Decisions in public choice tend to be reached based upon necessary risk communications among various stakeholders concerning the choice in issue, although decisions in management of private organizations can be regarded formed upon an edited set of informations obtained from various sources. Conceptual importance of risk communication demands scientists in policy informatics studying public choice to engage in their own scientific researches enabling them to redesign the process of public choice realizing “informed consent.”
A theoretically sound structure of risk science should not lack the appropriate conceptual consideration of risk communication, since both, useful risk assessment and productive risk management should be based on efficient risk communication. A person's perception of risk depends upon the person's experience of risks, thus making perception truly unique to that person. Undoubtedly, the manner in which a person assesses perceived risks depends on the value judgement of the person, again rendering risk assessment very much specific to that person. Similar arguments can be applied to action plans organized by the person to minimize the estimated negative impacts caused on account of facing risks. Risk communication must be regarded as extremely personal, and completely unique to the person in question. This uniqueness in risk communication requests conceptually inclusive design of “mindful learning process for other actors' risk perception, and counter risk actions.
In the case of medical decisions, wherein the concept of “informed consent” has been legally established, risk communication between a patient and the medical staff is implemented according to the patient's personal requirement in order to obtain the so called “informed consent.” Like medical scientists, scientists in policy informatics should be prepared to maintain and display academic loyalty, in order to develop the concept of “informed consent,” which is useful both in research and reality, as it acknowledges the personal uniqueness of risk communication.
In the past three decades, researchers in policy informatics have been conducting various empirical studies on citizen participation processes in order to formulate a better process of public choice with full, free, and fair participation. It is therefore unfortunate to point out that these efforts have resulted in limited success. In our endeavors to offer society a more promising, universally designed process of public choice, we should pay sincere academic attention to the concept of risk communication. In other words, we should to be prepared to create new knowledge for empowering risk communication in society and making the better use of risk communication. The paper presents the authors joint-efforts on, firstly, creating a promising design concept of decision process to achieve informed consent in public choice based upon risk communication and secondly, describing the related studied on the subject. and lastly, proposing an acceptable image of center for creating knowledges on risk communication.

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Using potential energy in wastes is the first step toward the society based on recycling and can be a quick intermediate procedure against global warming. Energy system is essential not only for our production and consumption but also for recycling materials. Therefore, restructuring it is one of the key issues to create a sustainable environment.
We aimed to evaluate a policy introducing the tax on emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) and the subsidy for industries producing energy from wastes. Burnable wastes consist mainly of carbon-neutral biomass, but methane gas is emitted in the air from wastes left out in the open, which has 21 times as high greenhouse effect as carbon dioxide. Adequate treatment of waste is expected to reduce the emission of methane, and contribute to many other effects such as saving energy resources, material recycle and the creation of employment.
A socioeconomic model simulation was examined as prior evaluation of policy measures. The model is based on I/O model and considered the flow of wastes and energy, and new industries which produce energy from wastes and the economic policies of the tax and the subsidy were introduced in the model. On the restriction of total emission of GHG, GDP was maximized as objective function. The effect of the policies on reducing GHG emission and promoting new industries are examined and the optimum tax rate is considered..

JEL classification: Q42, Q48

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A commercial area in the center of Sapporo has been divided into two areas around Odori Station and Sapporo Station. The two areas have independent characters. JR Tower opened at Sapporo Station in March, 2003 causing consumer to shift to the area around Sapporo Station.
An underground passage will connect the commercial areas around Sapporo Station and Odori Station. The plan will be an improvement over the current pedestrian priories in the aboveground traffic environment.
Analyzing impact of changes in consciousness structure and consumer behavior due to improvement in commercial areas is useful. We analyzed the changes in the structure of resident consciousness and consumer behavior caused by urban renewal projects. To investigate consciousness, we surveyed about 1,800 households in Sapporo. The survey items are examinee attribution, everyday shopping action, consciousness about underground passage and request for aboveground improvement, and sense of value and total evaluation of the department stores in the city center.
In addition, changes in consumer behavior caused by the opening of JR Tower affected the sales structure of the department stores in both areas. To investigate the impact of those changes, we determined the correlation of changes in sales among those stores. By analyzing the resident consciousness and impact, we examined the commercial and traffic environments in Sapporo city center.

JEL classification: C32, R00, R40

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Knowledge has recognized as the driving force of economic growth and the primary source of competitiveness in the world market. So, since the 1990s, the Regional Innovational System has been highlighted as one of the new industrial development strategies in a knowledge-base economy. This paper aims to present a suggestion by examining correlation between Regional Innovative capacity and innovation activity of enterprise. This analysis is done by the factor analysis, the cluster analysis and the rank correlation analysis. The regional characters as the innovative environment are extracted by using the innovative capacity index.
These results concerned with building up a Regional Innovation System to foster regional industry in Korea.

