifically, we showed that green spaces and anthropogenic heat emission affect the temperature in urban downtown areas clearly. We obtained them by calculating the multiple regression analysis applying various types of data that were collected from 27 observation points of Tokyo's Minato-Ku. As a result, we found out that the cooling potential by green spaces of 150 square meters would offset the increasing of temperature by the anthropogenic heat released from 87 offices of the average size in Minato-Ku, having a total floor area of about 259,900 square meters. Finally, we compared result data of this research with daytime data of which we got one year ago. Based on this background, we obtained that green spaces in urban downtown areas have the function of natural air-conditioner working through day and night.

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This paper covers the historical background to the process leading to Lake Biwa being designated as the first Quasi-National Park area in Japan in 1950, not as a National Park area, and the relationship with the reclamation work that was carried out on lagoons around Lake Biwa from 1942 to 1971. Lake Biwa is the biggest lake in Japan and it formerly had more than 40 lagoons on which thousands of migratory waterfowl rested and where reed wetlands and small islands with pine and evergreen trees could be seen. At present only one-seventh of the original area of these lagoons remains. Poets, travelers and court nobles from the Kyoto capital have written about the beauty of this lake scenery in Tanka poems since the seventh century. In 1943 the government of Japan decided to designate Lake Biwa as a National Park, but changed its policy in 1949, on revising the National Parks Law. At that time some provisions, including the provision concerning the designation of Quasi-National Park areas, were enacted. Accordingly, areas with diminished landscape quality could only be designated as Quasi-National Parks, not as National Parks. In Lake Biwa’s case, it was the reclamation work on lagoons around the lake that caused diminishment of the landscape quality. This was the result of the Yodo River Control Project planned in 1943 and carried out around Lake Biwa and its vicinities during World War Two. Lake Biwa is part of the Yodo River which flows eventually to Osaka.

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Focusing on the term of Borrowed Scenery, this paper probes into the historic evolvement and variety of this term in Japanese gardening, in other words how this term started, evolved and changed from classical to modern times. The study here is mainly based on the literature survey on the topic of Borrowed Scenery. As a result of the survey into classical treatises before Meiji, the treatise of Cyocyukou of Muromachi is treated as the origin of the term. And then various concepts since modern times are reviewed. At the same time, the typical examples of gardens of Borrowed Scenery are summed up and the space composition is analyzed. Besides, the diffusion of the treatise of Yuan Ye in Japan is examined. Consequently, it is concluded that the term of Borrowed Scenery has been transmitted from China to Japan as the latest in Muromachi, in the field of gardening the term was obtained from Yuan Ye in Meiji, but afterward the concept of this term gradually departed from the origin and was summarized according to the character of Japanese gardens.

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One of advantage in ecological planning method of Ian L. McHarg is synthesis of respective optimal landuse (non optimal landuse). The earthquake and tsunami damage in March 11, 2011 recalled us the importance of the comprehensive optimal landuse evaluation. Especially, damages of the Fukushima nuclear plants were catastrophic. This study focused on the criteria of land evaluation paper data in report of "Land Use Aptitude Evaluation Technique Investigation based on Ecological Planning" by National Land Agency Japan in 1980. We traced 5 paper maps (geological map, landform classification map, slope distribution map, vegetation map, and soil cartography map) for digital map, and inclination in coastal areas in where the two Fukushima nuclear plants exist. In addition, we made risk hazard maps (landslide, earthquake resistant, and flood, tsunami damage estimation) on each disaster with above 5 divisions maps and the table risk scores in the Land Agency Report 1980. Finally, we developed a comprehensive hazard map with overlaid a previous evaluation result and evaluation of optimum area of nuclear plant. An actual nuclear power plant site was selected to the coast for the reasons of barren ground bought easily. However, our results indicate that the nuclear power plant site was relative dangerous location in the sight of overall disasters vulnerability by the overlay analysis in 1980 data.

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To revitalize local areas and tourism using the landscape resources in community, Scenic Byways have been built since 2007 in Japan. In this study, we analyzed the regional characteristics of sequential road landscape using the image features (fractal dimension, sky share, green share) of photographs taken at 20-m intervals on the Scenic Byways of Hokkaido and Kanto. The structural (urbanization level, vastness level, forest level) and fluctuation (short-term fluctuation of landscape, contrast of nature and urbanization, contrast of land and forest, fluctuation of skyline) characteristics of the sequential landscapes were evaluated from the average values and the power spectrum density of image features, respectively. In comparison of the Scenic Byways of both regions, the Hokkaido route is vast and monotonous, while the Kanto route is forested, urban and fluctuating. In addition, the sequential landscapes were classified into five clusters based on their structural and fluctuation characteristics, and then the features of each cluster were evaluated.

