The utilization and the management of canals becomes problematic as urbanization progresses. The problem is often regarded as a problem of farmers rather than a regional problem. However canals are, in fact, utilized for both agricultural and non-agricultural purposes by the residents, though canals are constructed for the purpose of agricultural production and are managed mainly by farmers' organizations. In order to solve the problem, canals must be recognized as a community asset which may provide increase of agricultural production as well as richness of public life.
The purpose of this study is to examine the utilization and the management of canals during the process of urbanization from the viewpoint of community asset. Kawauchi, the urbanized area of Hiroshima City, is selected as an appropriate case study for this research. In this paper, first the general classification of the utilization of canals is given, and the characteristics of urbanization in Kawauchi are also discussed. Second, the discussion on how the utilization and the management of the canal were changed during the process of urbanization is given. Last, water-use coordination during the above mentioned period is examined.
The results are summarized as follows:
1) The types of the canal utilities in general are largely classified into three main categories, which are 1. Water-Use, 2. Drainage-Use and 3. Space-Use. (see Figure 1.)
2) The main use of the canal in Kawauchi before its urbanization was Water-Use (particularly irrigation water), but also for non-agricultural purposes such as domestic water and sewerage. The versatility of the canal use was maintained without many problems.
3) During the process of urbanization in the Kawauchi area, the utilization of the canal began to change. The change was seen in the users and the land-use pattern. The majority of users became non-farmers rather than farmers, and much agricultural land was turned into residential land. In accordance with these changes, the main use of the canal has shifted from Water-Use to Drainage-Use.
4) The main reason that Kawauchi could escape from the conflicts between the rural and the urban in terms of utilization and management was a proper utility of water-use coordination. Three important factors are as follows: i) The structure of the agriculture canal had already fit the new demand (i.e. Drainage-Use) which was forthming. ii) When the canal water (irrigation water and domestic water) faced a pollution problem, it was easily resolved by digging new wells and by supplying tap water systems. iii) From an early time, financial support for the management and improvement of the canal was given by the local government to the farmers' organization (viz. the Land Improvement District), because the government put value on the non-agricultural use of the canal.
5) However, there are still some problems when canals are seen as community asset in connection with urbanization. First, the functions of the canal uses became narrowed almost only to Drainage-Use because of water pollution. Second, the amenities which were present before urbanization are disappearing. The local government and the residents paid enough attention to Drainage-Use, but they neglected Space-Use.
The quality of canal water may be improved through the development of a public sewer system, and accordingly, we may also regain the versatility of the canal uses again. However the most important point for future regional planning seems to be Space-Use. Here the awareness and understanding of the utilization and the management of canals by the residents becomes crucial, because their decisions for the utility of the space are the key to control canal use. Therefore the participation of the residents brings positive effects in future regional planning, and may make it easier to solve conflicts and problems.

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With this study I would like to clarify the range and social stratification of political territories in ancient Japan (Kofun Period). Since I think that the extent of irrigation reflects the range of the territory of a powerful clan, and that the dispersion of the ancient tombs (Kofun) shows the movement of such a clan, I decided to analyze the relation between the position of ancient tombs and irrigation area. I focused on the situation in the Yodo River Basin. In addition, I investigated the regional structure and the formative process of the Kinai-Region, which consisted of various socially stratified territories. Through my research it became clear to me that there were three different kinds of territories in the ancient Yodo Valley. The Basin of the Yodo River was divided into more than thirty fundamental units lead by local heads. Among those heads there were four powerful leaders who ruled over several uni-fied fundamental units. Their territories ranked above that of the local heads. But it seems that the Yodo River Basin, as a whole, was a unified territory ranking highest.
In conclusion, I think that one can distinguish three different ranks of territory in the Yodo River Basin. Furthermore, I conclude that this Yodo Valley, together with the Yamato Valley constituted the Kinai-Region. It is said that the Kinai-Region was the territory under the direct rule of the Yamato sovereign. Indeed, originally the area under the direct supervision of Yamato rulers was only the Yamato Valley. But in 5th Century the Yodo Valley was incorporated and at this time the spatial structure of the Kinai-Region took shape. So, although one usually assumes that the Kinai-Region is the central region which surrounded the capital city of the Japanese ancient nation in 7th century, I think that the prototype of its spatial structure had already been completed in the 6th Century.

