All through this thesis the present writer's attempt has been to grasp the regional characteristics in the alpine economy by analyzing the changes which have taken place in the alps, the basis upon which the general alpine economy used to be dependent. The findings of the analysis now enable me to establish the following:
In regard to the regional characteristics of alps, there are three types, i.e., 1) French-Alpine, 2) Swiss-Alpine and 3) Austrian-Alpine. The French-Alpine type is characterized by an abandoned state of a large area of alps, the Swiss-Alpine type by an intensive use made of alps and the Austrian-Alpine type by a continued extensive use of alps.
It is further to be noted that for each of these three types there is a corresponding type of regional characteristic in terms of population movement, which, it can be safely said, has played the motive role in changing the regional characteristics of alps.
From a viewpoint of population movement as such, the French-Alpine type is characterized by a shortage of the nuclear constituents of éleveurs, induced by a sharp decrease, starting in the latter half of the last century, in the number of the Alpine population; the Swiss-Alpine type by the existence of a sufficient number of éleveurs to prevent shortage of their cardinal forces, this happening in spite of the above-mentioned decrease in the number of the Alpine population; the Austrian-Alpine type by a fairly large number of éleveurs still remaining over the Alpine area, where the population as a whole has been diminishing since the beginning of the present century.
In order to gain a still better understanding of the alpine economy, my next step was to give consideration to the relationship in which stand, on one hand, the three types and, on the other hand, the industrial poles in each of the three countries concerned. As a result of this new approach I find that the supposition can be established that the development of the three types is determined primarily by a distribution pattern of such industrial poles as attract population away from the Alpine area, the extent of their development and particular interrelationships there happen to exist between such poles and the specific region of the Alpine area.
Viewed from this angle, what characterizes the French-Alpine type is that there are a number of powerful poles in the avant-pays and vallées intérieures of the French Alps and also over the remainder of the French territory, which is equipped with modern means of communication, the most advanced of those in the three ntriescou, connecting those poles and the Alpine area. In the case of the Swiss-Alpine type, it is found that except in the avant-pays and vallées intérieures there is no powerful pole in the country which would draw population out of the Alpine area, although its means of communication are the second most advanced of the three. As for the Austrian-Alpine type, the formation of poles in the Alpine avant-pays and vallées intérieures of the country is pretty backward as compared with the case of the Swiss-Alpine type, and the political separation of the Austrian Alps from their north and south avant-pays prevents these latter from developing into a pole which would cause a movement in the Alpine population.

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Various criteria are used in the study on the city region in general.
The writer noticed that the index number of Prosperity of the central shopping streets and the extents of the C.B.D. are controlled by the land-value of the streets, and their margins are located on the decreasing points of the land-value of the streets.
Therefore, the land-value of the city region as seen in the amount of the inheritance tax might be used as a more useful criteria, because it enables us
(1) to define the extents of both central Shopping streets and C.B.D. in every cities except the giant cities and small local towns, more easily and exactly.
(2) to compare the extents of central shopping streets with C.B.D. in various cities.

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Charcoal-making in Japan is now on the decline, but it is one of the old and traditional industries in this country. It is worth noticing that the organization of the charcoal industry is closely related to village structure. Some observations have been made concerning this relationship by making Tsushima-Cho (Ehime-Prefecture) an object of study.
This study will throw light on the pecuiarities of this district. In this study the methods of organizing the charcoal industry have been classified according to the ways in which charcoalmakers get funds for buying wood. In this classification, there are four methods of financing the work; (I) independent charcoal-making……charcoal makers make with their own funds and send it to any destinations that they wish, (II) agricultural cooperative charcoal-making…they make charcoal by borrowing funds in advance from their agricultural association and forward it to the association, (III) charcoal-making by borrowing traders' money in advance……makers are compelled to forward the charcoal to the traders, and (IV) charcoal-making by ‘Yakiko’……charcoal-makers called ‘Yakiko’ governed by their traders called ‘Oyakata’ make their charcoal and it is divided between them. This form of making charcoal is of the most primitive type. Those who govern the makers grouped in III and IV above are fuel-dealers who carry the charcoal to Osaka. The type grouped in IV was overwhelmingly numerous before the War. After the War, types II and III have become more and more numerous, but type IV has still remained.
In this part of the country, as in such less advanced districts as the Tohoku District, Southern Kyushu and the mountainous regions in the Chugoku District, backward charcoal making ‘Yakiko systems’ still firmly survive. The main reasons why ‘Yakiko systems’ are still surviving are (a) the traditional village structure controlled by the old land system and (b) the backwardness of the villagers' thoughts. Several great land-owners had been in this district since the Edo era to the time of the post-war land reform, and farmers have more of less been dependent upon them. Most of the fields and forests are national or public property. Most of the privately-owned fields and forests are occupied by a small number of great farmers, and few of the common run of farmers possess large areas of fields and forests of their own. Poor charcoal-makers are forced to be dependent upon the external trading capital borrowed in advance, and they have been kept from becoming independent of it. ‘Yakiko systems’ are a mirror of the backwardness of this part of the country.

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