JEL classification: R11, R12, R58

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The 21^st century is referred to as the century of the environment. Financial and insurance service businesses have now set the basic direction toward environmental consideration for regional environmental problems and global environmental problems in the regional economy.
Financial and insurance service businesses seem to have few aspects that motivate them to be engaged in environmental activities.
It is actually quite recent that they started to make contributions to the regional economy in a tangible way in view of sustainable development. Among all, non-life insurance companies have developed many insurance products that cover environmental risks. So-called environmental insurance covers regional environmental problems and features functions to prevent or lower environmental risks of other industries in the regional economy.
Once a regional environmental problem arises, enormous damage occurs and companies in the region must make considerable compensation for the damage. Environmental insurance covers environmental risks. Therefore, it allows companies in the region to secure finances for compensatory payment in the regional economy and also contributes to early purification of environmental pollution and relief for victims.
Environmental insurance checks the influences of each company's activities towards the environment in a preliminary study at the time of the insurance contract; has a certain degree of environmental conservation function; is one of the effective and efficient methods; and plays an important role in the regional economy.
More specifically, it is evident that the role of environmental insurance will vitalize and facilitate the regional economy. Insurance products of non-life insurance companies have four functions: a compensatory function, loss control function, financial function (investment and loan function), and an information offer function.
This paper mainly examines environmental insurance's influences on and contributions to the regional economy based on actual examples of environmental insurance products from the viewpoint of the compensatory and loss control functions of environmental insurance; and, as the result, aims to reveal the relationship between environmental insurance and the regional economy.

JEL classification: M52, Q59, R11

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We analyze the change of determinants of internal long-distance migration in Japan from 1955 to 2000 by 5-year-ageing processes. It is one of the most basic and important methods to analyze population phenomena by 5-year-age-groups. We have, however, only a few preceding papers using this method in Japan. Area division is Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Tokai, Hokuriku, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu (Okinawa Prefecture is omitted). We use net migration model: (1) dependent variable is net migration rate calculated using national census data by 5 year age groups and (2) independent variables are real personal income per capita IR, and 7 climate variable (average temperature AT, highest temperature HT, lowest temperature LT, number of snowfall days SN, number of sunshine hours SS, humidity HM, precipitation PR).
The main results of our analysis are summarized as follows.
(1) Growth of real personal income by capita after World War II affected reduction of reaction speed β of net migration caused by regional income differentials in aging process form 10-19 to 15-24. β declined as regional income differentials reduced.
(2) 7 Climate Variables affected net migration on the whole. AT or Warming Index worked to raise net migration rates of thirties or more after oil crises.
(3) It was not clear whether real personal income growth affected to change reaction speed γ of net migration caused by regional income differentials or not.

JEL classification: R23

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The effect of a reduction of import tariff rates by importing country can be regarded as a foreign aid to the exporting country: the importing country as the “donor” and the exporting country as the “recipient”. This paper examines the effect of reduction of import tariff rates on welfare levels both of the donor and the recipient countries from a dynamic macroeconomic viewpoint, using a two-country, two-sector overlapping generations model.
We show that the reduction of import tariff rates reflects not only the terms of trade effect, appeared in the static framework, but also the capital accumulation effect, only appeared in the dynamic framework on welfare levels of both countries. In special, the latter effect depends on the quantities of trade and the degree of capital accumulation, both of which are determined by the magnitudes and the difference in time preferences of two countries.

JEL classification: F43, O11

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The Chinese government is examining to introduce some environmental and energy policies like as the fuel tax, mileage regulation or tax reduction to low-emission vehicles, to the situation that the load rests upon environmental energy by the rapid growth of automobile market in Chinese. In this paper, we evaluated the environmental or economic impacts generated by introducing such environmental and energy policies by applying the dynamic computable general (DCGE) equilibrium model.
From the results of numerical simulation, we obtained the some implications that the setting of high fuel tax level was necessary to regulate fuel consumption more effectively, mileage regulation was most effective policy to fuel reduction and the tax reduction like as Green tax or subsidy policy was necessity to change the type of car to low-emission vehicles.

