The main purpose of this paper is to develop a new methodology in geographic education at high school level by introducing the concept of Kulturkreis or cultural region for the better understanding of the contemporary world.
Generally speaking, junior and senior highschool geography classes doesn't seem to be very attractive to students especially in the handling of the world. The author also recognizes this tendency by means of a questionnaire given to his students at the beginning of every school year.
When some historical materials are added to those of the geography textbooks or when some differences in genre de vie in every day life are pointed out in geography classes, students may show a deeper interest in their geography studies. In these cases teachers can expect a marked educational effect. Now the author wishes to introduce a teaching method in which genre de vie is dealt with together with historical materials. This teaching method is based on the concept of Kulturkreis.
When the concept of Kulturkreis is adopted in geography classes, it must conform with the concept of Kulturkreis in world history. Therefore the author has examined the textbooks of world history and world geography as well as the course of study issued by the Ministry of Education, both of which are considered to be fundamental materials to recognize the concept “world”. The aim of the research is to know how the ways of recognizing the world have changed after World War II. The author has examined how the descriptions such as Kulturkreis, Silk Road, and the Great Navigation Age differ between geography and history.
Also a questionaire was given to students of Kokugakuin-University Kugayama Senior High School about how they understand genre de vie.
As a result the author has found that the world history textbooks after World War II faithfully reflect the discussions about the way of constructing the subject of world history which have changed from stage to stage in the postwar history. For example, the development stage theory, the culture dispersal theory and the contemporary view theory, all of these correspond with how to make students understand the universality in the development of races and nations as appeared in the course of study revised in 1956. The concept of civilization history and the concept of Kulturkreis were both introduced into the revised course of study which was put in effect in 1963. And since then the theory of Kulturkreis has become the ruling theory until now.
On the other hand, the textbooks of geography have an intention of making students understand the relation between region and nature in accordance with the spirit of the revised edition of the course of study in 1956. The viewpoint of Kulturkreis is lacking consideration for the viewpoint of recognizing the world is not sufficient in systematic geography either.
According to the questinnaire to the senior high school students, students seem to be unaware of the omnipresence of different cultures even in the same natural region.
To sum up, what is first pointed out is that there is not enough conformity between world history and world geography. Secondly, the way of handling region tends to have no direct relation to Kulturkreis. Only when both subjects, world history and world geography, cover the same items, the former in terms of time and the latter in term of space, students' recognition of the world will be deepened much more.
So, the author wishes to stress that the concept of Kulturkreis, together with the basic items in world history, should be introduced into the classes of geography.

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In large cities, especially in Tokyo, the manufacturing industries have experienced remarkable structural change since the 1970's, which has been caused both by their internal factors such as technological innovation, changing demand of products and so forth, and by their external ones such as the legal restraint of location, the growing importance of the cities in the information flow and so on.
In order to make the above-mentioned change clear, it is reasonable to analize the manufacturing industries in the surrounding areas as well as in the core area.
In this paper the author attempts to clarify the change of the manufacturing industries and the supply & demand situation for their labor foces in the western suburbs, the so-called Tama Region, of the Tokyo Metropolis after the 1970's.

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