Since temporal changes in the spatial distribution of population are closely connected to many other aspects of society, an exact understanding of these changes is essential not only for progress in scientific research but also for applications to public policy, planning and business. It is especially critical that population changes in metropolitan areas be explored carefully, since it is here that such changes generally emerge. Furthermore, it is very important to investigate the changes observed in a given metropolitan area, compared to those found in other areas, because, by doing so, we can distinguish conditions common to many metropolitan areas from those peculiar to individual ones.
Based on this perspective, I refer to the problems arising from the use of a dichotomy of dividing a particular metropolitan area into a central city and surrounding suburbs, which is the common method found in previous literature associated with population redistributions in metropolitan areas. Problems arise when such a dichotomy is used; specifically, the location of the central city boundary affects the rate of residents in the central city within an entire metropolitan area, and the aggregation of residents in local municipalities into the suburb as a whole obscures the differences among municipalities. To resolve these issues, this paper uses an urban population-density function model.
Although this model is assumed to explain the spatial variation of the density continuously in terms of distance from the city center, it does not have to aggregate the density values of observations (or local municipalities) as building blocks. However, there is a limitation in that the density function assumes a concentric-circle distribution of population, implying that points with the same distance from the city center have exactly the same density. Consequently, the expansion method, developed by E. Casetti, is employed to overcome this drawback.
The expansion method enables us to incorporate the contextual effect of the spatial system under consideration. By expanding the distance parameter of the density function by direction from the city center, we can redefine the function so that the distance-decay of the population density varies directionally. As a result, the extent of directional bias of the intra-metropolitan population distribution can be measured quantitatively.
The purpose of this article is to analyze and compare the spatio-temporal changes in population distribution within the three largest metropolitan areas in Japan during 1965-95 by the 'expanded' density function model. The Standard Metropolitan Employment Areas (SMEA) advocated by H. Yamada and K. Tokuoka are used here to delineate metropolitan areas. Analyses are carried out in two stages; first, by the traditional Clark model and then by the expanded Clark model.
First, by calibrating the ordinary density function model (or Clark model), which does not consider directional differences, average relations between the distance from the city center and the population density are identified. The explanatory power of the Clark model itself, generally speaking, indicates a gradual improvement over time. It is also confirmed that, the larger the population size of the SMEA, the higher the density of the city center. In addition, the density gradient in Tokyo is the most gentle and that in Nagoya and Osaka is almost the same. Furthermore, population decentralization occurred first in Tokyo and Osaka and then in Nagoya. The time lag of this sequence is ten years. Additionally, based on this finding, one limitation of using the dichotomy for the central city and suburbs is demonstrated. The spatial pattern of the residual obtained from the Clark model shows, however, that similar values tend to concentrate in particular sectors, especially in the Tokyo SMEA, suggesting a necessity to alleviate such concentration by improving the traditional Clark model.

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Japanese geographers tend to consider political geography to be one of the least-established subfields in postwar Japanese geography. Aware of this reputation, Japanese political geographers have often attempted to introduce theories established in Anglophone political geography to Japan. This attempt, however, has been unsuccessful thus far. Since academic practices by Anglophone geographers are not necessarily transferrable to the Japanese context, the mere introduction of Anglophone theories does not contribute to the revitalization of Japanese political geography. In order to avoid a repetition of these unsuccessful attempts, this paper reviews the theoretical development of Anglophone political geography since the 1970s and identifies two important research subsets from these developments: new geopolitics and the politics of place. New geopolitics consists of world-systems theory and critical geopolitics while studies on the politics of place are based on critical/postmodern social theories. After an examination of studies from these two subsets, the paper suggests what kind of theoretical issues discussed in Anglophone political geography are likely to stimulate politico-geographic research in the Japanese empirical context.

