The purpose of this paper is to examine how German central place theory (Christaller 1933) was taken up in the People’s Republic of Poland in the late 1940s, after the country had been liberated from Nazi German occupation in World War II. This delicate issue has not been discussed in the geography literature of Western countries. Thus, the analysis in this paper is chiefly based on Polish literature, in which the terms Osiedle usługowe, Ośrodek usługowy, Osiedle miejskie, and Ośrodek miejski are generally used as synonyms for “central place”, though Ośrodek centralny might be a more accurate Polish equivalent. As early as 1947, when central place studies were not yet well developed even in Western countries, Bromek (1947) classified the central places of Poland into 9 hierarchies according to the K=3 system of Christaller’s central place theory, and clarified a hierarchical structure in the Kraków voivodship (Figs. 1-3). His study was closely related to the spatial planning of a settlement location at the voivodship level. The same project was then proceeding at the national level as part of a national land planning initiative, begun after World War II by the National Office of Spatial Planning attached to the Polish Ministry of Reconstruction. The project involved the formulation of two plans for locating central places across the country: the first (Fig. 4) was compiled into Studium planu krajowego I (Studies for the National Plan I) (1947) and was led by Dziewoński, the main researcher; and the other (Fig. 5), Studium planu krajowego II (Studies for the National Plan II) (1948), was made by Kostrowicki. Two points are noteworthy here: 1) the areal sizes of the spheres of influence of the central places assumed by Dziewoński and Wejchert (1947), on which Dziewoński’s plan was based, are the same as those of complementary regions in Christaller (1933); 2) the assumed radii of the spheres of influence in Kostrowicki’s plan accurately correspond with the ranges of the complementary regions of B- to L-level central places in Christaller (1933). Although only the locations of the central places of middle-level or above were mapped in both plans, nine hierarchies were recognized by the K=3 central place system. Considering the situation of Poland at that time, however, the author thinks that it is not accurate to presume nine hierarchies in the central place system, but that seven or eight would be more reasonable for no central place is actually identified as that of the VIII level in Bromek (1947). Furthermore, the lowest-level central place (Zespół domów) assumed by Dziewoński and Wejchert (1947) is not characteristic of a place that serves as the center of the surrounding areas, and the second lowest-level central place (Osiedle pojedyncze) seems to be an auxiliary one.

The purpose of this article is to explore possibilities of studentification studies by reviewing the previous literature from several analytical perspectives. Studentification stands for social, economic, cultural, and spatial transformations of urbanism caused by increase and concentration of student populations. As the term displays, studentification has similarity with gentrification in terms of processes of urban transfiromation. Studentification is also connected with gentrification by students’ life courses: Students are assumed to be candidates of gentrifiers. Students are expected to be trained as full members of the middle class, or gentrifiers, in “student spaces”, which are created by the processes of studentification. The author argues that “student spaces” sometimes serve as sites of marginalization of specific students populations, giving illustrations of stay-at-home students in the UK and international students in Antipodean countries. The last section discusses on implications of studentification studies for the future studies on urban geography in Japan.

Hierarchical urban system research in urban geography in Japan has been pursued for cities in Japan. World cities research that became active since 1980 has positioned Tokyo in the urban system of the world, but other cities in Japan have not been studied. In urban geography in Japan and world city theory, hierarchical urban systems research has progressed, but there have been few mutual contact points so far. Since the 1990's, in world city research, cities that had been recognized overseas as regional cities have been recognized as components of the world city system. In contrast, only Fukuoka in local cities in Japan has been recognized as a restricted international city. Since around 2000, with the progress of urbanization and globalization worldwide, the concept of inter-city competition has spread worldwide, and the global competitiveness of cities has been demonstrated concretely by global city rankings.

The ranking of cities based on the global city ranking shows the hierarchy of cities in the world city system. In the world city system, the number of cities that connect across the border increases, the density of connections raises, and the way of connection diversifies. As a result, even if the cities are not directly connected, they will have competitive relationships. The function that is required in the cities of Japan is the global urban function. Even though its level is not necessarily high, it is possible to grasp the hierarchy in the world city system by relatively evaluating global indicators and measuring the "global competitiveness of the city". Even in identifying the Japan's urban system, not only measuring the number of head offices and the number of branch offices of domestically listed companies, but also measuring the global city functions, is required. In other words, the joining or fusion of domestic urban system theory and world city theory is becoming required both in academic and urban policies.

Regardless of any city or metropolitan area, the position in the world city system can be identified based on global indicators. Identifying the position of Japanese cities in the world city system will be an opportunity to join or fuse the urban system theory and the world city theory developed in different contexts. Research on the global positioning of cities across Japan is effective not only for academic significance but also for local governments to formulate and implement "regional version comprehensive strategies" in the near future.

In this research, the role of town revitalization in the city center, triggered by the establishment of a new university campus in Yao city, Osaka prefecture, in making shopping streets flourish is studied by analyzing the practical activities of university students.

After Osaka University of Economics and Law (OUEL) established a campus in the center of Yao city on the former site of a large store in 2012, its students had more opportunities to be involved in town revitalization of the central shopping streets. These involvements can be broadly divided into hands-on experience as staff for events and publishing an information magazine. In the former, students engage not only in event planning and management but also in support activities which are essential to holding events, such as taking photographs and safety guidance. In the latter, articles written by students on shops located in the city center showcase the charm of the city center to other OUEL students and Yao city residents. Town revitalization by OUEL students is practiced differently according to the objectives of each activity, and was shown to contribute greatly to the flourishing of the shopping street.

The leading actors of the town revitalization were the Kita-Honmachi Chuo-dori shopping street committee chairman, who has actively tapped OUEL students from the event planning stage, and the Yao city hall, which has continued funding the OUEL students’ town revitalization activities. In an environment where town revitalization of the city center by existing shopping street organizations have come up dry, they hit upon a new approach to making the shopping districts flourish by involving students on town revitalization after the establishment of the OUEL campus.

This paper examines the problems of obsolete and vacant terraced houses in a densely-built city area in Nagasu district, Amagasaki city. Since the start of the Meiji era, factories, including textile industries, had been built in Nagasu district, and many workers had come from several countries seeking employment. Because of the factory workers’ need for housing, terraced houses were constructed nearby in a densely-packed manner.

After industrial restructuring, several of these factories closed down, and the population of workers declined. Many of these terraced houses have since been vacated and have deteriorated.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the regional development of "the After school care for children” in Naha city and Urasoe city, in Okinawa prefecture. "The After school care for children” in Okinawa prefecture is deferent from other prefecture, because childcare system of pre-school was remained in Okinawa was under U.S. occupation. In Okinawa, most of 5 years’ children go to kindergarten although there are few care persons for them after school, because many kindergartens’ class finishes in morning. Consequently, it is necessary to care children in afternoon. Due to the historical background of childcare conditions, there are serious childcare problems in Okinawa.

In Naha city, some mothers establish the corporations and manage "the After school care for children”. And some mothers use nursery schools as "the After school care for children”, which the local government supported them. On the other hand, the local consortium of childcare have relationship with organizations made up of parents in Urasoe city. They requested the municipality for establish "the After school care for children”. Their leading members are fathers with infants and pupils in lower grades of elementary schools.