It is challenging for social geographers to scrutinize the role of space in social theory. The author examines the significance of space in the development of Durkheim's conception of social morphology.
The origin of social morphology is found in Durkheim's earlier presentation of the system of sociology. Durkheim, influenced by organicist theory prevailing in the 19th century, elaborated the system of sociology by analogy with that of biology and recognized the presence of‘morphology’inquiring into the way in which society is composed, i.e. into‘structure.’In The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), social morphology was regarded as a branch concerned with the classification of‘social types’in terms of differences in structure. However, at that time, it was to‘function’of society, such as morality or the law, that Durkheim attached much importance as subject matter. In fact social morphology, in the Rules, was assigned to provide for sociological explanations the‘laboratories’(social types) furnished with the value of alleged independent variables, i.e.‘dynamic density’and‘social volume.’
On the other hand, Durkheim made his own distinction between the‘base’and‘superstructure’ of society. In his view, the‘base’means social groups from which the‘superstructure’ i.e.‘function’originates, which are called the‘substratum.’In the Rules Durkheim regarded as the subject matter of sociology‘social facts, ’which were classified into two major categories: substratum (morphological facts) and social life (physiological facts). In this classification system the elements of space (dwellings and the network of communications) were incorporated into the concept of substratum for the first time. Durkheim thought that the substratum was social life consolidated while it was a visible vehicle through which invisible social life might be approached.
The above significance of the substratum became a precondition for the renewal of social morphology as an explanatory analysis of the substratum. This renewal was completed probably in response to Friedrich Ratzel's conception of geography. In this stage Durkheim incorporated into the substratum various kinds of space connected with society, especially Ratzelian concepts of‘Raum’and‘Grenzen.’Thus it is considered that space is a visible‘social form, ’a visible manifestation of society. The task of social morphology was to explain from the category of‘collective representations’the shaping of the substratum as an amalgam of social groups and space.
Durkheim, however, went in the direction of distinguishing analytically between social groups and space. He utilized Georg Simmel's‘form-content’-dichotomy for this distinction. Further, the category of social group was given the term‘population’while that of space was called‘social space.’In the end social morphology was conceived to include a double task of explaining the formation of population distribution and of social space.

View full abstract

The present author conducted a travel-diaries survey of Hiroshima citizens during February 1992 in order to analyze their daily life activity space. Questionnaires were distributed through high school students to 400 households which are mainly composed of parents in their forties. The travel-diaries are of one weekday and one holiday and consist of time-use and spatial activity records. 200 adequate responses collected from 100 men and 100 women were used in this study.
A general image of daily-life activities was formed from analyses of characteristics of trip and activities summed up by gender and by residential area. Then the time-use data were used for grouping the samples by a cluster analysis. Daily activity patterns and daily activity space for each day were examined based on trips, and changes of activities in 24 hours for each cluster.
The main results obtained are as follows;
1) The general image of the citizens' daily life activities differs completely from weekdays to holidays. Weekdays are working days for most of the men and their travels show a work-home as well as work-business-home travel pattern. On the other hand, weekdays for most of the women are both working and housekeeping days, and their house-keeping hours are generally longer. On holidays, men have single-purpose activities for leisure and shopping, while women still spend long hours for housekeeping besides shopping. Men generally do characteristic activities as routine during weekdays, while on holidays they do more complex activities such as outdoor leisure, shopping, etc. Women's activities on weekdays show various patterns, and they make multi-pur-pose travels for outdoor leisure, shopping, cultural activities, etc. besides working and housekeeping.
2) Time-use patterns were classified into six types by a cluster analysis for weekdays and holidays respectively (Table 5).
The time-use patterns for men during weekdays consist of two types, and four types for women. Type CH1 represents a common pattern for white-collar workers. It consists of less working time and more leisure time than type CH2 which represents patterns of blue-collar workers. The four types for women were classified depending on whether they are employed or not, and on how long they spend their time for housekeeping. Type CH4 for working women is of part-time workers who spend less working time and more leisure time than type CH3, who are full-time workers. Types CH5 and CH6 of housewives use more hours for housekeeping, and they were separated by whether they spend their time for outdoor leisure or not.
Type CQ1 is the most popular time-use pattern during holidays for men and women, and they use considerable time for leisure and private activities. Types CQ4 and CQ5 are patterns of men, and differ from each other in the time duration spent for their leisure and working. Most women spend a longer time for housekeeping even on holidays. Their time-use patterns are classified into three types, CQ2, CQ3 and CQ6. CQ2 is a pattern with long shopping hours, CQ3 with longer hours for housekeeping, and CQ6 with working hours.
3) The characteristics of outdoor activities on the two days were examined through an analysis of their trips. On weekdays, white collar men show patterns with the highest multi-purpose trip ratio, and their secondary trips were generally made up of business and private activities during or after their jobs. Working women also did multipurpose activities, and their secondary trips were for shopping before they went back home. During holidays most men and women made single-purpose trips for shopping and leisure.
4) Activity space for the citizens on weekdays is commonly restricted within their working areas and/or the vicinity of their residences. Citizens living in the city core generally remain within the city core, and those working and living in the suburbs remain in the suburbs.

