This study used facility-level financial statement data and basic data for childcare facilities to examine whether financial soundness differs depending on the type of childcare facility. A safety analysis showed that small-scale childcare services （‘shokibo-hoiku-jigyo’ in Japanese） are highly safe. However, this is believed to be attributed to the characteristics of these facilities, such as minimum fixed assets and low debt. Furthermore, a profitability analysis did not clearly show the differences in profitability based on the type of facility. The analysis of revenue and expenses showed low revenue and expenses for small-scale childcare services.

　　When classified by facility type, small-scale childcare services have a high level of safety due to having few fixed assets and little debt. The profitability of small-scale childcare services does not differ from that of nursery centers （‘hoikusho’ in Japanese）, but their revenues and expenses are smaller. In contrast, nursery centers have more fixed assets and debt, making them less safe. They also have higher revenues and expenses than small-scale childcare services. Moreover, certified children centers （‘nintei-kodomoen’ in Japanese） may be safer but less profitable than nursery centers, depending on financial indicators.

　　As Japan’s birthrate continues to decline, the implications for providing stable childcare are as follows. The safety of nursery centers is relatively low, even some small-scale childcare services （considered highly safe facilities） have low safety. To increase the safety of childcare facilities, childcare businesses also need to pay attention to profitability, which is even more important for nursery centers with relatively low safety. The childcare business and profitability are contradictory aspects, but maintaining a certain level of profitability is necessary for stable business operations. Local governments must encourage facilities to operate appropriately and monitor their operations to maintain profitability. Moreover, facilities with low profitability may be forced to close due to declining safety. Measures are needed to allow such facilities to close smoothly without compromising the quality of childcare provided. Furthermore, in small-scale childcare services, it is necessary to verify whether childcare expenses are adequately covered and whether the official prices and subsidies for different facilities are appropriate.

　　As a future issue, although the small-scale childcare services business model has a high level of safety, disparities between facilities may widen. Therefore, it is necessary to verify whether safety can be maintained long-term. Furthermore, this study only analyzed data from childcare facilities in Nagoya City, highlighting the need for a national-level study. Moreover, as this analysis is based on cross-sectional data, some areas exist where facility-specific factors have not been fully considered. For example, differences in a facility’s management policies, regional characteristics （user attributes, location, etc.）, and childcare quality may affect profitability. Therefore, detailed panel-data analyses are also required. Finally, a database on the financial status of childcare facilities must be created to enable such verification.

JEL Classification:H75

　　In recent years, to address the environmental problems caused by rapid urbanization, the Chinese government has proposed a new urbanization strategy that focuses on “human beings”. Urban agriculture has become an important part of this strategy due to its multifunctionality. As a demonstration for China’s new-type urbanization construction, the Xixian New Area in Shaanxi Province has considered urban agriculture from the beginning of planning and planned an urban agriculture development area that integrates natural and urban functions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify the perceptions, evaluations and policy needs of residents regarding urban agriculture in the Xixian New Area, China. For achieving the goal of our study, we set the following hypothesis for verification:“Residents interest, perception and evaluation of urban agriculture are influenced by socio-cultural backgrounds, policies and their own farming experiences, which affects policy needs of urban agriculture.” We conducted both person-to-person interviews with the governors and a questionnaire survey on the perceptions, evaluations and policy needs of residents regarding urban agriculture in Xi’an City and Xianyang City for hypothesis verification. In addition, we introduced Structural Equation Modeling （SEM） to the questionnaire results to determine the relationships between resident attributes, awareness of new-type urbanization policies and attitudes toward urban agriculture.

　　Through questionnaire and interview surveys, we clarified the current state of urban agriculture development in the Xixian New Area, Shaanxi Province, as well as residents perceptions, evaluations and policy needs regarding urban agriculture. Specifically, residents highly valued urban agriculture functions for improving the ecological environment, and showed strong interest and expectations regarding food safety and agricultural experiences and education. In addition, residents wanted to participate in urban agriculture through tourism/experience-based, education/participation based, production/technical-based, etc. programs and seek policy support from both farmers （direct） and consumers （indirect） to promote the sustainable development of urban agriculture. On the other hand, the interview surveys also revealed that problems such as restrictions on land use and conservative thinking among farmers during the process of actually building urban agriculture become obstacles that restrict further development.

