Studying the case of Paris’s fashion industry, this paper examines the apparatus of valuation and the role of agglomerations in metropolitan areas. Paris’s fashion industry is a sector in which intangible labour, such as knowledge creation, material labour involved in clothes fabrication and the networking of personal connections can be found. Furthermore, it has a complex apparatus of valuation embodied in the space of Paris: formal/informal institutions, including conventions and intermediaries; numerous commons; encounters between people; the development of social networks mediating mutual knowledge transfer; shows/salons and shops realizing the match between creators and their clients and, of course, places of interest. These heterogeneous elements, which are distributed in Paris and are assembled and arranged through the valuation of goods, function as the apparatus of valuation. In this article, I attempt to seize industrial agglomeration or the milieu as the “territorialised dispositif (apparatus) of coordination and valuation,” whereas the theory of innovative milieu understands it as a “territorialised institution/convention.”

In the recent past, bereaved families have changed their choice of funeral services from local communities to the putting them in the hands of funeral businesses. Furthermore, the funeral location has changed from the home of the deceased to the funeral hall. In this paper, I examined how the bereaved families, as users, choose the location of the funeral by looking at the obituary columns of local newspapers. In Utsunomiya City, the number of employees in the funeral service increased drastically in the 1990s, and at the same time the funeral location moved from the home of the deceased to the funeral hall. The funeral hall in the city was initially set up inside the DID, and as the user expands to the surrounding area and spreads near to the boundary of the DID, in recent years funeral halls have become reduced in size and installed in the center of the city. Based upon analysis of the obituary columns, bereaved families had a tendency to choose a funeral home near the home of the deceased. However, in 2009, the city crematory moved to the suburbs, and as the ceremonial hall adjoining this was easier to use, a number of bereaved families wanted to use the hall even though it was far away from the home. Furthermore, such bereaved families are expanding from within the DID to outside. As a result, it becomes clear that the involvement of local people in the funeral ceased, and that the funeral locations chosen by the bereaved families are expanding spatially.

The aim of this paper was to analyze the economic dynamics of eel production in Isshiki Town, Aichi Prefecture. This area has one of the highest volumes of eel production in Japan. In the high economic growth period after World War II, eel production increased because the administrations developed production bases, and the managing bodies attempted to introduce technologies, such as warming houses, to strengthen productivity. The relationships between managers have been transformed during this period. In particular, the relationships between the laborers picking-up and shipping eels dissolved after the introduction of the warming house, which reduced the labor required. From the above, the economic circumstances in the producing area, management of the households and the relationships between the managers continue to interact. However, it is important to consider the manager’s experiences and reveal these interactions because these relationships can transform over time.

In this paper, I aimed to clarify the features of the descriptions of Japan in Korean geography textbooks. Japan and Korea share a long historical relationship. The descriptions of Japan in Korean high school geography textbooks are likely to be closely related to the changes in the social backgrounds. I will also explore the social backgrounds along with the transformation of the descriptions of Japan in Korean high school geography textbooks throughout this paper. I analyzed the descriptions of Japan in Korean high school geography textbooks that were used from 1946 to the 2000s from the perspectives of quantity and content. As for the quantitative transformation of descriptions of Japan in the geography textbooks, the descriptions of Japan accounted for a nearly constant 3–5% proportion of each of the textbooks, and this proportion rose slightly since the mid-2000s. In addition, it was also found that the volume of the descriptions concerning the industrial economy of Japan were maintained as a large proportion from 1946 to the 2000s. On the other hand, the descriptive transformation in terms of the content suggests that descriptions about the war always appeared in the textbooks, no matter whether emotional elements were contained, and that descriptions of the industrial economy of Japan remained the central part of the overall descriptions.

The central council for education submitted the report on the government curriculum guidelines for the next period at the end of 2016. “Geography” will become compulsory in high school in the fiscal year 2022. Forty years have passed since the number of students choosing geography began to decrease. During this time, various issues have arisen in the practices of geography education. Before geography becomes compulsory, there are many issues to be resolved, such as the emphasis on basic and fundamental content, review of the learning content, development of competent and high-quality teachers, improvement in teaching abilities for geography and history teachers, and appropriate implementation of educational curriculum. In addition, educational practices, including education for sustainable development and education for disaster prevention, through utilization of maps and geographic information system, are essential to meet social demand. In order to meet these expectations, it is necessary to accumulate research on educational practices and interactive linkages between geography education, geography and other related sciences for geography education. Furthermore, linkage with history education is necessary to enhance learning about particular regions. I hope that geography will play an essential role for school education, with its effect fully exploited in today’s society in the midst of rapid globalization, so that all children who learn geography can master the abundant academic abilities and opportunities.