View full abstract

Quantitative geography, which had been born in the US in the second half of the 1950's, began to be introduced into Japan in the early 1960's and produced a number of empirical investigations in the 1970's. Since about 1980, however, it has been on the wane. There has been no literature commenting comprehensively on the sub-discipline's orbit, which can be regarded as one of the largest movements in the country's postwar geography. This is why this review article was written.
Special attention is devoted to the following: What key features has Japan's quantitative geography had? Did they remain unchanged until today? Was the decline of the sub-discipline in our country related to decline in English-speaking countries such as the US and the UK? Which directions should we follow in the future? These questions will be answered below.
The four key features observed from previous studies are listed in the second section. First, investigations in terms of methods utilized and topics covered have become diver-sifted. Okuno and Nishioka's (1976) statement, that the existing literature was restricted to a part of all possible topics, does not fit current circumstances. Second, the previous investigations have greatly depended on foreign studies in terms of model/theory and method, resulting in the fact that truly original research has hardly been found in the country. Worthy of note in relation to this is that, although most of Japan's quantitative geographers got their basic ideas from foreign countries, the findings obtained were rarely communicated abroad due to the language barrier. Third, a great majority of studies so far has centered on empirical analysis using a given statistical framework and mathematical modeling has been rare. Fourth, although the potential significance of quantitative exploration lies in social relevance through participation in policy-making and planning, such a contribution has been less notable, partly because of the low popularity of geography within academic circles.
Nevertheless, the decade of the 1980's witnessed a few new and desirable developments, which are reviewed in the third section. First, at last mathematical modeling work, which was very weak in the past, has emerged recently, as exemplified by the investigations by H. Kohsaka, T. Inoue and I. Mizuno. Second, Kawabe (1974) criticized the whole existing body of quantitative geography severely as quite rudimentary, but some geographers such as H. Kohsaka, Y. Sugiura and Y. Ishikawa have published their English papers in major journals of geography and regional science in the US and the UK in succession. This reflects an improved level of research and deserves congratulation. Third, the topic of geographical information systems, which is not identical with quantitative geography but is closely related with it, has been very popular. These two have not been integrated yet, however. Fourth, topological geography, advocated eloquently by Suizu (1982), is expected to relieve the limitations that quantitative geography has faced, and to gain a new perspective.
In the fourth section, after examining the reasons why quantitative geography is on the wane since the 1980's, directions are sought for the future. With regard to the reasons, in addition to the same factors observed in the US and the UK, the following is notable: the recognition of the declining status of this sub-discipline in those countries has also followed in our country, the shift of concern from statistical analysis to mathematical modeling was not smooth, and social relevance has not necessarily been sought. As for the future direction, successive attention to new trends in the world is required. Furthermore, whereas careful verification of the applicability of theory and model born abroad to Japan should be pursued, it is also important to develop and export the results obtained in the country. An overriding concern is how to publish results