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The purpose of this paper is to consider the involvement of mountain farmers in the transition of alpine pasture management and the development of ecotourism in Hinterhornbach village, Tyrol (Austria). The paper also discusses the characteristics of tourists and tourist facilities.
There are eight alpine pastures in Hinterhornbach village, most of which were abandoned by the first half of the 1960s. The main reason for this is due to their small grazing area, inadequate improvements, and the danger of avalanches. In the 1980s, tourism in Austria developed rapidly and the alpine pastures became more important for preservation and recreation functions, associated with their role in land preservation, the beautiful scenery they afforded, and the habitats they provided for rare wild fauna and alpine plants. Three alpine livestock pastures supported by national or state grants are in relatively good condition. Petersbergalm, for example, offers a simple restaurant with cheese and butter manufactured by an agricultural cooperative, as well as mountain climbing and a hikers' rest station. Moreover, there are eight small alpine huts built for the farmhouses about 150 years ago in Jochbachalm, and, from the mid 1980s, these were adapted as a second residence for tourists.
The number of tourists saying at Hinterhornbach village was 10, 300 between May 1997 and April 1998, of whom 99.8% (10, 239) were foreigners, and of whom about 90% were German. The mountain farmers who greet these tourists are greatly interested in the tourist income. For the tourist, on the other hand, mountain tourism is an opportunity to enjoy tranquil and beautiful nature. Since tourism development that despoils the environment is undesirable, and in order to promote ecotourism at Hinterhornbach village, the maintenance of the alpine pasture and the colony grasslands by mountain farmers is seen to be indispensable.

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This study aims to examine the environmental adaptation of diving fishery groups with special attention to individual differences in fishing ground use.
In Wagu, a diving fishery is operated mainly around small islands and rocky reefs located about 2km offshore. Five types of abalone, a turban shell, a topshell and some other less-economically valued organisms are the target species. The divers (Ama) have three different types of operation: an individual operation (Hamako), an operation undertaken by by one diver and one operator who are primarily kin (Funedo), and an operation involving several divers and one boat operator (Kachido). Since the latter is becoming the predominant operational type, an analysis of Kachido's activity space is therefore crucial to an examination of the relationship between operation types and the fishing ground environment in Wagu.
The fishing grounds are divided into categories in relation to the abalone habitat. The largest is Iso, which consists of rocky bottom habitats identified by a specific name. In each Iso, there are small areas called Shima. These are dimensional but also topographical categories of the fishing ground. The selection of Shima is performed by individual Ama for all operational types, while that of Iso is performed differently. For Kachido, the boat operator recognizes available Iso for the day's operation in relation to the tidal current, water depth, and the Ama's diving ability.
In the practice of Kachido, the behavioral patterns of individual Ama are variable. Abalone collecting is most profitable, but the physical ability of older Ama to collect these shellfish is constrained. Instead, these Ama are able to collect turban shells and topshells in the course of searching for Shima, or when brought to shallower Iso by the boat operator. Ama with experience in recognizing Shima may collect more abalone than other Ama, however. It can be seen from these behaviors that fishing grounds recognized by the boat operator or Ama result in variability in shellfish collecting activities by individual Ama.
From the analysis, two significant characteristics of fishing ground use for Kachido operation are identified. The first is the recognition by the boat operator of the relationship between topography and tidal currents for the selection of Iso. The second is the use of different resources by Ama of variable age and experience that are adaptive to biophysical diversity within Iso.

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In Japan, high-quality industrial engineers are concentrated in metropolitan areas. This is a reflection of the spatial division of labor between the metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. The aim of this paper is to examine the interrelationship between the concentration of industrial engineers and the characteristics of the labor market for university graduates who major in engineering.
In the second part of the paper, using a directory to locate companies which have hired university graduates, the degree of concentration of employment in the Tokyo metropolitan area is compared among faculty types. The directory covers about 80 percent of three hundred thousand university graduates who have entered the labor market in 2000. Most students who graduate from departments of education, which are spread all over the nation, find a job in the Prefecture where their university is located. About 40 percent of graduates from departments of both humanities and social science, which are agglomerated in the Tokyo metropolitan area, find a job in a company based in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The location of departments of engineering, however, are more dispersed over the nation than either humanities or social science, yet over 40 percent of students are employed in a company which has its headquarters in the Tokyo metropolitan area. It is noteworthy that graduates from departments of engineering that are located in the non-metropolitan area still have a tendency to find a job in the Tokyo metropolitan area, while the demand for industrial engineers is expanding in non-metropolitan areas.
The third part of the paper analyzes the job assignment process of students who major in mechanical engineering at a university in the Kyushu area. Most students choose to apply to a company in response to job-offer cards sent by the companies, although students can receive only one nomination from their university as a job applicant to the company. These companies have work places primarily in the Tokyo metropolitan area. It is a condition that information on employment opportunities is centralized at the employment section for student established in the department in order to reduce the cost of search and contact to both students and companies and to overcome the spatial gap between them. The relationship of trust between departments and companies, which has been established by the continual employment of alumni and by visits of recruiters to the department, is highly valued. Thus, once students receive a notification of employment by nomination, they are not allowed to reject it to find another job near the university for themselves. These features of the job-assignment process facilitate the concentration of high-quality industrial engineers in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

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