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Interest in the ratio of vertical green coverage has increased now. This paper aims to quantify the psychological effects of the ratio of vertical green coverage and to clarify the relationship between the color environment and the ratio of vertical green coverage. In this study, 27 urban landscape images were presented as simulations to 26 subjects, and the change in psychological feelings was examined by various indexes. The images were analyzed by the chromaticity diagram CIE1976u’v’. The results were as follows. As the correlation between the ratio of vertical green coverage by attributes (for example, leaves, flowers, stems, and branches which were components of the plant) increased, the ratio of vertical green coverage by chromaticity was a more accurate indicator. In the ratio of vertical green coverage, Stevens’ power law was more effective in explaining the relationship between physical quantities and psychological evaluations. In a multiple regression analysis using opposite color components, the number of colors and the comfort evaluation, the regression equation using red, green and yellow components as the explanatory variables demonstrated the greatest explanatory power. The coefficients of this equation were -278 (red), +55 (green) and +47 (yellow). Therefore, in quiet residential areas and crowded city centers, the required level of the ratio of vertical green coverage may be different. Increasing the ratio of vertical green coverage can be expected to improve the color environment easily.

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This research is aimed to clarify the tourism development and history of designation as a National Park of Mt. Aso from documents survey. In the Meiji-era, several foreign nationals climbed Mt. Aso, which is the beginning of leisure activity. They followed the route from Nango-dani, on the other hand most Japanese took the route from Aso dani. From the Taisho-era to the beginning of the Showa-era Tatsuki Matsumura and others played active roles in designation of National Park, which were succeeded in 1924. During the time, Tsuyoshi Tamura visited the sites for three times. His perception of Mt. Aso had changed from admiration of the expansive scale of the natural landscape to the diversity of the cultural landscape. Mt. Aso was different from other mountains,which were discovered as “natural landscapes” at the time on the aspect of that is an active volcano, has less of forest, has grass landscape and historic religious site. Because of these points, Aso have been promoted positive developments in tourism. Though some problems occurred at a same time. Today, the relative point of view to the diverse value is necessary.

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The March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami have caused significant direct and indirect impacts on ecosystem services provided by satoyama and satoumi in the affected area. In addition, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident has left a long lasting scar on the region's ecosystem. This paper assembles available government reports, scientific studies and news articles regarding ecosystem services in satoyama and satoumi, and summarizes changes in ecosystem services before and after the disaster, based on the assessment framework developed by Japan Satoyama Satoumi Assessment (JSSA, 2010). We found that the inundated municipalities lost about 25% of farmland for rice production and 5% for other crops. The amount of woody material in the rubble is estimated at approximately 4 million tons, the carbon content of which is equivalent to 5% of total forest carbon stock in the area. The number of visitors during the holiday season dropped by 30-40% in Tohoku region, and 17% of cultural assets were damaged by the quake and tsunami.

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Miscanthus sinensis grasslands can be dominated by dwarf bamboo such as Pleioblastus chino var. viridis after abandonment, leading to decrease diversity in the communities. We investigated the effect of mowing on recovery of grassland species richness and cover, and overall species composition over three years. Two treatments were tested: mowing above ground vegetation every autumn and mowing above ground vegetation every autumn with selective cutting of P. chino var. viridis in the first summer. The number of grassland plant species increased slightly under both treatments, although M. sinensis did not return as the dominant species in either treatment after the restoration. The addition of selective cutting of P. chino var. viridis resulted in greater cover of M. sinensis and higher richness and cover of grassland species. These results show that selective cutting of P. chino var. viridis in summer enhance the effect of management for restoring grassland species diversity in long-abandoned semi-natural grassland communities.

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In this study, using a physiological measure and a subjective measure, stress reduction effect of views of city parks are examined. Salivary amylase is adopted as the physiological measure, and SD-method is used as the subjective measure. 21 still videos were taken in several city parks. In the experiment, 18 subjects were shown these videos in the laboratory to measure the salivary amylase levels before and after viewing each image. Principal component analysis method extracted three main components such as beauty, complexity and elegance. It is shown that highest rated videos do not always decrease in amylase, and videos not only including 'the three landscape elements', but also having simplicity and spaciousness decrease in amylase.

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It is known that the slopes between paddy fields and forests are one of the highest biodiversity areas, because there are not only meadow and wet species but also forest species. However, in recent years, these vegetations are being lost because of the decrease in agricultural land uses. Thus, these slopes have been paid much attention as important locations for preservation. However, previous studies only focused on the lower side of the slopes, have not examined the overall slopes. Additionally, how surrounding environment affects on those floristic compositions. In this study, we examined how differential managements and micro-scale landforms affect floristic composition of the overall slopes in Kamiseya, the rural area of Miyadu city, Kyoto Japan. To clarify environmental factors affect vegetation the slopes, we examined foloristic, distance from the forest edge, soil moisture contents and solar radiation of the five slopes which were experienced different mowing management intensities. It was clarified that the mowing management intensities strongly affects on species richness, diversities and floristic compositions. The forest vegetation influenced not only on the floristic compositions on the nearby site, but also on these on lower sides. We concluded that micro-scale landform and mowing management intensities maintain the species diversity on the slope.

