In recent years, the position of major ports in Japan, such as Keihin Port and Hanshin Port, which have been developed as hub ports of East Asia in the past, has been relatively lowered due to the remarkable rise of various East Asian ports such as Pusan Port and Shanghai Port. Therefore, Japanese government came up with the port policies of “selection” and “concentration” with the aim to strengthen international competitiveness of the major ports.
This research analyzed the changes in the import and export container flow at Shimizu Port, a port with relatively large handling activities as a local port, in inland clearance deposit and in relation with other ports.
Firstly, the import and export container Flow at Shimizu Port in the 1980s was compared against now.
It identified that Keihin Port is less influential in Shizuoka prefecture and there is an increasing trend in Shimizu Port to refuse to act as a feeder port of Keihin Port.
Secondly, a survey to manufacturers in Shizuoka prefecture revealed the import and export containers flow to identify that Central Shizuoka earns many dispatches at ports near Shimizu Port but Western Shizuoka is largely influenced by Nagoya Port and major trading partner changed from North America to various Asian countries.
Shimizu Port has experienced unique development for survival, based on our “selection” and “concentration” port policy that intends to enhance the sophistication and efficiency of focused major parts.

The nuts of the Japanese horse chestnut tree （Aesculus turbinata Blume） have long been a traditional ingredient of rice cakes in mountainous regions of Japan.　This food culture associated with the horse chestnut gradually declined because of the changing social situation in mountainous areas. However, in recent years, due to commercialized production, they have become popular products at Roadside Stations, MLIT registered resting and touristic service stations, which are widely spread across the country.　This study aims to document the commodification of this local resource on a national scale by focusing on the availability of horse chestnut rice cakes at those Roadside Stations across Japan.　Telephone interviews with employees at 964 stations clarified that horse chestnut products, such as rice cakes, rice crackers and fried cookies were sold in about one-quarter stations.　The fresh horse chestnut rice cakes were mainly made by individual producers and producer cooperatives.　The other preserved products were mostly produced by private companies.　We also found that the horse chestnuts for the products were either locally gathered or purchased from other regions through procurement networks.

The objectives of this paper are 1） to examine the historical changes in the spatial arrangements of San Jose’s Japantown （San Jose Nihonmachi）, a Japanese urban ethnic business enclave in California, and 2） to consider its geographical and historical nature and the reason for its persistence up to the present.
San Jose’s Japantown first took place in the Chinatown area of San Jose as a small cultural and economic hub for the outlying Japanese farm laborers in the late nineteenth century Santa Clara Valley. By the early 1910s, it had grown to a sizable integrated enclave of Japanese coethnic businesses and community organizations, and it had continued to exist as a bustling ethnic town until the outbreak of the Pacific War, even though it may have slightly declined in the 1930s.　Within a few years after the wartime internment, large number of Japanese Americans resettled in the San Jose area, and by the mid-1960s San Jose’s Japantown regained as many business establishments as there were in prewar days. Nowadays, it is thriving as an ethnic town with retail establishments, particularly Japanese restaurants, service industry offices, as well as community-based facilities. The number of these facilities does not seem to largely exceed that of the prewar Japantown. In general, this Japantown seems to stagnate at the stage of small-scale local hub for Japanese Americans in the area without drastic changes in its built environment.
It is well known that, while many Japantowns in California failed to exist as ethnic towns after World War II, San Francisco’s Japantown and Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo have regenerated as substantial Japanese ethnic business enclaves through the large-scale redevelopment processes from the late 1960s to the 1970s. Why only San Jose’s Japantown has remained without such large-scale urban renewal ? The following factors may explain the reason for this;1） the external factors such as the comparatively tranquil relationships with the host society, the lack of powerful urban planning which may destroy the ethnic communities, and the policy of the Redevelopment Agency of San Jose which tend to lay emphasis on the collaboration with local communities, and 2） the internal factors such as the collaborative efforts of the Japantown community as shown by the formation of the Japantown Community Congress of San Jose, a comprehensive umbrella organization of the Japantown area.

This paper analyzes childcare service provision focusing on labor supply of childcare workers, domestic roles of childcare workers, and occupational status of childcare worker in the region. The study area is Ishikawa Prefecture, which has good childcare provision with no children in the waiting list to the nurseries. The study area is divided for comparison, into rural Noto with declining population, and more urban Kaga with positive population growth.
The result shows that Noto has many long term childcare workers who work as regular employees, and childcare labor demand for new graduates is much smaller. First reason behindthese is that childcare demands are reduced by the declining birthrate in the region. Second, nurseries are important employment opportunity for women in this region. Finally, more childcare workers in the region belong to three generations household, obtaining support for the employment continuation from other members of the household.
Childcare labor demand for new graduates is larger in Kaga. Apart from expanding childcare needs, young women have greater number of alternative occupations. Also, many cannot work as regular employees because of their own 4 child-rearing and domestic work.
This study revealed that regional differences in supply and demand of childcare workers is better understood by taking account of gender roles in the society, as childcare workers, usually women, are simultaneously domestic service providers for their own family.