Japanese Journal of Human Geography
Online ISSN : 1883-4086
Print ISSN : 0018-7216
ISSN-L : 0018-7216
Volume 55, Issue 3
Displaying 1-5 of 5 articles from this issue
  • A Case Study of Yonezawa
    Rie WATANABE
    2003Volume 55Issue 3 Pages 199-221
    Published: June 28, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In Japan, every han or feudal clan made large maps of their own castle town during the Edo period. These maps have been studied as sources for research regarding the history of urban development. Although most on the research has been focussed on the maps of town plans, it is important to note that they were mainly used to officially distribute house lots to warriors. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the castle town maps and the administration of warriors' residential areas, taking Yonezawa as an example.
    Maps of Yonezawa during the Edo period changed from large single sheet maps to atlases in the beginning of the 19th century. Large single sheet maps demarcate the boundary of warriors' residential plots and indicate the names of the occupants. The size of the residential plot varies considerably according to the class of warrior.
    In contrast to large single sheet maps, atlases consist of street maps of small areas. Within them, the names of occupants and their positions in the military organization of Yonezawa-han are written along the street concerned. Accordingly, the difference in actual plot size is not always indicated in these atlases. On some of these names, strips of paper are attached in order to make revisions. Explanatory notes of these maps designate that the names of resident warriors were surveyed every year or two.
    In addition, these atlases contain two important legends. One of them represents the vacant lots. The other represents the farmlands in warriors' residential areas. Although the warriors were expected to build houses at their own expense on the lots officially provided, some of them were left vacant. Those lands without houses were subject to taxation by the authorities from 1826 and were marked in the atlases. Making use of idle land was one of the policies of fiscal reform initiated from the beginning of the 19th century in Yonezawa-han. These legends are a reflection of this policy.
    In conclusion, this study aims to show that most of castle town maps were originally practical tools used in the administration of the town itself. They were closely connected with the management of warriors' residential areas, and the appearance of new legends in atlases was due to fiscal reforms and taxation.
    Similar administrative changes can be found in other castle towns. For example, maps of Kumamoto show that some of the house lots in the warriors' residential areas were marked for taxation as a result of fiscal reform during the latter half of the 18th century. The approach of this study in viewing the changes of castle town maps in relation to administrative reforms should also be valid for the examination of these other castle towns.
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  • 2003Volume 55Issue 3 Pages 222-276
    Published: June 28, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • A Questionnaire Survey in Minato Ward
    Naoto YABE
    2003Volume 55Issue 3 Pages 277-292
    Published: June 28, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    It was not until the late 1990s That inner Tokyo started to regain population. This paper explores the extent of that shift and it is argued that population recovery in Minato Ward in inner Tokyo differs from the nature of 'gentrification' observed in Western countries.
    The 'bubble era' of the late 1980s resulted in rapid land price inflation, land speculation on inner city plots and involved a considerable area of land while displacing former residents. The idea that Tokyo was becoming a 'global city' supported land speculation for office and commercial demands. Inner Tokyo continued to lose population in the late 1980s as a consequence of competition with business and commercial land use. Tokyo Wards implemented various policies to prevent the further outflow of residents, which included rent subsidies to renters and the substitution of mortgage interests exceeding 2%. The Wards also leased rented housing to household renters, and issued guidelines to locate rental family-sized housing in newly-built office buildings.
    After the collapse of the 'bubble', however, office and commercial demands suddenly disappeared and land prices fell rapidly. The financial crisis induced firms to sell or utilize their land for housing. By the late 1990s, high rise apartments were built on such speculated land. GIS-based mapping analysis revealed that the construction of public and private housing mainly contributed to population recovery, followed by the opening of new subway stations.
    A questionnaire survey was conducted to examine who had moved into the newly-provided housing in the inner city. Data were collected on household type, occupation, former residential location and reasons for the move.
    The survey revealed that single female households and double income couples with no children predominated in the private housing sector. The main reason for the move was proximity to workplace. This reflects the fact that movers into the inner city mainly consist of households placing a higher priority on employment than on nurturing children. Couples with children would move into the inner city if they secured low cost (public) housing. Many constraints still prevent the inflow of households with children, such as high housing cost in both private rented housing and owner occupied housing, and limited nursery school capacity.
    The provision of public housing, which is a counter policy to the population decline, results in relatively low income households returning to the inner city. Subsequent private housing construction which was caused by the collapse of the 'bubble' attracts different types of households from a wider area. Population recovery in inner Tokyo differs from gentrification in the West in that it is not limited only to more affluent people relocating to the inner city.
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  • Hong-key Yoon
    2003Volume 55Issue 3 Pages 293-304
    Published: June 28, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper attempts to reveal a wide range of East Asian ethnic landscape that has been added to the traditional Auckland cultural landscape during the last two decades. Perhaps the most obvious sign of the expanding East Asian cultural landscape in Auckland is in the growth of the ethnic populations themselves and in the number of ethnic restaurants operated by them. Since 1992, more than 100, 000 East Asians have been approved for residence in New Zealand: mainly Chinese (more than 90, 000) from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China as well as Koreans (about 14, 000) from South Korea. Asian restaurants, which include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Indian, have represented more than 50 percent of the total number of restaurants in Auckland in 1999. This new East Asian immigration expanded the multicultural features significantly in Auckland.
    The New East Asian immigrant groups' most preferred residential areas do not overlap and they tend to occupy different suburbs of Auckland: Howick Pakuranga, Epsom-Remuera and Chatswood for Taiwanese; East Coast Bays and Glenfield for Koreans; St Heliers and Remuera- St Johns for Japanese; and Mr Roskill, Henderson and Royal Oak-Onehunga-Ellerslie for Filipinos; Manurewa, Papatoetoe and Otahuhu for Vietnamese.
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  • 2003Volume 55Issue 3 Pages 305-306
    Published: June 28, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 28, 2009
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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