JEL classification: H23, Q51, Q58

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The purpose of this research is to investigate unemployment patterns in different areas in order to make proposals regarding employment and unemployment policies. Unemployment patterns are analyzed by dividing the rate of total unemployment into two factors: the cyclical unemployment rate and the structural unemployment rate. The structure of employment and unemployment is not uniform across the country; each area has its own unique structure suggesting that employment and unemployment policies need to be established on a regional basis.
The UV curve was drawn from flow analysis theory by supposing a Cobb-Douglas production function. Regression analysis was conducted with time series data from areas including Miyagi Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima Prefectures. The circulation factor variable used is GDP gap, the wage factor variable used is the labor distribution rate, the structural factor variable used is the specialization coefficient of employees in secondary industries and population movement factor variable used is the rate of social increase and decrease. Unemployment is analyzed by dividing the total rate of unemployment for each area into cyclical unemployment and structural unemployment.
The following five results could be obtained:
1. Trends in structural unemployment and cyclical unemployment can be divided into four groups depending on the region's work categories ;
2. Based on the analysis using a Phillips curve, in areas with downward rigidity in wages, the rate of total unemployment goes up greatly;
3. Employees in secondary industries are mainly manufacturing employees who are comparatively difficult to dismiss. Accordingly, the total rate of unemployment is low, but there is a tendency for the structural unemployment rate to increase.
4. Employees in tertiary industries are mainly service industry workers who can be easily dismissed. Therefore, the rate of total unemployment increases and the rate of cyclical unemployment rises with changes in business conditions.
5. The factor with the high unemployment rate is mainly the mismatch of wages in the very large area of the rate of structural unemployment.

JEL classification: J64

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This paper analysed the effect of Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) on bilateral food trade with East Asian countries by applying the panel data econometrics approach to provide empirical evidence. The results indicated the existence of a complementary effect in the cases of ASEAN4 countries and China, suggesting that FDI was mainly the vertical type that promotes bilateral trade. In contrast, only an export complementary effect was detected in the cases of Hong Kong and Singapore, suggesting that FDI was mainly the horizontal type, as Japanese affiliates started to buy intermediate goods from their home country, Japan. In the cases of Korea and Taiwan, a substitution effect was found, suggesting that FDI was the horizontal type, with local production more efficient than importing goods from Japan. Japanese Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) have been interested in using the ASEAN4 countries and China as production bases, and in accessing local markets of the Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs). The promotion of inward FDI policy in East Asia by the Japanese food industry should be achieved by more trade liberalization in the case of ASEAN4 and China but, to a lesser extent in the case of NIEs.

JEL classification: P45, Q17, R11, R12

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We estimated the regional Farrell measure of technical efficiency and the Malmquist total factor productivity index of the Philippine rice sector. Using the one-output four-input model for the period during 1971-1990, the results showed that the total factor productivity was only slightly positive during this period. Luzon Island experienced strong positive growth of total factor productivity as well as the technological change during the post-Green Revolution era in the late 70s when the second generation modern varieties were introduced. Although the change in inefficiency was quite small, the inefficient production continued in some regions such as Central and Eastern Visayas. The negative growth in the late 80s suggests that the growth of the output could not catch up with the growth of input levels.

JEL classification: O13, O33, Q16

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The maritime trade related risks from invasive species in a nation depend, inter alia, on the countries from which goods are being imported. In the United States, the USDA's APHIS routinely uses inspections to screen arriving ships at seaports for invasive species. Given this state of affairs, we first use queuing theory to construct a simple model of maritime trade and seaport inspections with one importing nation (Home) and two exporting nations. We then derive a ratio criterion that specifies a condition under which it makes sense for a seaport manager in Home to grant favorable regulatory treatment to the imports from one or the other exporting country. This country of origin rule depends on the mean time it takes to inspect ships from the two exporting countries and on the dollar value of the imports from these two countries.

JEL classification: F18, Q56, Q58

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The disaster could be classified into 2 major types, ‘natural disaster' and ‘environmental disaster'. The environmental disaster is thought to be classified into ‘disaster from environment destruction', ‘disaster from environment pollution', and ‘disaster from environment inflexibility'. Most of enormous disasters can be considered to be composed of natural disaster and environmental disaster.
Bangladesh is one of the serious poor countries in the world, and it has been suffering many kinds of disasters, such as cyclones, floods, droughts, arsenic contaminated drinking water and infectious diseases. In this study, arsenic contamination of drinking water in Bangladesh is focused on, which can be regarded as a typical combination of natural disaster and environmental disaster. In Bangladesh, arsenic contamination is found in the ground water from wells which were built with assistance of other countries to reduce the risk of infectious diseases. After the arsenic contamination was revealed, the measures for arsenic contamination have been provided by other countries and international organizations. However, it becomes clear that Bangladesh people accept few of them. Why ? After 3 investigations in this study, the reason could be concluded; temporal proposals and provisions of techniques to reduce the risk of drinking water contamination have been promoted by other countries without consideration of local people's traditional ways of life so that they became reluctant to be accustomed to those techniques.
From above recognitions, the purpose of this study is aimed at analyzing the relationship between arsenic contamination and social environment in Bangladesh. First, interview with Bangladesh people was carried out with corporation of local NGO. Second, the factors for satisfaction with drinking water are analyzed. Third, the unhappiness function is set up. Finally, the latent factors of incredulity with technical supports from other countries are disclosed.

