In 2004, the Kyushu Shinkansen railway train Tsubame Series 800 started operation. The car rooms where traditional craftworks produced from materials in the Kyushu region are used suggest that a specific design strategy should be introduced into future means of public transport. In this research, we conducted questionnaires on users' evaluation of the Kyushu Shinkansen Tsubame. Furthermore we interviewed the representatives of the related companies and analyzed the problems and solutions regarding the costs of manufacturing of the Kyushu Shinkansen Tsubame in order to search for a method of introducing an optimum design strategy adaptable to the local climate into the interior spaces of the means of public transport.

This study quantitatively assesses stress relief effect in railway services by using RRI data derived from human heart rate variability. The study focuses on two situations in which stress relief effect is expected. These situations are (1) riding on a women-only coach and (2) using a noise canceling system. As methods to assess stress quantitatively, total stress values were calculated from RRI medians, and stress variability were analyzed by using Lorenz plots. The analytical result of the two methods showed that riding on a women-only coach and using a noise canceling system both exerted stress relief effect. Thus we concluded that it was possible to quantitatively assess stress relief effect of various measures in railway services by analyzing heart rate variability.

This paper discusses the discrepancy of trade statistics. The problem is defined as differences between trade flows reported as imports and the same flows reported as exports. Many researchers and organizations examine the problem mainly focusing on the value data in trade statistics, and do not deal with quantity data in detail. In this paper, we review existing studies about the discrepancy of trade statistics, and analysis characteristics of the discrepancies by using trade statistics in Asia, especially focusing on quantity data. This study shows utilizing quantity data of trade statistics gives useful knowledge to adjust the discrepancies.

Japan’s commercial bus services are categorized as regular service and occasional service within the regulatory framework. The categorization throws the market into disarray. This article examines UK's regulatory framework as a successful model. There are clear simple definitions of local service and others. Governments intervene in local service mainly for the quality of service and “State Aid”, on the other hand into others for competition policy. It is concluded that the reform of Japan's regulatory framework should put local service into “State Aid” field and give more freedom to undertakings in the market of coach.