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After the“quantitative revolution”of human geography in the 1950's, new concepts, such as the concepts of“system”, “model”, and“space”, were introduced into the field of human geography. The concepts of“model”and“space”were later reconceptualised by both humanistic and radical geographers, and it is important that these enriched concepts should be reintroduced into the field of quantitative geography. The concept of “system”, however, had not been properly reconsidered until the recent development of the“self-organization”viewpoint, which is formulated in the work of I. Prigogine (in his theory of“dissipative structure”) and H. Haken (in his discussion of“synergetics”).
The purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate models of interurban systems from the self-organization viewpoint. According to H. Couclelis, there are three kinds of systems: mechanistic, equilibratory, and evolutionary. A“self-organizing”system can be thought of as evolutional or as an internally regulated system, and has the following characteristics: it is an open system, it is influenced by both determinate and stochastic variables, it has multiple equilibrium states, it is influenced by non-linear feedbacks, and it follows its own local rationality. Undoubtedly, the introduction of these new concepts into the field of human geography will greatly expand geographers'“understanding”of the traditional frameworks.
The self-organization viewpoint has developed along with the trend of using a “mathematics of discontinuity”, which has focused on difficult problems such as chaos, catastrophes, fractals, and synergetics. Catastrophe theory, whose applications to human geography have been reviewed in the work of A. G. Wilson, attempts to explain sudden changes in a system's structure (of equilibrium) which result from gradual changes in certain conditions or parameters. Chaos theory focuses on unstable and unpredictable actions, such as oscillation, periodicity, and chaos, which result from non-linear, self-reflexive, determinate equations, and has been used in researching the instability of spatial systems. Fractal theory, which attempts to map out self-similar images, directly challenges the traditional Newtonian“mathematics of continuity”, and has been applied to the field of geographical morphology, including topography, meteorology, and urban morphology. The mathematics used in all three of these theories is extremely exploratory and pedagogical but is much more simple when used in the field of human geography. Synergetics, which is closely related to the self-organization viewpoint, is much more complex.
“Complexity”, however, implies not simply“complicatedness”but also an increasing degree of organization. Synergetics might also be thought of as the working out of the three competing and/or cooperating logics of non-linearity, reflexivity, and externality. P. M. Allen and M. Sanglier of the Brussel school, in applying the“self-organization” viewpoint, constructed an extremely complex model of urban systems. They considered the following socio-scientific issues:
(1) logistic growth of employment rates and residential populations;
(2) economic base and non-base activities;
(3) distance-decay attractiveness of central functions;
(4) internal and external economies.
These issues have been treated, to a greater or lesser extent, by several different models. The traditional Lowry-type urban model has treated the second and third of these issues, and has also considered feedback loops relating to urban processes. Most of the Lowry model's formulations, however, have been based on linear relationships.

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There are many studies on Japanese internal migration, however the movements of foreigners living in Japan have not been studied specifically until now, in part due to data unavailability. This study tries to clarify the in- and out-migration patterns of the Japanese and foreign population living in the centre of a metropolis, selecting as a research area the Ikuno Ward in Osaka city. Ikuno Ward has been losing population since the 1960's (see graph), and it is distinguished by the existence of an important and stable Korean community (a quarter of the total population), whose origin goes back to the colonial times.
The data was gathered from the residential change forms in Ikuno's ward office. The study covers the period of March, April and May of 1993, and the subjects are 3, 078 out-migrants and 2, 603 in-migrants, accounting for in each case about 32% of all the migrants from and to Ikuno Ward in that year. The data collected is: gender, type of migration (individual or family), age, and destination or origin of the flows.
