Natural forest in Outer Himalaya and norther fringe of the Gangetic Plain mainly consist of Sal (Shorea robusta) frest (Fig. 1). Shorea robusta is a large sub-deciduous tree belonging to Dipterocarpaceae. Sal tree is very useful local resource for society and people as materials of construction, electricity poles, sleepers of railway and fuel wood. Leaves also are used for fodder and for production of disposable plates for food as well as wrapping materials.
Seed of S. robusta yields 10-12 percent of a fatty oil. The oil has been utilized for cooking and illumination purposes, and has been used as adulterating ghee oil in India. The oil is called “Sal Butter” because it becomes solid under cool climate. Subsequently, Sal butter has come to be used as a substitute for cocoa butter in making chocolates since the 1960's. Because the melting point of pure sal butter is 36-37 degrees centigrade as same as human body heat. Development of such agro-business can be attributed to low price of sal seed as compared for cocoa. Extraction of sal buttert is a very unique instance of utilization of resources of the natural forest linked with international market except lumbering. Gathering system of sal fruit which consists of local villagers and domestic private company based on Kathmandu involves a hierarchical system, showing a simple dendric structure (Fig. 4). And the system is linked with the international market by export of sal butter (Fig. 4).
Sal butter extraction industry in Nepal depends on low price resources of natural forest and low personal expenditure in this area. However, it has a difficulty of constant supply of sal fruit because sal fruit is the products of natural forest its self of which production fluctuates largely from year to year. Sal butter is supplied to the international market as substitute of cocoa butter, therefore, it has no priority of price decision.
Regeneration of Shorea robusta forest is recognized in the forests located just behind small settlements scattering in Terai Plain and Swalik Hills, even if fruit collection is carried out there. However, intensive buring of forest floor before the fruit collection sometimes deteriorates its regeneration in forests located along the main motor road. The present state of utilization of sal fruit in such forests is concluded to be far from the sustainable use of natural resources (Fig. 9).

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the spatial structure of residential environment based on inhabitants evaluation in Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture. A questionnaire survey was conducted to get the evaluation data for the analysis. The questionnaire were distributed directly at random and collected by visit or mail; 503 were obtained as the effective answers.
The results of the analysis are summarized as follows:
(1) The evaluation of the residential environment is well-described by means of impersonal environment composed mainly of the physical attributes of the neighborhood, interpersonal environment composed mainly of the social attributes of the neighborhood and accessibility to living-related facilities. The best description of all is accessibility; impersonal environment comes to second, then interpersonal environment third.
(2) The area which satisfies the demands for accessibility locates around the civic center and the level of satisfaction for accessibility tends to decrease at it goes away from the center. This is provided by the correlation between the distance from the center and the level of satisfaction for accessibility. On the other hand, the level of satisfaction for impersonal environment and interpersonal environment could not be described by means of the distance from the civic center. The condition of impersonal environment and interpersonal environment depends on the characteristics of its location.
(3) The spatial structure of residential environment in Tsuchiura City is indicated by the combination of the zonal pattern and the sectorial pattern. The area which has a high evaluation of residential environment is seen in an area which both of the patterns are accumulated. It is distributed circularly near to the civic center. On the other hand, the area which an evaluation for residential environment is low is mainly found in the suburbs outside the sectorial pattern.

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The late 1980s saw the surge of building boom of “Resort Mansions” (apartment for second housing) at the fringe of greater metropolitan areas under the “bubble economy”. In 1988, 40% of dwelling in Resort Mansions sold in Japan in Yuzawa-machi. Yuzawa-machi, having skiing ground and hot spring, locates in 180km north from Tokyo (75 minutes by Shinkansen). I have analyzed some historical background for emergence of Resort Mansions in Nakako district, where it concentrates most intensity in Yuzawa-machi.
Nakako was cleared in the middle of Meiji era. Since first skiing land was established in 1931, some land owners of Nakako, who lived in the sorrounding district, run lodging houses along with cultivation of their lands. In the early 1970s, land improvement was implemented here, to mechanize paddy rice cultivation. However, by the will of the landowners, the northern part of Nakako has not been designated as Agricultural Conservation Area, which would prevent the rice field from non-agricultural uses. They expected for the future tourist development.
Such historical background implies following reasons might be thought for concentrations of Resort Mansions in this particular area; (1) land owners had little attachment to their land; (2) land owners were familiar with the idea of tourist development; (3) land improvement facilitated the establishment of infrastructure; (4) not being designated for Agricultural Conservation Area, the lands were ready for immediate development.
These factors, along with the proximity to Tokyo, matched the demand of the “bubble economy” and resulted in dramatic appearance of Resort Mansions.

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The geomorphological study and the radiocarbon datings of the sub-surface sediments in the Krishna delta, indicate that the strandline around 2, 200 years ago was located at more than 40km inland from the present river mouth, and the delta tront has prograded more than 5km in the last 250 years. These facts differ somewhat from the previous view on the formation of the alluvial plain in the east coast of India that has been thought to be closely related to sea level oscillations since the Holocene maximum transgression. The rapid progradation of the delta front may be caused by human impact in the upper reaches of the Krishna river, and more detailed data are required to confirm this hypotheses.

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