The quality of environment is dependent on the place . Some studies measure the quality of environment in terms of the levels of amenity and accessibility. Although it is not that easy to measure the levels of "Amenities", the number of studies available in this context is very high. In case of "Accessibility", the concept is clear, but the evaluation of its levels in terms of the citizen's satisfactions has not been thoroughly made. Mean time, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in relation to the geographical location have expanded for fields of application due to the advancement of the technology. Environmental issues including residential environment involve avariety of underlying and interwoven factors. As such, GIS can effectively be utilized both in analyzing such factors and in organizing environmental preservation programs . This study aims to develop a method for measuring and evaluating the accessibility to greenery natural environments. Two urban areas, Tokyo Metropolitan area and Utsunomiya are selected in this connection to collect basic data for developing the proposed method. In this connection, it is expected, firstly to make a preliminary evaluation of "Accessibility" to different kinds of public establishments, next, to develop a method for measuring the accessibility to vegetation covered open spaces in Tokyo metropolitanarea, and lastly, to develop the method of evaluation of accessibility to greenery natural environments which uses citizens' satisfaction and physical data such as traveling time by focusing Utsunomiya city and the surrounding.

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Behavior of contaminant elements, copper, zinc, cadmium and arsenic were traced in sediments, suspended solid and running river water of the Watarase river through 1992 .and 1994 to inform about the state of heavy metal pollution . Surface soils covered on slope surrounding the smelting work contains high level of copper and other elements and rushed into the stream after heavy rain. The running river water collected close to the Ashio bridge which is just nearby the smelter showed almost normal concentration of dissolved elements, but increase in the concentration of suspended elements was found in the same samples. The river water from the lower leach which accepted small stream from the mining waste ponds showed the three highest peaks at the Kamimatoh, twhich accepted small stream from the mining waste ponds showed the three highest peaks at the Kamimatoh, the Hara bridge, and the Mikuni bridge in their levels of the elements. Heavy contamination was detected on the flooding as to the suspended copper and arsenate.

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Because of rapid industrialization in East Asia, sulfur dioxide emissions in the region have been increasing, and they are expected to result in severe acid rain problems. In particular, China and Korea have been requested to introduce policies aimed at reducing sulfur emissions. The aims of this study were to develop an energyeconomic model that could then be used to analyse Korea's and China's investments in desulfurization. A dynamic optimization model was improved to estimate the effects of introducing low-sulfur fuels, emission desulfurization, improvements in energy efficiency, and changes in industrial structure. The model was calibrated using Japanese data from 1960 to 1990 on economic activities and desulfurization. It was confirmed that this model can reliably predict the impacts of desulfurization investments. The model was then applied to Korea and China to estimate the most efficient paths for emission desulfurization investment. These paths show that Korea has passed the best time for it to invest in this technology, while China would not be able to invest in emission desulfurization during the next 20 years. It is necessary for Japan to support the development of desulfurization policies by China.

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Yakushima Island is facing to the East China Sea, 800 km east of Shanghai and has been exposed to acid rain of which the annual mean pH is 4.65 and the annual mean precipitation is about 4, 300 mm. Because of its steep landform and thin soil layer, the effect of acid rain on plants, soil layer and freshwater should be estimated by classifying it into the direct one in a short term and the other in a long term. Especially, the long term effect is important in terms of the critical load of acid rain to a watershed. The effect of acid rain on freshwater should be treated by separating it hydrologically between the one due to surface and prompt subsurface runoff components during stormy days and the other due to delayed subsurface and groundwater runoff components during dry days. The observations of river water quality in the island were made at lower reach points in all major rivers and from the upper reach to lower reach in two large mountainous rivers in summer 1992 and winter 1994. Most river waters were low pH (5 to 7), alkalinity (less than 0.1 meq ? 1^-1), and electric conductivity (less than 40 μS cm^-1). The linear regression relations among these three indices were obtained with high correlation coefficients. The storm runoff observation of a large mountainous river in winter 1994 indicated that the low values in pH (min. 5.56), alkalinity (min. 0.0194 meq?1^-1) and ion concentrations were mainly caused by surface runoff during the short time at peak flow. Therefore, the long term effect of acid rain should be subtracted from that due to the storm runoff component.

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Aluminum tolerance of Japanese red pine trees were characterized in terms of the contents and distribution of aluminum among different organs. (1) The red pine trees were categorized into the non-aluminum accumulator plants. (2) The aluminum content was high in the leaf, periderm and mycorrhiza of the red pine trees. (3) Aluminum accumulated in red pine body was postulated to be removed by leaf abscission, periderm (cork-tissue) exfoliation and mycorrhiza falling. These findings suggest that the perennial pioneer tree, red pine, has superior functions of aluminum exclusion.

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Recently, policy makers in Japan have become aware of the need to curb the adverse effects of urban transport externalities, in particular the impact of urban transportation on the environment. This paper focuses on measuring the external effects of noise and vibration of urban transportation facilities. We discuss some of analytical and empirical issues. We conclude that the measurable external effect of noise and vibration by the hedonic approach. Firstly, physical environment survey of amenity including noise and vibration levels of Setagaya-ku in Tokyo, is conducted. Secondly, the hedonic approach is adopted to analyse the evaluation of external effect of noise and vibration. In conclusion, this paper found that the external effect of noise is about 5, 300 yen/m² ? dB and vibration is about 3, 300 yen/m² ? dB (These results are that land price is 750thousands ? yen/m² case.).

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We characterized the relationship between γ-glutamylcysteine dipeptidyl transpeptidase in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Cd ions. The transpeptidase activity increased in a Cd concentration ranging from 0 to 10 mM, whereas it decreased at concentrations above 300 mM. These results suggested that there are at least two Cd binding sites on the transpeptidase. The binding of Cd to the primary site, which has higher affinity for Cd ions, might activate the enzyme. The binding to the secondary site, which has lower affinity for Cd ions on the other hand, would be responsible for inactivation of the enzyme at higher levels of Cd.

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[in Japanese]

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