　　Therefore, to mitigate the economic, social, environmental and ecological problems caused by urbanization through urban agriculture and to achieve sustainable urban development, it is necessary to formulate and implement policies that consider local conditions and the needs of residents.

JEL Classifications:Q1

　　In this paper, we apply Ramsey-Boiteux pricing rule to the water pricing in Otsuchi Town （Iwate prefecture） and consider the determinant patterns of water pricing. Additionally, we seek to identify which types of individuals are prioritized when determining the actual water pricing system in Otsuchi Town. Firstly, we estimate the price elasticity of water demand and obtain a cost function derived by theoretical model. Secondly, we derive Ramsey-Boitex pricing rule by using the price elasticity of demand and compare the pricing rule we derived with the real prices. As a result, we find that the elasticity for household consumption is the lowest and that for firms and for public are almost same. Moreover, we find that Otsuchi Town puts a weight on the household’s utility as compared to the firm’s one.

JEL Classifications:H42;H43;R50

　　Using the Kamine Zoo in Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture, as a case study, we estimated the indirect economic impact of the zoo on the local community. The amount of money spent at the zoo by all visitors, including admission fees and refreshments, and the amount spent in the city by visitors for whom the zoo was the main purpose of their trip, were defined as consumption activities attributable to the zoo. In addition, the annual total amount and the economic spillover effects induced by these activities on Ibaraki Prefecture and Japan as a whole were estimated using an Input-Output analysis. The amount of money spent directly at the zoo by visitors was estimated to be 319 million yen per year, and the economic ripple effect on the prefecture as a whole was estimated to be 259 million yen. The percentage of visitors who visited the zoo as the main purpose of their trip was about 64%, and the amount of money they spent in the city was about 3.3 billion yen per year, with an estimated economic ripple effect on the prefecture of 1.6 billion yen. While the above is an estimate of the value of production, this study also estimated the value of induced gross value added, induced employment income, and induced number of employees, and found that 49 jobs were created by direct spending and 441 employees were induced by consumption activities in the city. For reference, a similar monetary estimate was made based on the economic ripple effects nationwide, and the total ripple effect of direct expenditures and consumption activities combined was approximately 7.78 billion yen, and the number of induced employees was 604.

JEL Classification:R3

　　This study explored a process for identifying resident needs and developing optimized park planning policies, using Sanuki City as a case study. A questionnaire was administered to assess expectations for parks, followed by a quantitative analysis using a rank-ordered logit model for conjoint analysis. This allowed for the estimation of the willingness to pay for different park attributes by demographic groups. The results showed that although “quiet and relaxing” parks were most valued overall, preferences varied significantly by resident attributes. Nonetheless, there was a common desire for multifunctional park use across all groups.

　　Based on the analysis, a hypothetical park plan was proposed, and its selection probability among residents simulated. The plan was generally supported by the broader proportion of the population. However, it showed limited appeal to households with young children.

　　Recognizing the diversity of expectations, we propose the holding of resident-participatory workshops as a potential avenue for further advancements. These workshops would use data-driven insights and simulation results to guide discussions and support the formulation of more targeted and effective park policies.

JEL Classification:R52, R58, Q51

　　The term “environment” refers to the external world surrounding living organisms, and its object and scope are diverse. This study clarified the image and meaning of “environment” as held by municipalities selected by the government as Environmental Model Cities. Yusuhara in Takaoka-gun, Kochi Prefecture, which was designated as an environmental model city by the government in 2008, was used as a case study of a municipality under investigation. We test the hypothesis that Yusuhara has changed from a negative image town where the geographical conditions and climate used to be harsh for living, and where the town was described as “nothing but nature,” to a positive image of a rich natural environment through activities as an environmental model city, and discuss the factors behind this change.

　　The results of the analysis indicate that in municipal town histories, the meaning of “environment” is diverse, often referring to “life,” “society,” “sanitation,” “education,” and other similar factors. The proportion of “nature” has increased in recent years, and it is often used as a proper noun in the names of municipal divisions and projects. In older town histories, “nature” often had the connotation of “naturally occurring,” and was often used negatively to describe an environment that was poor in agricultural production or severe enough to cause natural disasters. In recent years, however, it has come to be seen as an energy resource, such as solar power, wind power, hydraulic power and biomass.