View full abstract

This study historically examines regional factors of small mines of Nakatsugawa in Chichibu in the Edo period through analyses of the developers, techniques, labor force, developmental funds, and the villagers' involvement in the exploitation.
Mines in Nakatsugawa were exploited in different periods when the national demand for mine resources was large. Notable developments were concentrated in the late 18th century and in the late Edo era (1825-1859).
The exploitation of the mines in the late 18th century was carried out as a joint business by various individuals. Most of them were influential Chichibu farmers and Edo merchants without mining skills. Technical experts and workers were supplied from other mines, and were already available through the diffusion of techniques by the mid-18th century. When developers were short of funds, they sought a few wealthy capitalists who could support their projects. Most capitalists as well as developers were from Edo. Some influential farmers became administrative staff of the mine busiess. Other villagers also played major roles in the mine developments by selling lumber or dirt and leasing land for exploitation.
Capitalists began to develop their own mines in 1825. Technical experts and workers were from other mines as before. Capitalists in the late Edo period were merchants who also managed other mines. They sometimes brought experts and workers from one of those mines. In this period, the yield of minerals was stable. Then profit from mines increased and bacame important for villagers. On the other hand, the villagers thought that they did not receive a reasonable share, even though the capitalists made much profit from the expansion of the exploitation, which caused the devastation of the villagers' woodland.
The strong relation of Nakatsugawa Village to Edo was one of the important factors of the exploitation of small mines. The role of villagers in the development was also important. The villagers' involvement in the mines included their participation in the administration and supplying of labor, land, and goods.

View full abstract

In this paper, author studied the conditions of location of the Suna Site and deduced the geomorphological environment of those days by restoring the environment with geomorphic and geological methods and by tracing paleogeographical changes. Based on the results, the author concludes that the microforms in this area can be classified into 8 units. A geomorphological map (Fig. 2) was drawn based on the results.
The Suna Site is located on the center part of an alluyial fan-like lowland. The surface of the lowland forms an incline of 8.5‰ toward the west. The height of the surface varies from 2 to 14 meters above sea level. This means that not the alluvial deposits of the Yodo and the Neya Rivers but those of the small rivers entrenching terraces and hills to the east formed the lowland. The extensive distribution of the Jori grid-system partition is a characteristic found on this surface. The surface rises to a relative height of 2 meters from the lowland of the Yodo and forms a terrace.
According to the observation of archeologically excavated sections, the Suna Site and its vicinity were in a marshy environment with deposits of humus, silt and clay before the late Jomon Period (3, 000∼2, 300y.B.P.). The westerly inclination of layers of early and late Kofun Preriod indicates that deposits were supplied from the Ikoma Mountains, and the alluvial fan-like lowland was expanded to the westward at that time. But the surface of the coarse deposits from the Ikoma Mountains and that of the marshy deposits of silt interfinger each other. This indicates that the Suna Site was located near the end of the alluvial fan-like lowland of those days. The content of sand and gravel within the deposits increased remarkably in the late Kofun Period. This fact shows that the alluvial fan-like lowland expanded again in this period. However, from the Middle Ages onward, there was little accumulation of deposits.
By pollen analyses, much pollen of broad-leaved trees such as Cyclobalanosis were detected from the black silt layer of the late Jomon Period. However, not so much pollen of pinus nor that of herbaceous plants were detected from the layer (Fig. 7). It seems that the forest around the Suna Site was not badly damaged at that time. And it seems that this area was situated in the Warm Temperate Zone, because vegetation in this area was dominated by Cyclobalanosis and Quercus. For lack of deposits, the author has not deduced the vegetational history of this area in the Yayoi Period (2, 300∼ 1, 700y.B.P.). Some pollen of Trapa and Typhaceae were detected from the dark gray sandy silt layer of early Kofun Period by pollen analysis. It seems that the ground water table rose. And abundant pollen of Cryptomeria and Chanaecyparis were detected from the dark grey silt layer with pebbles from the late Kofun Period. The author presumes that precipitation increased in this area. In addition, much pollen of Gramineae were detected from the deposits. This suggests the beginning of cultivation in this area.

View full abstract