The person drawing up an economic policy cannot help obeying any economic theory. Anyone is a manservant of some kind of economic theory. However, he must also face to the reality. After a period of time, this is because policy effect is revealed by statistics numerical value. Which theory to choose in economics before the policy making became needless, if economics was converged by one latest theory, and he would take down half of his load. The work left behind by him will be how he hides the discrepancy between economic theory and real economic situation, in other words, what kind of excuse he makes. Actually, referring to a modern economic mathematic system, there are many economists thinking that the economics was unified. However, it is misunderstanding of people forgot economics is the member of the social science. It means that it takes reality away from economics to find universality like the natural science in economics. Modern mainstream economics is theories of the succession of neoclassical economics and, in ignoring reality, is a viewpoint to attach great importance to logical stringency. It is only a vulnerable castle on the unrealistic logic and is not the thing which can endure bombardment from reality. However, it is the present situation of the Japanese executive branch to draw up a policy based on the unrealistic logic. As example, I consider the reason why monetary policy of Bank of Japan (BOJ) under the Abe Administration cannot achieve an original aim at all in this article. I clarify a limit of the monetary policy by explaining that “reflationist theory” and the modern macroeconomics, on which BOJ have based a ground of the monetary policy, are not suitable for explaining real economy. At first, I survey the relationship between BOJ and reflationist, and the contents of changing monetary policy, then detail the logical background.

View full abstract

One of the major challenges on Japan’s road administration is to utilize the existing road network and maximize its stock effects under financial and spatial constraints. In order to achieve this purpose, it is important for road administrators to monitor road traffic conditions every time and carry out necessary traffic management under the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycles. In the past years, such a constant traffic monitoring had been difficult due to some technical and financial limitations. However, ETC2.0 probe system, which has been deployed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in recent years, is expected to make it possible to observe detailed road traffic conditions constantly in a wide range. Therefore, this paper firstly introduces the overview of ETC2.0 probe system and the characteristics of the probe data. Secondly, it summarizes how to utilize ETC2.0 probe data for analysing road traffic conditions and obtaining the various performance indices in order to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of traffic measures for “improving mobility and energy efficiency”, “making road traffic more environmentally-friendly and comfortable”, “improving safety and security” and “revitalizing local communities and strengthening international competitiveness”. At the end, case studies were conducted to demonstrate the analyses of travel time reliability as well as unsafe incidents (near misses). Through the case studies, it showed that road traffic conditions could be assessed more in detail by using ETC2.0 probe data.

View full abstract

In recent years, the Nankai megathrust earthquake has been in the spotlight due to the level of damage expected to affect a wide area. The Japanese government has launched a plan for the distribution of relief goods in the aftermath of the earthquake. However, the robustness of this plan to the likely actual operational conditions is an important question. This paper aims to provide an insight into such an operation from a logistics perspective based on the lessons learnt during previous disasters. Aichi prefecture, which is one of those expected to be affected by the earthquake, is selected as a case study. We suggest the abolition of secondary storage yards in order to increase operational efficiency. Details on the operation following this plan are provided such as the required number of trucks and tools as well as the specific roles of those involved in the operation.

View full abstract

In Japan, there is such an extremely high risk of natural disasters that construction firms play important roles, not only in infrastructure management, but also in disaster prevention and economic development for the society. However, due to the recent impoverishment of the industry, which afterward may cause a reduction in the quality level of the constructions, there has appeared to be an argument about how to re-design the tendering and contracting system. This study, reviewing the history of the contracting system for public works, reveals that maintaining construction quality and the existence and development of construction firms have so far been and should be considered properly on contracting system, considering the social impact the firms have on the society. Furthermore, the study concludes a fundamental direction to the future tendering and contracting system with a suggestion in which local construction function is considered.

View full abstract

This paper proposed a hypothesis about a method of narrative description in regional research and practical policy studies. Descriptive expression and analytical description as follows were presented with the real descriptive materials of victims of Minamata disease. (1) Descriptions were sorted by episodes, the backgrounds of geography, history, and ethnography, and discussion. (2) In discussion, analysts’ reflections and discoveries, including their attitudinal changes, were described. (3) The discussion focused on life, vitality and sustainability. (4) The discussion was described with the expectation to obtain agreement and attitudinal change of readers. The result suggested that the discrimination against bleaching fishermen in the area delayed the relief of victims of Minamata disease, and the regional division due to the appearance of modern factories was an underlying cause of Minamata disease. This method could be a qualitative analysis in regional research and practical policy studies.