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The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of landscape in the great modern poetry Sakutaro HAGIWARA by analyzed his photographs and his poems. The main conclusions were as follows; (1)The scenery of his original photographs had proposed two points of view; “the photographs of the place where Maebashi-City and Kamakura were material of landscape which was esteemed”, “the photographs of the place in Tokyo and Osaka were the human activity and the townscape”. (2)The element of landscape by his photographs could be divided into 6th groups scene of “1 group of the wheels and the activity”, “2 group of the animals”, “3 group of the station and the stones”, “4 group of the street, the sky, the tree, the building the institution and man”, “5 group of the trees, the land and mountain”, “6 group of the water, the shore and the bridge ”. (3)The poetic word was compared with the word analyzed by the qualification theory of 3. It became clear that the words of all the landscape elements appeared as a poetic words. As a result, it is possible for research on his poetry to regard the spatial characteristic and the photographs.

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In order to balance the conservation of landscape and the promotion of recreational use, it is necessary to investigate the geographical characteristics of natural and recreational resources, and to apply rational planning process. In this study, we examined the zoning method using the geographical information system in Shikotsu Jozankei Area of Shikotsu Toya National Park, Japan. Forest compartments were ranked by five conservation importance indexes (vegetation naturalness, vegetation diversity, special plant community, geological formation and natural phenomenon) and four recreational usability indexes (slope, accessibility, distance from facility and viewshed). Then compartments were grouped into five clusters by the nonhierarchical cluster analysis. Comparison with current zoning in the area showed us similarities and some discrepancies. Some areas as ranked higher conservation values have been zoned into Ordinary areas which are designated as the least important area.

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The purpose of this paper is to compare the descriptions of cultivated lands that are written in the kinds of topographies in the late Edo era. The author demonstrated the valuation on cultivated lands of Utagawa Hiroshige in another paper. This article is one of the experiments whether the valuation on cultivated lands of Hiroshige can be seen in the other topographies in the same age. The objects of this study are three. The first is the work of Hiroshige, “Ehon-Edo-miyage”. The second is the work of Juppo-an Keijyun, “Yureki-zakki”. The third is the work of Saito for three generations, “Edo-meisho-zue”. The analysis was done by comparing the sentences about the cultivated lands in the three books. The results are as follows: 1. The sentences which told that people could look down well at cultivated lands were used to prove the good outlook from the places. 2. In “Yureki-zakki” Keijyun estimated the cultivated lands in two ways, positive meaning and negative meaning. 3. Especially Hiroshige appreciated the cultivated lands in themselves and them with the situation that the farmers cultivated the places.

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This paper covers the historical background to the process leading to the designation of the Sado Island and Mt. Yahiko area as one of the first Quasi-National Park areas in Japan in 1950, and also its relationship with inclusion of Ohkouzu Diversion Channel to its area as one of the landscape resources of industrial modernization. In 1949 the government revised the National Parks Law, enabling the designation of Quasi-National Park areas. One of the reasons which the government put idea of new type of National Parks in the low was to conserve and develop the natural beauty in local area as local level, not as national level. Based on the low, Sado-Yahiko area was designated as a Quasi-National Park in 1950. The park has covered Ohkouzu Diversion Channel area. In 2009 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry designated Ohkouzu Diversion Channel as Heritage of Industrial Modernization. It shows the function of designating Quasi-National Parks which conserves not only natural beauty and important landscape resources of nature but also other landscape resources like Heritage of Industrial Modernization. The idea of Quasi-National Park has had the roll of noticing and conserving various landscape resources including which like Heritage of Industrial Modernization. At the same time it shows that the potential of function of Quasi-National Park in Japan.

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Utagawa Hiroshige is one of the most famous painters of ukiyo-e from the Edo Era. Understanding Hiroshige’s way of thinking about landscapes is important because it connects us to the way that people in general thought about landscapes during the Edo Era. However, many researchers who study Hiroshige’s works do not analyze the words which he wrote. Therefore, this article considers how Hiroshige used nouns to describe landscapes. Hiroshige expressed various things by the word, “landscape”, and its various synonyms. For example, mountains, the sea, Mt.Fuji (which had been valued for a long time), ferries, ponds and rivers, cherries, Japanese apricots and other flowers, bridges, moats, gardens and lumberyards, fishing, making pottery, the excitement of the entertainment district, the view from altitude, the view of the moon, snow and fields, etc. These are some of the various things which were cultivated in the Edo region during the Edo Period. Hiroshige’s way of thinking about landscapes is similar to that of many today. Therefore, study of Hiroshige’s viewpoint about landscapes is meaningful.

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[in Japanese]

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