JEL classification: I18, I31, I38

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Conventions bring a huge economic impact to cities. Many cities are making an effort to host conventions. As a result, competitions for inviting conventions between cities are fierce. In marketing cities as convention's destination, it is indispensable to increase the attractiveness of the destination itself.
The objective of this study is to investigate the determinants of customer satisfaction with the convention host city. Using a convention attendees' empirical data, we develop a structural equation model explaining customer satisfaction with the convention host city.
The study found that 4 factors; “encountering special local food and souvenirs”, “reputation of convention facility”, “attractiveness of sightseeing”, and “accessibility to the convention site” are the key points to improve attendees' customer satisfaction level. Also the study clarified that improved attendees' customer satisfaction level is directly linked to higher intention of revisiting and reputation as a convention host city.

JEL classification: M39, R58

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The Nagoya City Museum is found in the Fushimi area of Nagoya and is located between two large commercial complexes in the Nagoya CBD (Central Business District). The purpose of the study was to analyze the walking behavior of visitors to the CBD area; 1,825 questionnaires were distributed to museum visitors and 499 (27.34%) were collected.
As would be expected the visitor demographics varied slightly according to the nature of the exhibitions being held. The following findings were drawn from the data :
(1) The typical visitor unit consists of a pair of women in their forties or older, traveling by train from outside the city and visiting several museums.
(2) The average number of facilities visited by the respondents is 3.11, about the same as visitors to other facilities such as theaters; however, the time spent inside the CBD (except the museum) is about 201 minutes, which is longer than the time visitors spent in other CBD facilities.

JEL classification: L82, O22

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We already have conducted on-site surveys on daily shopping behavior in Shanghai, Taipei, and Fukuoka City and reported elsewhere the characteristics of daily shopping behavior of consumers in Shanghai and Taipei cities. However, we have yet to compare the characteristics of consumers among these three cities.
This paper aims to compare the characteristics of daily shopping behaviors of consumers among these three cities to explore their similarities and differences. The on-site interview surveys that have been conduced for shoppers at shopping establishments in these three cities are designed to compare daily shopping behaviors of consumers among different countries. For the purpose, first we pick up seven typical commodities that cover daily shopping behaviors: fresh foods, general foods, home electric appliance, household utensils, personal belongings, street clothes, and home clothes. Second, we classify their shopping destination into seven retail categories: department store, suburban shopping center, specialty store, supermarket, convenience store, neighborhood shopping street, and market. In the interview surveys, we asked the respondents how often they go shopping to buy these typical commodities, at what destination they buy them, and how much they spend on them per each shopping trip. Besides these seven commodities we also asked the respondents about their eating out behaviors with respect to how often they go eating out and how much per eating out they spend.
With this descriptive framework we compare the similarities and difference of daily shopping behaviors of consumers in three cities in terms of shopping trip frequency, destination retail categories, and expenditure per shopping trip for each of seven commodities and eating out behavior. Furthermore, dividing the respondents in three age groups at the age of 10s and 20s, 30s and 40s, and over 50s, we also apply the above same analyses to these three age groups to explore how consumer behaviors change generation to generation.
Major findings are as follows: To buy fresh foods, almost all consumes in Fukuoka go to supermarket while those in Shanghai and Taipei use traditional markets. For all three cities, the older the age of consumers the more frequent shoppers they become for fresh foods, while the opposite is true for street clothes.

JEL classification: D12, R10

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Lake Kasumigaura is located in the southern part of Ibaraki prefecture and is an important water source of the basin. However, water quality of the lake has been worse than the environmental standards for water sources since the period of high economic growth. Today, some kinds of technology to reduce environmental loads on Lake Kasumigaura are being developed. In addition, some public projects are also being implemented.
In order to utilize public finances efficiently for environmental improvement, it is necessary to evaluate technologies and public projects properly. Therefore, we set up a frame of evaluation and actually evaluated some alternatives.
Based on the result of evaluation, we discussed problems of present fiscal management. Distribution of actual financial expenditure for water quality improvement in Lake Kasumigaura Basin is different from the order of efficiency. This may be because of sectionalism among public sectors. Integrative organization for water quality improvement is essential to realize proper evaluation.

JEL classification: Q52, Q53, Q58

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