The present study examined components of the shared image of Tokyo, Japan. It examined shared images of Tokyo for two groups, differing in their familiarity with Tokyo. It also explored the shared image of Tokyo for familiar individuals over an eight-year interval. The investigator asked participants to express what comes to mind when they think each ward in Tokyo. Responses could be classified into four categories: identity, description, association, and no response/no idea and responses categorized in identities were most frequently reported and followed by those in description, association, and no response/no. A relatively large proportion of the responses (about 40%), were shared by at least 5% of respondents in each group, which may be considered as typical images. The three groups shared about 40% of these typical images. The results suggest the presence of certain robust and common typical images of wards over respondents with the different degree of familiarity with the wards and over time. Finally, the relationships between components of the image of the wards revealed by the present study and affective meanings of the wards revealed by the previous study were examined.

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This article examines the hypothesis that pleasantness of specific spaces is raised when adjacent spaces are less pleasant. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with photomontages of room interiors, each with a large window through which the outdoors could be seen. The subjects, randomly divided into three groups, separately rated the rooms with different exterior grounds, namely, concrete, gravel, or grass. Results showed that several rooms with concrete ground outdoors, which were the least pleasant, were significantly rated as most pleasant;those with grass outdoors, which were the most pleasant were judged as least pleasant. Hence clear the contrast effects were observed. In Experiment 2, the subjects, randomly divided into three groups, actually entered and rated alcoves adjacent to three different types of spaces one without carpet, one with a carpet, and the last with a carpet and sofa. Results indicated that the alcove adjacent to the space without carpet, which was the least pleasant, was rated as most pleasant. However, this result was not significant. The results are interpreted as being consistent with the contrast effect, and both the possibility of long lasting persistence of pleasantnessincreased by contrast and the universality of the effect are discussed.

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It is important to cope with crowding, which is an unavoidable phenomenon in city life. The purpose of this paper is to consider the relationship between "crowding", and "intention of visiting the place" depicting various densities of people. Photographs contained different locations of a train station, a movie theater, and a large-scale retail store were used as stimuli. The results of the experiment indicated that as the number of people in photographs increased, subjects felt crowded regardless of the specific locations. In addition, each subject had own preference for the number of people in each place; under this condition, the highest intention of visiting there was achieved. But for specific locations of a train station, such as a ticket vending machine, as the number of depicted people increased, the intention of visiting there decreased. And in all places, male subjects were more affected by crowding than female subjects in estimating the intention of visiting there.

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