There are complex and diverse changes within urban space, especially in retail agglomeration. These changes, such as the establishment of new stores, conversion from one store to another, rehabilitation of buildings and so forth, are mostly affected by fast moving social and economic trends. It is necessary to clearly understand retail agglomeration to prevent inconveniencing residents and visitors of a city.

This paper proposes a method for classifying retail distribution by differences in formation processes using a buffer radius to observe topological relationships between the existing distribution and new stores. Empirical analysis is performed with the NTT Townpage data for Shinjuku ward and Shibuya ward.

Through the use of the panel data method, this paper seeks to verify whether the issuance of public bonds has induced market discipline in local government finance. The result of the analysis indicates that increases in the share of public bonds among the total amount of outstanding local government bonds have caused improvements in the future fiscal situation of local governments as the fiscal situation has been exposed to market discipline. Market discipline was effective even during 1990's when the issuance of local bonds increased rapidly. This suggests that issue of more public bonds would contribute to the reduction in and streamlining of unnecessary expenditures and increase in their revenues, which is desirable for the fiscal discipline of local governments in Japan.

Since the 1950s, two major political policies have addressed urban development issues.

These are the dispersion policy and the concentration policy regarding business functions in the city center of Tokyo. The 1950s was a period of economic growth. The concentration of business functions in the core city of Tokyo could have triggered economic growth in Japan. However, it could also have resulted in various types of urban problems related to traffic, environment, and housing dimensions. The two policies mentioned above play a vital role in improving urban conditions. Currently, there are a considerable number of ongoing projects being undertaken in Tokyo; these two urban policies reflect the process of area redevelopment. This paper explains the process of integrating these two policies.

It also emphasizes the importance of partnerships between the public and private sectors.

This paper argues that Japan needs to expand foreign workers in view of the declining birthrate and a growing proportion of elderly people. Since the end of 1980s, Japan has expanded the number of foreign skilled workers, but it continues to prohibit foreign unskilled workers. In spite of such policy, presently Japan still endures with a large pool of illegal foreign workers. Against this background, this paper contends that the declining birthrate and continuous growth in the proportion of aging people, Japan has to improve its labor productivity through technical progress in order to offset the contraction of labor force. In this regard, this paper maintains that relying on female and elderly people is necessary, but it is not sufficient in achieving economic growth in a sustained basis. For this reason, this paper argues that Japan should liberalize its labor market to foreign workers. Therefore, this paper suggests that Japan should abolish the policy based on the concept of “skilled” and “unskilled” for foreign workers, and instead it should transform the existing policy to encompass all level of job categories. For this purpose, this paper proposes a mechanism on “quantitative control” and “migration circulation” to avoid unlimited influx of foreign workers on the one hand, and to prevent an unwarranted long period of stay in Japan by foreign workers on the other hand. In addition, this paper also suggests the establishment of a “Repatriation Fund,” which is a form of monetary incentive in encouraging foreign workers to return to their home country when their employment contracts expire.

In Japan, a guideline for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was introduced in April 2007; some local governments seem to be making new progress in implementing the SEA system. The SEA concept has been adopted in the planning process of some public projects, but there is a lack of practical experience.

In this study, the “Project-Consultation System,” as used by Yokohama City when implementing SEA, was analyzed in order to describe the Environmental Consideration System employed in planning during the Public Involvement (PI) phase of transport plans.

As a result, the Project-Consultation System was found to be similar to an integrated-model of SEA, the main features were identified as: the selection of environmental considerations, no participation of the public or experts, and restrictive linkage to Environmental Impact Assessment. Concerning the system operations, timing of commencement for SEA process, environmental considerations, participation of the public and experts, and tiering with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) were analyzed using the case study of Kosoku-Yokohama Kanjyo-Hokuseisen Highway in Yokohama City.

The environmental impact assessment (EIA) law was enacted in Japan in 1997. Although there has been considerable improvement in the last Cabinet Council assessment, the EIA system is still beset by some problems. Japan's antipollution and environmental policies were considered to set a good example for East Asian countries till the twentieth century. However, the EIA of Japan cannot be considered exemplary. In contrast, the EIA enacted by Taiwan in 1994 is very advanced, providing not only EIA but also regulations pertaining to strategic environmental assessment.

This study aims to review and evaluate Taiwan's environment policies and EIA system. First, it describes the changes in the environmental policies and legislative processes regarding EIA Laws. Second, this study investigates Taiwan's current EIA system, focusing on various aspects of the system such as procedures, projects subject, citizen participation, etc. The present study also compares the respective EIA systems of Japan and Taiwan. Finally, it clarifies the differences between each feature and system in the two countries. In addition, this study also provides suggestions toward improving the EIA system of Japan.