Out-migration (see Table 1):
(1) In both populations out-migrants are short-distance migrants, and about 76% of them moved within the metropolitan area of Osaka. This figure refers to the internal migration. However, the foreigners, who in this case can be considered Koreans, either tend to remain more in the city, mainly in the sourrounding areas where important Korean populations exist, or moved out to the central wards. In addition, there is a significant migration of foreigners to big cities such as Kobe and Kyoto. The outstanding Japanese sectoral bias out-migration toward the east (Nara Prefecture) related to the purchase of a home is unimportant to foreigners, and the suburbanization phenomenon is less evident. At the national level, the foreigners' out-migration to Eastern Japan is far more important than to Western Japan. Therefore they break the East-West cultural division that is visible in the Japanese migration flows.
(2) Mobility in terms of gender is substantially higher among men, and more noticeable among Japanese. The sex ratio of out-migrants to the metropolitan area is the same for both populations (about 99), however for the rest of Japan it increases, especially for the Japanese migrating to Eastern Japan.
(3) In general, individual migration is higher for foreigners except in the case of the Japanese migrating to Eastern Japan.
(4) The Japanese migrants of different ages exhibit clearly different patters of destination choice, while for the Koreans it is not so clear.
In-migration (see Table 2) and net migration:
There is a negative net migration for both populations. There is a larger percentage of foreigners in-migrating from the metropolitan area, principally from the rest of Osaka Prefecture to Ikuno Ward (positive net migration). The in-migration from Eastern Japan is comparatively higher for foreigners also. For the Japanese, the in-migration from the rest of Western Japan is a major flow (positive net migration). The sex ratio is higher for foreigners particularly for those coming from outside the Metropolitan Area. Ikuno Ward is a net gainer of mainly female, young, individual Japanese migrants from Western Japan.
The author believes that the destination choice process varies not only with the migrant's age and gender, but also with its ethnic and cultural characteristics. In this case, restrictions in employment and housing opportunities for Koreans are probably important factors for the difference in migration patterns. Moreover, more qualitative research is needed in geography on the ethnic groups' differential spatial perceptions and migration decision-making process.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the spatial organization of the postal network. For this purpose, this paper deals with the locational development of post offices (1871-1993) and the spatial change of the mail transportation network (1969-1993) in Nagasaki Prefecture, in which there are a large number of detached islands.
The results of this analysis are summarized as follows:
1) The postal services of Japan started between Tokyo and Osaka in March 1871, and the service areas expanded to Nagasaki in December of that year. Thereafter many post offices were established in Nagasaki Prefecture. Particularly in urban area (e. g. Nagasaki and Sasebo), the locational densities of post offices became crowded. On the other hand, the development of networks in rural areas (particularly detached islands) was slow, therefore many post offices had to be established by the requests of local administrations. At the end of World War II, 92% of the cities, towns and villages as of 1912 got post offices.
2) After World War II, the locations of newly-established post offices were completely restricted within urban areas. On the contrary, postal agencies entrusted by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications were established in rural areas. As a result, the allocation of post offices in urban areas became closer, and the postal network was promoted into the rural settlements, too. Recently, because of depopulation and improvement of transportation facilities, collection-delivery post offices in rural areas have been changed into non-collection-delivery ones, non-collection-delivery ones in the outlying settlements also having been changed into postal agencies.
3) The main network of mail transportation had been formed by railways, and the branch network by automobiles and omnibuses until 1984. A drastic improvement of mail transportation network was carried out in 1984, and most of the mail-routes were formed by automobiles and airlines. The mail transportation network depended upon railway's schedules before 1984, however, it became possible to establish independent routes of mail transportation after that.
4) Under the new system, the Nagasaki Central Post Office is operating as the regional sorting center of Nagasaki Prefecture except for Iki and Tsushima Islands. The routes between Nagasaki Central Post Office and large-scale offices (futsu post offices; e. g. Sasebo, Isahaya, etc.) consist of main lines by private-use trucks, the routes to small-scale offices (tokutei post offices) consisting of branch lines by private-use light vans. As a result, the network characterized by the Nagasaki Central Post Office as the first order center is organized, and the range where express mail from/to Nagasaki city can be deliveried in a day has expanded in most areas, but has been reduced in some parts.
In the spatial organization of the postal network, the author may point out the existence of various regional differences: between urban areas and rural areas (particularly outlying settlements), between the mainland and detached islands, and between Nagasaki city and other areas.

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