This research considers the urbanization of a suburban area as promoted by the changing of occupations by farm households in the area. In this research， the author selected Kichijoji， Musashino， Tokyo as the study area， and targeted a period for research， from the late Meiji Era to the high economic growth period in the Showa Era. In this research， the author found on Family ‘K' and Family ‘A' as case studies， both of which became building managers. This was after both had been engaged in various occupations.

The results are summarized as follows 1) In the case of Family K，there was a stage of changing to secondary industry， before becoming a housing site owner. Family K had allotted the profit from land sales to capital investment， and had gradually changed its occupation to secondary industry. The sale of land by allotments was directly related to the changing of occupation 2) Of the land sold by Family K all did not necessarily nor immediately become residential. Potential migrants pre-purchased land for housing before moving into the study area. 3) Family A first established an inn in front of Kichijoji Station. Family A variously changed businesses， corresponding to the situation around the station area and the change in customers， eventually becoming managers of buildings it owned. 4) Family A had invited new commercial managers from central Tokyo as tenants as they variously changed businesses. Family A' s business ventures formed the basis of the shopping street of today.

This study aims to elucidate the situation of Japanese women working in Ho Chi Minh， Vietnam. 1n particular，this study analyzes their (1) overseas employment process， (2) employment status， (3) and living conditions in Ho Chi Minh. 1n the 2000s， Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been increasing rapidly in Vietnam. Many multinational corporations have entered into the Vietnamese economy to take advantage of the cheap， abundant， and young Vietnamese labor force. Vietnam has been considered one of the main global manufacturing bases in the world. In particular， Ho Chi Minh is rapidly acquiring morindustrial accumulation， because companies from Korea， Japan，and Taiwan have aggressively invested in several businesses in Ho Chi Minh. Japanese companies， in support of this development， have increased their local numbers of Japanese employees. This study interviewed 21 Japanese women working in Ho Chi Minh. Prior to working in Vietnam， they were employed in low-income conditions by companies in Japan， i.e.， low pay levels and long working hours. Their dissatisfaction with the Japanese corporate society resulted in their decision to be locally hired in foreign countries such as in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. The participants belong to several professional fields in Ho Chi Minh， such as Japanese language teachers，interpreters (Vietnamese to Japanese)， office workers， and tourism operators for Japanese tourists. These jobs are mainly short-term contracts， and the wage levels are slightly higher than those of Vietnamese workers. They live in serviced apartments in the CBD because of easy accessibility to several shops and services. However， the accessibility to medical services is very low， because there are few advanced medical services available in English or Japanese. Thus， due to substandard working and living conditions， Japanese women working in Japanese companies in Ho Chi Minh tend to quit their jobs frequently and return to Japan soon after. Ho chi Minh is becoming one of the global cities in which]apanese women can be satisfied with their working and living conditions， albeit temporarily.

The Great East Japan Earthquake disaster comprised the earthquake， the tsunami damage， the nuclear power generation accident and the economic damage caused by the spread of rumors associated with the latter. The earthquake caused a lot of building damage and site collapse. Architects， civil engineering scholars and geologists are mainly investigating these events， but there is not much investigation by social scientists from the social perspective. In this research， the socio-economic features of the building damage and housing site collapses are clarified. Particular features and issues for which examination is needed are as follows.

Detailed investigation of building damages is not being conducted at the present. In J apan earthquake-resistant criteria were revised following the earthquake off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture in 1981. For buildings built before 1981， the Sendai city office had offered subsidies in order to stimulate earthquake-proof construction. It is necessary to clarify the inf1uence of this policy given the events of March 11， 2011.

On housing sites developed before the application of the law concerning disaster prevention of land developed for housing lots， many landslides and fissures occurred. These were on mainly housing sites developed during the period rapid economic growth before 1973. The law about disaster prevention of land developed for housing lots had not been legislated during this period. Further， the law has not been applied since its enactment in 1981. It is necessary to clarify the reason for the delay in its application. Has it been a problem of construction technology or have there been certain political or economic reasons?

In the residential section which suffered a great deal of damage， population reduction and the increasing aging of residents were seen from before the occurrence of this earthquake. Therefore， problems concerning living environments， such as the reduction in the number of stores， the maintenance difficulty of public facilities， and the reduction in public traffic had arisen there previously. These problems cannot be solved solely by the recovery of the ground. In reality， a further decrease in population is expected in the recovered section. Furthermore， it is also likely that the problem of the living environment in the area will worsen as well. It is necessary to consider not only the space recovery but the habitation of the whole metropolitan area in the solution of these residential areas.

This paper explores the kinds of meanings that had been attached to the spaces of consumption and how place images had been created within the city of Nagoya. This is achieved through analyzing its metropolitan magazine media: in particular those that encourage urbanized consumption activities. Five major “town magazines" which had been published in the Nagoya metropolitan area from 1984 to 2002 were examined to find the change of meanings attached to the spaces of consumption in Nagoya chronologically: 1) 1980s， 2) 1990s， 3) 2000s. The results indicate how the meanings given to the spaces of consumption had changed from 1) external comparison with Tokyo metropolitan area in the 1980s， to 2) findings of differences inside the city in the 1990s， and then to 3) gaze at its suburbs in the 2000s. These three ways， sometimes contemporarily， had worked to construct the urban representations of Nagoya. In conclusion， this paper partially contributes to the cultural geography of economy，through focusing on the consumption activities and spaces and their cultural meanings within the case study of Nagoya.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the movements of the sightseeing buses in Ise， Mie Prefecture and its surrounding cities. This study observed the movements of sightseeing buses at seven investigation spots within Ise，and also interviewed the sightseeing bus tour operators. The results show that approximately 200 sightseeing buses per day visit Ise on weekends in ]une. Furthermore many of the sightseeing bus tours originated in Kansai districts，such as Osaka and Hyogo Prefecture. However it also revealed that many sightseeing buses are traveling only around Nai-ku (Inner Shrine of Ise Sinto Shrine) and its neighboring tourist spots in Ise. Moreover， many of them only spend a little time in Ise itself， and go to Toba and Shima which are located near Ise. Concerning this point， the interview data revealed that tour operators formed the tourist routes to include Toba and Shima as they were considered important for accommodations.