View full abstract

In the near future, all the second-phase Shinkansen projects will be completed. On the other hand, additional construction of new Shinkansen lines may face severe reality in terms of cost. Single-track Shinkansen system has been proposed as a method of low-cost construction in a related research of this paper. The new system can reduce the total length of track by about 40 % as compared with the entire double-track line. It can also ensure service level of two trains per hour per direction with scheduled speed of almost 150 km/h. However, details on construction cost of single-track Shinkansen system have not been investigated yet. Therefore, in this research, it has been investigated how much construction cost is different for each type of infrastructure between the single-track sections and the double-track sections based on the construction contractual records of the conventional lines. An assumption was made that ratios of construction costs between single-track sections and double-track sections on the conventional lines are the same for the bullet train infrastructures. And unit costs of infrastructure for Shinkansen with single-track have been estimated for each of the roadbed section, bridge section, and tunnel section. As a result of trial calculation, in case of using existing stations instead of building brand-new stations and building single-track high-speed line between stations, the full standard double-track line costs 7.59 billion yen per kilometer, while it was found that the single-track Shinkansen system expends only 4.83 billion yen per kilometer. That is, the cost could be reduced by 36.3% compared with the double-track Shinkansen system.

View full abstract

In this study, the actual situation and problems of staying in Japan of graduates supported by “Asia Human Resources Fund” which conducted by the “Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry” and “Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology” are investigated. According to their adaptability to company and to society, graduates are divided into 4 groups (adaptive, society-adaption, company-adaption and not adaptive). Results showed that most students in adaptive group and society-adaption group are working in Japan continuously. Meanwhile, the main reason for those who leave Japan is “for family reason” (they cannot live with their family in Japan) and no social system for accepting their family also greatly influenced.

View full abstract

This paper aims to examine forestry education from the perspective of residents who live in Sasayama, Hyogo prefecture, Japan; an education that arose in an attempt to maintain a ‘sustainable utilization’ of local resources by the local residents. The purpose of forestry education is to some basic knowledge about forest areas, so they know how to look after such areas and can co-exist with the forest. Furthermore, this study suggests that the purpose of forestry education is the rebuilding of the relationship between people thorough the experiences on / about / in the forest. In addition to that, the opportunity of playing in the forest should be the purpose of forestry education because even children in rural areas felt afraid of going into the forest. Among residents, in collaboration with the local government and companies produce purchasable items such as desks made from locally sourced wood, and this is important for the local government’s ‘sustainable’ policy regarding forests. Forestry education has the possibility to build an interactive relationship between the local economy in partnership with environmental education, and this study details how such a partnership may be possible.

View full abstract

In this study, the author verified relationships between university student’s clothing and travel mode choice focusing on acceptance of sportswear and undress with aim to indicate an effect on people’s choice of cloth bringing by motorization. The measurements were three, degree to avoid attention from others, evaluation whether a sportswear would be ideal cloth for commuting to university (norm)/real cloth for commuting to university (acceptability). Students were requested to answer the three measurements each of travel mode. The results showed that norm and acceptability for sportswear while commuting were significantly different by travel mode. Students regarded sportswear while commuting by public transport as wrong cloth. By commuting modes, there were significant difference of acceptability to put on a sportswear. Student who commute by car had a tendency not to avoid attention from other people, and student who commute by public transport had a tendency of hesitation to put on a sportswear while commuting by train.

View full abstract

The Japanese Government’s policy, that has been implemented aiming at local communities’ revitalization and the political systems to promote the policy, has overwhelmingly prevailed throughout the nation for a few years. If the fundamentals of the policy require the revitalization of local community members’ ways of life, it indicates that the iterant Hermeneutic circle (Fujii, H. G. Gadamer; Nakano, M. Heidegger) of the present ideas and their prospects toward the future on the local residents’ ways of life would be indispensable. The proper differentiation of those ideas may be required in the circle. This study has analyzed the present ideas that local communities’ disappearance may be avoided by community revitalization and prospects toward the future, particularly focusing on criticisms against those ideas. The analysis results show that the “present ideas” are indicated to be based on neo-liberalism and globalism. However, the ideological foundations and prospects toward the future seem obscure. Likewise, the criticisms against those ideas are ambiguous in their understanding. Criticisms against the present thoughts that local communities’ disappearance could be saved by community revitalization are not sufficient enough as the antithesis of those ideas that include the thought that the changes of community members’ ways of life may lead to community revitalization. Therefore, disputes between the idea that local communities’ disappearance may be avoided by community revitalization vs. criticism against this idea would not be theoretically sublated, resulting in the realization of community members’ more preferable ways of life.

View full abstract