The author investigated the distribution of the multi-storey (three or more storey) apartment houses in Sendai and adjacent cities, Izumi and Natori, classifying them into three types, company or official, private, and public apartment houses. Also, he surveyed the changes in the distribution during the last fifteen years, and examined some of the characteristics of the three types of houses respectively.
The results of this study are as follows:
1) The number of multi-story apartment houses have increased greatly in the last fifteen years; however, they still constitute a small share of residential dwellings. And the high-rise apartment houses have increased in recent years.
2) There are many multi-storey company of official apartments in the residential areas of the city. These houses are owned mainly by governmental, finaincal, and construction- industrial institutions, reflecting the changing function of Sendai as an administrative city of Tohoku.
3) The number of multi-storey private apartment houses have increased very rapidly in recent years, especially around the C. B. D. Many of dwellers of these apartment houses benefit because of the close proximity to their working places. Also, a part of these buildings is often used as offices or stores.
4) Many multi-storey public apartment houses are located in the suburbs in large clusters. This type of apartment complex is usually constructed on public land or on the land where public buildings existed in the past.

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In Sendai, the macroscopic distribution of population density from the city center to the suburbs was approximated by a function of the distance from the city center in the pre-World War II period, as given by the Newling Model. But, after World War II with the establishment of new residential districts beyond the former non-residential districts (ex. temples, graveyards, factories, etc.) which were at the periphery of Old Sendai, the population density from the city center to the suburbs developed two maxima in the old and new sites (Fig. 3).
Therefore, the spatial pattern shows a double-donut structure (Fig. 1). Both the inner and outer districts of high population density show two incomplete circles. Also, when considering the course of its isopleths, the spatial pattern of population density does not show a concentric ring pattern. As a matter of fact, it shows a irregular star-shaped pattern which reflects the spatial pattern of topography and transportation routes.
In general, the dwelling area per person is closely related to the urban structure which is composed of various types and intensities of land use. But, the dwelling area per person is not distributed in accordance with a function of the distance from the city center in Sendai. Also, the distribution of dwelling area per person does not show a concentric ring pattern, but it shows a biased and complex pattern (Fig. 2). For instance, in the CBD of Sendai, where the land use is highly productive and efficient, the dwelling area per person has a high value in the office district and a low value in the central shopping street (Fig. 4). In the outer zone of Sendai, where the population density and house density are low, the dwelling area per person varies over a wide range, according to the residential environment and the socio-economic hierarchy of the dwellers. Namely, there is a strong correlation between the dwelling area per person and the socio-economic hierarchy of the dwellers.
Finally, the distribution of the dwelling area per person is determined not only by the types and the intensity of land use, but also by the socio-economic hierarchy of the dwellers, the historical process of the development of Sendai and the natural environment.

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Along the west fringe of the northern Kitakami Valley, fault topography is well developed. The present writer investigated the distribution of faults, mode and rate of fault movement based on the deformation of terrace morphology along the Shiwa Tectonic Line.
The results are as follows:
1) The geomorphic surfaces in the Kitakami Valley can be classified into four groups: Hilly land, terrace surfaces I, II, and III in descending order. These diluvial fans and alluvial fans are well developed in the west fringe of the Kitakami Valley, which suggests the intensive upheaval of the ridge side.
2) Active faults and flexures are seen in the diluvial fans all along the Shiwa Tectonic Line (Fig. 2). They run in an arc parallel to the Shiwa Tectonic Line. Two files of mounds formed by faulting were observed at Uwandaira-Kuromori area (B and C areas), which may be accompanied with the main thrust movement in the east fringe of the range. In Nansyo-zan area (A area), several break faults run intermittently in the N-S direction (Fig. 3a, b, 4 and 5).
3) Vertical displacement of a fault is a 20m on terrace surface I, and 4-9m on terrace surface II (Tab. 2). Terrace II is correlated tentatively with Shimosueyoshi terrace in Kanto region, which is dated by Fission Track dating to about 12-13×10⁴ years B. P. (Machida and Suzuki, 1971).
4) The compressive-stressive stress in E-W direction throughout the late Quaternary is expected as the stressfieid which formed the abovementioned geomorphic deformations as surmised by joint system analysis (Fig. 6).

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[in Japanese]

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Three major periods in the development of urban geography and the growth in the number of urban geographers in Japan can be recognized: the first is from 1904 to 1929, the second is from 1930 to 1946, and the third from 1947 to the present.
The first period was initiated by the studies of Professor N. Yamazaki, Tokyo University. This was then followed by the papers of M. Odauchi, K. Tanaka and T. Ogawa. Among these geographers, urban geography was not their specialization with the exception of M. Odauchi. Consequently, there were practically no urban specialists at this time.
The second period can be subdivided into a prewar period and a wartime stagnation period in urban geographic research, The former period was started with the establishment of the Association of Japanese Geographers. The main trends in this period were morphological and quantitative analyses of urban area and the statistical analyses of urban population. There were many articles regarding urban areas in geography, but most of these articles were written by non-specialists. Geographers who concentrated their efforts on urban geography included S Kiuchi, Y. Ogasawara and K. Kagami in the latter part of the prewar period. However, the war brought about a stagnation in urban studies from about 1940 to 1946.
The third period is the postwar period which was initiated by the studies on war-damaged cities by S Kiuchi, K. Inoki, E. Inami and K. Tanabe. Later, S Kiuchi published a seminal book entitled, Urban Geography, which greatly influenced the younger geographers and students. Many geographers began to specialize in this area of study as postwar interest in urbanization grew. The rapid growth can be seen by the eleven symposia on urban geography which have been held between 1953 and 1973 during the annual meetings of AJG. The studies by urban specialists cover the entire range of this field. In addition, studies on foreign cities have increased in recent years. The use of quantitative methods for urban studies has progressed recently.

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The problem of meanders has been discussed for a long time, and yet there are many arguments and opinions on it.
The term, meander, is derived from the name of a river in Turkey, the Büyük Menderes. Since it is a universally accepted term, it may be used in katakana in Japanese, but the Chinese character compound, dako, is preferable as an adverb or a verb.
There are various theories about the origin of meanders, but there seems to be no established theory. Most theories explain the origin of meanders according to the phenomena associated with them. In the case of hydraulic geometry of stream channels, the study of meandering channels may be the most advanced field of research. There are many relationships between the geometry of meanders and hydrualic quantity; however, little is known quantitatively about the interrelationships among the parameters such as discharge, slope, size of bed and bank materials, etc.
Two opposing views exist regarding the origin of incised meanders. One view recognizes the inheritance from free meanders, but it is not accpted by others. It is doubtful that meanders can develop on relatively “steep” slopes of 30° or so, judging from present surrounding landforms. Dury (1964, 1965) dealt intensively with meandering valleys and underfit streams, but he did not explain the origin of incised meanders specifically. However, there is a possibility in Dury's theory for considering meanders from the viewpoint of climatic geomorphology in responding to criticisms such as that of Hack (1965).

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