　　In addition, abundant nature is recognized as having a non-depleting use value. Furthermore, it can be a tourist resource as a scenic spot or a famous landmark. Therefore, the idea of diverting resource use arose as a result of the growing reaffirmation of the area as a different kind of local resource when changes occurred in the local community, such as industrial transitions and population changes.

　　The change in attitude toward reassessing the existence of harsh nature into a positive manner can be attributed to the fact that it is now recognized as a local resource.

JEL Classification:Q2, Q51, R11

　　This study proposed an assortative Minimum Spanning Tree （MST） visualization method that represents each country using feature vectors based on industry shares considering both upstreamness and downstreamness. MST was constructed by linking only highly similar country pairs. Regions such as Western Europe and Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, Australia, and Turkey （BRIIAT） were treated as categories to analyze whether countries within the same group show significantly higher industrial structure similarity.

　　Using World Input-Output Tables for 2000 and 2014, we evaluated the visual detectability of assortative components, Global Value Chain （GVC） lengths, anomalies, and their temporal changes. The analysis showed that in 2014, Western, Southern, Northern, and Eastern Europe, as well as East Asia, exhibited significantly larger numbers of assortative links, while in 2000, only Western Europe and East Asia did. This indicates that regional groupings are more similar than cross-regional ones, and that regional homophily has grown over time.

　　The visualization also revealed a pattern in which countries with standard GVC feature vectors are likely to be positioned centrally, while those with distinct or anomalous ones are periphal. Moreover, most countries’ industrial characteristics were captured using the top three GVC-based feature values.

　　These findings demonstrate the potential of the assortative MST visualization method for structural comparison, anomaly detection, and temporal analysis in global industrial networks.

JEL Classifications:C1, C5, F2

　　This study conducted an early assessment of disaster damage by utilizing data released promptly after the event and reflecting municipal industrial characteristics. The analysis focused on the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake （January 2024）, targeting six heavily affected municipalities in Ishikawa Prefecture:Nanao, Wajima, Suzu, Shika, Anamizu, and Noto.

　　Damaged sites were first identified using geographic information, and municipal-level estimates of production, capital, and labor were constructed to evaluate private capital stock losses. A Cobb–Douglas production function was then applied to estimate capital stock losses and sales declines by municipality and industry.

　　The analysis revealed that the estimated capital stock damage corresponded closely with the actual housing destruction, slope failures, and inundation observed in the region. Moreover, the production function estimated at the municipal and industrial levels were found to be reasonably consistent with the industrial structures and sectoral characteristics in terms of labor and capital elasticities. Finally, by combining capital stock damage estimates with the production function, production losses that reflect the specific disaster impacts on each municipality were derived.

JEL Classification:E32;R11;R15

　　The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether roof-mount power purchase agreements （PPA） for solar power generation are feasible at public facilities in Wakayama Prefecture. First, a calculation model was constructed based on previous reports and examples of PPAs in local governments. The evaluation index used in the calculation model is the IRR, which is generally used as an index for investment decisions. Next, several public facilities in Wakayama Prefecture were assumed, and the facility utilization rates were set accordingly. Finally, the feasibility of roof-mounted PPAs at each public facility was analyzed. The analysis revealed that the feasibility of roof-mounted PPAs is significantly affected by the increase or decrease in the amount of PV electricity generated in accordance with the change in the facility utilization rate. In addition, municipalities that expect electricity procurement costs to rise in the future are strongly required to review their electricity procurement methods for the public facilities they manage, regardless of conventional electricity contracts, and the PPA project is effective as one such review proposal.

JEL Classification:Q29, Q53

　　This study proposed a new disaster waste prediction model that accounts for future building stock and flow and verified its effectiveness.　Based on the waste quantity estimates obtained using the model, we conducted a comparative analysis with previous studies.　As a result, significant differences were observed in the following two points.　First, in the estimating building stock quantities, the estimates in this study tended to be higher than those in previous studies.　Second, in estimating disaster waste generation quantities, the estimated values in this study were lower than those in previous studies.　These differences are believed to primarily stem from variations in data selection and modeling approaches.　This model also highlighted the challenge of directly reflecting population decline, suggesting that improving prediction accuracy requires combining population dynamics with building stock analysis.　Furthermore, this study clarifies that the estimation represents a baseline scenario that does not incorporate recent policy trends, such as vacant house countermeasures, thereby highlighting the model’s essential preconditions and limitations.

JEL Classification:O18, Q54