The aim of this research is to investigate, from the viewpoint of urban geography, the way in which the differences in household income are spatially distributed and how they have developed over a certain period of time in the three largest metropolitan areas in Japan, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.In recent years, concern has been growing in Japan over expanding socio-economic disparity both intra-regional and inter-regional.Is it true that social polarization is an unavoidable phenomenon for such a global city as Tokyo? If so, how shall the polarization that we face today affect the overall socio-spatial structure of urban areas? To answer these questions this research picks up the three different years of 1983, 1993 and 2003 as significant reference points and analyzes how the polarization developed over the twenty years in the three areas and how different the changes were.
Before conducting a statistical analysis, we first show that we use “The Annual Income of the Household” from “The Housing and Land Survey of Japan” as a chief data for our research.We also propose a methodically new and effective approach in which a quintile of equivalent income is calculated for every 10 kilometers range of distance divided by concentric circles.Then another important suggestion concerning methodology is made that a sharp distinction should be made between intra-regional income inequality and inter-regional income inequality, two concepts very often employed in an ambiguous way-sociologists tend to emphasize polarization in a hierarchy while geographers have an exclusive interest in the polarization that occurs between regions.In actual cities, however, as our analysis will show, these two phenomena appear simultaneously and in rather complicated ways.
Our analysis confirms the existence of a widening household income disparity in all areas and then points out a remarkable phenomenon found in the Tokyo metropolitan area: although high-income households were previously concentrated in the suburbs, an extremely steep rise in income level (and consequently a growing income gap) has been happening in the center of Tokyo.Also, we reveal that the pattern of income distribution varies between the three areas, reflecting the size and the regional features of each city.

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This paper shows the changes in the migration and commuting flows in the three major metropolitan areas in Japan, Tokyo Osaka and Nagoya since Taisho Era (1910s). Although process of suburbanization began at Taisho Era, the rapid expansion of the commuting zone happened between 1930 and 1955.The main causes of this phenomenon were the evacuation of the metropolitan area to avoid loss of life from air raids in the wartime.However, institutional factors such as changes in the housing market, restrictions on population movement and the increasing availability of commuting allowances paid by employers all contributed to the significant expansion of the commuting zone.
The most intense population growth in the suburbs was caused in 1960s and 70s by the residential careers of cohorts born in 1930s and 40s.They flowed into metropolitan centers from non-metropolitan area and after that they moved to metropolitan suburb due to their marriage or childbirth.After mid-1970s women who had flowed into metropolitan suburb before completed their child-rearing got employment again near their home. Therefore the numbers of the intra suburban commuters increased rapidly.
It is a turning point of these three metropolises in 1990s.Since the outflow of population from metropolitan center decreased, migration between metropolitan center and the suburbs have been in equilibrium and the number of population of central city has increased.And the number of suburb-to-central city commuters has decreased.

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The suburbanization of various city functions has generated Suburban Downtowns, Edge Cities and Edgeless suburbs in the USA.In Japan, however, the Central Business Districts of major cities still retain comprehensive central functions for the metropolitan area, but large scale shopping centers have also been developed in the suburbs. The regional structures of these two kinds of metropolitan areas, prima facie, seem different. However, we find a common feature present in both types of areas. This involves an interdependent cross-suburb flow structure, which is emerging in many urban areas in the 21st century. The centrality of major cities or CBDs is decreasing. Many of the next suburban generation as well as suburban housewives seldom go to the central city. Similarly, baby boomers, who reside in the suburbs, seldom go after they retire. On the other hand, central cities are now receiving new populations again as a result of the back-to-the-city movement. Are central cities in the process of splitting from suburbs? Or are new overlapping self-contained social spaces emerging all over the metropolitan area? This paper begins with a preface which examines the classic 20th century framework of mono-centric metropolitan areas. Next, there is a review of research mainly in geography related to the multi-nucleation of metropolitan areas. Recently, in sociology, there has been discussion of the need to approach the entire structure of metropolitan areas in addition to examining the rich harvest of research on each suburban community. This paper argues that we need more cross-fertilization of research from these fields in future, that we need to clarify both behavior structures and residential structures in present metropolitan areas, and that the structure of new urban social spaces must also be clarified.

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This article aims to clarify the roles and functions of the migrant religious association in the process of community creation, by using the case of the Muslim Pakistani migrants in Japan.The results can be summarized as follows.Firstly, the Pakistani migrants needed their own religious association for stabilizing their life in Japan.The establishment of the mosques is a part of the migration process and involves the support of Japanese wives. Secondly, the religious association of Pakistani migrants in Japan has not only religious but also educational, social, and economic functions.But, they lack a political function, because of the constrained position of the Muslims in Japan after September llth.Lastly, the migrant religious association has two different effects on its constituent community.One is stabilizing their life in the host society and the other is transnational networking.This transnational networking effect adds another variation to the migration process model.

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The purpose of this article is to clarify the way of symbiosis between a city and a manufacturing company, based on a case study of Kasugai city, Aichi Prefecture and Oji Paper Co., Ltd.By focusing on changes that occur in ‘administration, inhabitants and company’ relationships, I can grasp the transformation in a local area as a shift from unitary management by a local government to local governance which is based on a gentle network of diverse subjects. Actually such local governance can be realized only after its accountability is established publicly.This article examines i) disclosures of environmental issues for public participation, and ii) monitoring & evaluation functions as a feedback for environmental information.I argue that accountability is the key concept of public disclosure and monitoring & evaluation of information. Through an analysis of three examples;pollution resolution process of a paper mill, transformation of a neighborhood protest movement, and present conditions of a PRTR system, It is argued that accountability is a basis for a symbiotic relationship between a city and a private corporation, and that, then, the relationship is shifting from a vertical one to a more horizontal one.

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By using the terms of organizational mobilization and quasi-organizational mobilization, this paper tried to clarify what NGOs can do in the field of emergency aid for natural disaster and the problems facing them through the case study on the earthquake of 26^th November 2005 in Jiangxi Province.Organizational mobilization means the traditional way of mobilization relying on the governmental system.Quasi-organizational mobilization means the way of mobilization indirectly using governmental system.Volunteer factor appeared in China and different NGOs have different ways in mobilization.NGOs in China are often called G-NGO, but G-NGOs had mobilized both internal and external governmental resources-include oversea relief, to meet the needs of emergency aid.This is what NGO can do in China now.

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