日本の地理学者によるアジア研究，とりわけ東アジアと東南アジアにおける1980年代以降の研究をある程度網羅的に紹介・展望する。とりわけ，グローバル化によって，人もモノもアジア各地を流動した時代である。研究者が直接現地にいき，その国の研究者との共同研究がさかん行われた30年であった。とりわけ中国やベトナムに関しては，大きく研究環境がかわり，総合的な学際的学術調査（科学研究費等による国際共同研究など）や個人などの調査も一定の手続きをふめば可能になった意義は大きい。それまでの文献を中心とした研究から，発展する中国の現状を都市・農村で把握しようとする研究が増えた。台頭する地域研究と人文地理学がどう対峙し，研究を進めてきたかの回顧と展望を試みる。国としてもアジア諸国の研究重視の流れがあり，それをうけて人文地理学会でもアジア地域研究部会が設立され，さまざまな活動を行ってきた。この流れを紹介しながら，新しい人文地理学のアジア研究の動向を環境・資源利用，ツーリズム，ポストコロニアリズム，地域間交流研究）などと，調査・分析手法の進化（GIS，GPS）を見通しながらレビューする。

In 2008, domestic travel spending in Japan reached 23.6 trillion yen, with overnight travel by the Japanese amounting to 15.6 trillion yen (66.2%). In contrast, domestic overnight travel by international visitors to Japan accounted for only 1.3 trillion yen (5.7%). If overnight travel by the Japanese were to be increased, it would not only contribute to travel spending but also stimulate the regional economies. The Japan Tourism Agency proposed a plan to stagger national holidays by region to reduce traffic jams and make travel easy for people. The plan suggests the division of Japan into five zones, with each zone observing a five-day break during different weeks in May. This paper proposes zoning plans for the regional holiday schedule and investigates the zoning effects in view of travel demand equalization.

Network analysis was applied to the OD (Origin-Destination) data of the Japanese overnight travelers between prefectures published by the Japan Tourism Agency. PageRank centrality was computed to check the stability of travel flow between prefectures from January 2007 to March 2010. Functional regions were then extracted from the OD data by the community finding method to set zoning plans. A greedy search algorithm was employed for the community finding analysis. The OD data for May 2009, which included the Japanese national holiday period called “Golden Week,” was used for community finding.

The results of PageRank centrality analysis showed that the overnight travel flow was very stable for the period. Chiba Prefecture showed the highest PageRank centrality mainly because of Tokyo Disney Resort, which attracted travelers from all over Japan. Narita International Airport also contributed to the high centrality of Chiba Prefecture.

The application of the community finding method to the OD data led to two zoning plans. While one of them divided Japan into two zones - eastern and western Japan, the other divided it into three -eastern Japan, western Japan, and Kyushu. Hence, the results of the community finding method offered fewer zones than were proposed through the plan developed by the Japan Tourism Agency.

We evaluated these zoning plans in terms of travel demand equalization. Travel demand was considered to be equalized when the percentage of overnight travelers from each zone was equal. The three zoning plans that divided Japan into two, three, and five zones were compared in view of travel demand. It was concluded that the zoning plan which divided Japan into two zones was the most effective in terms of travel demand equalization.