In the recent study of poverty, it is pointed out that the present poor have been individualized and shows weak inclination for solidarity. In addition, they have been excluded from local community and their geographic mobility is high. The urban sociology is good at treating the social world and permanent community of the city, but the present poor is likely to be spilled out from the social net of local community. This paper offers some suggestions, which enables the urban sociology to contribute to the study of poverty.

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　In these days, the number of the elderly who live alone is rising (“The Poverty of Social Networks”on the elderly) and the risk of the “Dying Alone” has been increasing. “Dying Alone” means the phenomenon that elderly die alone without anyone noticing. In this paper, we examine the concept of “Dying Alone”and how this phenomenon has been constructed as a social problem. Though data and researches of “Dying Alone” are not enough, we try to search the cases of “Dying Alone” in Aisai City, to find out the process how elderly have come to be isolated and the causes why “Dying Alone” happened. Adding a survey of social networks of elderly residents in Aisai City, two findings are conducted.
　① Community-based care for “Dying Alone” does not play a large part in preventing the isolated elderly residents from dying alone.
　② There are a lot of resources for “Dying Alone” that can be selected by the elderlyand this process can be facilitated by networking them.
　Through this analysis, we suggest the alternative model for “Dying Alone”, by using some theoretical approaches of urban sociology.

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　In this paper, we investigate the problem of poverty in contemporary Japanese labor issues based on a concrete example of residence and work instability among women working in labor-intensive industries.
　As a result of globalization, the employment system established by Japanese companies has been sustained by a shift to a “More flexible” flow type employment.
　This flexible labor market takes advantage of employment deregulation by employing “youth”, “elderly”, “female”, and “foreign” labor force. Thus, issues such as an increase in non-regular employment and homelessness have become apparent as a result. “Poverty” has again appeared in Japan as a social problem.
　In particular, since the enactment of the Equal Opportunities Act of 1985, while highly educated women workers have had increased social advancement and employment opportunities, low education female workers have experienced an “employment gap”. This gap has been borne out by a qualitative difference.

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　This paper aims to examine the role of Art in revitalizing city's run-down area. For this purpose, this paper draws upon empirical work in Mukoujima, known as former industrial zone and typical ‘Shitamachi' area of east Tokyo.
　Art movement in Mukoujima started at late 1990s. At the first time, it was experimental solution for abandoned houses and shops, mainly to reduce the risk of arson. However, the movement has continued for 10 years, bringing more and more young artists and trendy places for them. Up to now, Mukoujima gradually came to be known as “Hidden Art town in Tokyo's traditional area”.
　By analyzing the interaction of various actors, this paper reveals two points.
　Firstly, Experiencing decline and redevelopment at the same time, ‘revitalization of local' means vary from each actor. Therefore, art movement as revitalization strategy has always been placed in tension and conflict between actors. Secondly, positioning art movement within the context of urban change, you can see an opposite role of art in present stage: Consumption of space which reminiscent of gentrification, on the other hand, one form of diversifying local culture due to local change.

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　In recent years, modern radical leaders have been elected in some representative metropolitan municipalities in Japan, such as Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, and Nagoya. This article studies a case of Nagoya city, and analyses radical reformist mayor's electoral base.
　As a result of analysis of survey data, we obtain some empirical findings. (1) The effect of basic social categories is not so strong, but young voters tend to approve Kawamura's job. (2) Not only supporters of Democratic Party, but also active non-partisans approve Kawamura's job, and voters' reformist identity is also significant for job approval.　(3) Political organization members and government sector workers don't approve Kawamura's job.
　In modern Japanese cities, the system has weakened which enables parties to get voters' support through various groups and organizations. A large number of urban voters often demand political reform. This article shows the social base of today's urban political antagonism.

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　There is an increasing flowability of shops along the shopping street in the central part of the metropolis of Osaka. In this situation, the central objective of activation in the shopping street is to create a community centered on shop owners. This paper focuses on the shop ownersʼ social relationships through a case study of the shopping street “Shinsekai” in Osaka. Through analysis, we show the social conditions that caused the formation of this shopping street. The results demonstrate that the shop owners formed communities by forging links through diverse social relationships in the practice of activation in the shopping street. First, the shop owners practiced the activation by building personal relationships founded on community-based organization (shopping street organization and neighborhood associations). In the next stage, the established shop owners made concerted efforts to cooperate with newer shop owners, who raised capital externally, to create an attractive “regional image.”
　This paper presents the following significant findings: 1) We point out the importance of personal relationships among the shop owners to form a community through practices of activation in the shopping street. 2) We discovered that organic social relationships among shop owners provided the foundation for community-based organization.

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