This study examines the residential preferences of multi-habitation practitioners and the relationships between their locations from a geographical perspective. Moreover, it intends to elucidate the specific attributes and objectives of people who practice multi-habitation. The multi-habitation practitioners were primarily office workers aged 30–60 years and belonging to the upper-middle class. They could be broadly divided into two groups: those whose bases were located close to and those whose bases were far apart from one another. In the former case, frequent movement occurs between bases and is primarily used for daily life activities like telecommuting, commuting, and remote work. In the latter case, less travel occurs between locations. While one base location is used for daily life, another is used for hobbies, cleaning and organizing, and caregiving, among others. This clarifies the differences in the use of each location.

When considering comprehensive support in a community, local community trends must be properly captured. In particular, support for children requires cooperation with the local community as well as with voluntary associations. This paper discusses the role of the local community in the Tozai-cho District after children’s activities were identified by the local community. In the future, when municipalities develop policies for the comprehensive support of children in the region, dialogue based on an appropriate understanding of the actual situation of the local community will help realise such comprehensive support.

The relationship between the hierarchy of educational functions and urban policy was analysed using the example of changes in the hierarchy of compulsory education. As a result, in compulsory education, the number of children and students per grade in elementary and junior high schools was decreasing, and the ratio of the number of elementary schools to the number of junior high schools was also on a downward trend. The hierarchy was declining. However, there were also municipalities that maintained the hierarchy, resulting in regional differences. Therefore, it is necessary to consider urban policies based on the assumption that the hierarchy of compulsory education functions is declining.

Over the past 20 years, Japan's national strength has declined relatively due to its inefficient land structure and declining ability to respond to environmental changes, and social disparities have widened. Despite the fact that the land and social infrastructure of Japan have been developed, and the country is a peaceful cultural and economic powerhouse, there are many people who are frightened by the uncertainty of the economic future, the declining population, and the declining birthrate and aging population. In this environment, Japan can choose among three directions to move forward: (A) to grow and maintain world-class economic and political power, (B) to prioritize the happiness of the people over international economic power, and (C) to achieve both (A) and (B) as in the past. The author chooses (B) and believes that the people of Japan should work together to rebuild the shape of the nation.

This study examined the effectiveness of charity advertising in promoting the intention to aid foreign residents. There are two types of charity advertising: one describing the predicament of the aid recipient and the other emphasizing the effectiveness of the aid itself. Participants were shown one of these two types of advertisements and were then asked about their intention to donate to the organization that supports foreign residents, along with their degree of agreement with the support policies. The participants were asked to rate their attitudes toward foreign residents. The results showed that among high perspective takers, those presented with advertisements depicting foreign residents in distress donated a greater amount of money and reported stronger support for aid policies compared to those presented with advertisements emphasizing the effectiveness of the aid. The advertisements did not affect attitudes toward foreign residents. The implications of these findings for promoting aid to foreign residents are discussed.

Social prescribing has received attention as a way to deal with social isolation, but there is no social prescribing in Japan that is handled as an insurance treatment. There are few studies on social prescribing targeting caregivers. This study clarified the role and function of A-Cafe, a community space in A-drugstore, and visualized the process of social prescribing for caregivers in A-Cafe. 3 caregivers who use A-Cafe were interviewed and the collected data were analyzed using Trajectory Equifinality Modeling. The results showed that the three caregivers were supported by their friends and employees of A-Café with whom they could consult for advice, and that their individual paths converged at the isochronous point of "creating opportunities for care together. I believe that A Café has the potential to embody all-generational community-based comprehensive care as a means of social prescribing.

Some local governments of the Tokyo suburbs launched extended childcare and pickup services for kindergarten students in the 2010s. The services take children to a kindergarten and back from a small day nursery established near a mainline station, which provides extended childcare in the early morning and in the evening. This study was undertaken to elucidate effects and difficulties of the services based on results of interviews with service providers, and on questionnaires and interviews administrated to service users. The services contribute to the active use of quotas of kindergartens and provides dual-income families with the possibility of using kindergartens. However, some difficulties remain for managing the services properly. It requires a suitable route of pickup, fine-tuned childcare, and detailed contacts between childcare workers in day nurseries, kindergarten teachers, and parents.

Providing nursery facilities is an important policy tool to promote gender equality at work and nurture a favorable environment for childbearing. In the meanwhile, the neighboring property owners sometimes oppose the opening of the facility. Their main concern stems from the potential dis-amenity such as noise problems and congestion during the commuting time. In this study, we evaluate these externality effects concerning the nursery facilities through the Hedonic pricing method. The parametric and semiparametric analysis using posted rental property data in the metropolitan Tokyo area indicates a complex overlap of positive and negative externality effects. Negative externality outweighs the properties located in the close vicinity of the facilities, whereas properties further away from them exhibit net positive effects that diminish over distance.