Vol.68 No.2 (2016)
Contents
Article
INAGAKI Ryo
Transformation of the Relationship Between Workplace and Home in the Central Area of Osaka:A Case Study of Fukushima Ward, Osaka City (149)
Review
IMANO Taizo
A Review of Geographical Studies of Religion and Politics in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (173)
Research Notes
TANAKA Masahiro
Evaluating the Creation Method of Barrier-free Improvement Areas in Tokyo (195)
ARAI W. Sachiho
The Current State of Technological Adoption in Sayama Tea-producing Area and Developments in Production Organization (211)
Book Reviews (228)
Meeting Reports (240)
News from Research Groups (252)
News from Society (271)
Abstracts
Transformation of the Relationship Between Workplace and Home in the Central Area of Osaka: A Case Study of Fukushima Ward, Osaka City
INAGAKI Ryo
Faculty of Letters, Nara University
This study investigates whether, in light of the ongoing population recovery in the central area of the city, there is a corresponding increase of employment in the proximity of those urban residents. The study area is Fukushima Ward, Osaka City, located in the central area. First, an analysis based on the national census was made of changes in the composition of workplace of all the residents in the entire area of Fukushima Ward. It became clear that for urban residents, separation between workplace and residence rather than workplace proximity is in progress. Subsequently, to clarify factors of the job/living separation among urban residents, a questionnaire survey was conducted. The factors behind the job/living separation trend in the central area can be summarized as follows. First, there are changes in job/living relationship for the self-employed. Originally self-employment was characterized by the residence and the workplace being one and the same. In recent years, however, there has been an increase of job/living separation among the self-employed in the central area. In addition, the number of self-employed individuals itself has been greatly reduced. Secondly, there is a trend toward younger residents and those living in condominiums. Among younger people and condominium residents, a high rate of commuters work outside Osaka City. The employment/residence separation tendency in the central area is also associated with suburbanization of employment. Suburbanization of employment has acted to encourage urban residents to commute to suburban areas. Especially, growth of white-collar workers living in the central area and reduction in urban employment are considered to constitute background factors for the progress in workplace/residence separation.
Key words: central area of the city, relationship between workplace and home, questionnaire, census, Osaka City, Fukushima Ward
A Review of Geographical Studies of Religion and Politics in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
IMANO Taizo
Urban-Culture Research Center, Graduate School of Literature and Human Sciences, Osaka City University
This paper examines previous works on geography of religion and political geography with a special focus on how this research has discussed the relations between religion and politics, such as the territorial and ethnic conflicts motivated by state-formation and nationalism. It then proposes a new direction for geographical studies of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which requires studies on the relations between religion and politics. In particular, this paper explores previous research on Jewish settlement in the occupied territories and national- religious Jews, in both of which topics the interaction between politics and religion plays a significant role. This paper then argues that geographical research on the following two aspects requires more attention and investigation: the narrative and representation of death and the dead, which frame the actors’ identities and their relations with others; and the connections between the bordering function of religion and politics, and the formation and transformation of the order and norms. Based on this analysis, this paper summarizes and introduces this author’s previous research. In conclusion, it is argued that more research is needed to relate Israeli colonization after the 1967 war to the history of Zionist colonization in Palestine, especially to locate the link between Gush Emunim and Religious Kibbutz Movement within the context of the history of Zionist colonization and historical Palestine.
Key words: geography of religion, political geography, Palestine, Israel, Zionism, Gush Emunim
Evaluating the Creation Method of Barrier-free Improvement Areas in Tokyo
TANAKA Masahiro
Graduate student, Tokyo Metropolitan University, JSPS Research Fellow
This study examined issues concerning the present barrier-free policy, with a focus on the improvement area established by the New Barrier-Free Law enforced in 2006. Analysis of existing improvement areas in Tokyo from the point of view of the positional relation between facilities for daily living and stations, and the relationship between the size of the areas and walking distances from stations showed the following: In the twenty-three wards of Tokyo, a large number of facilities are located within walking distances from stations which are located outside of the areas. Assuming that walking distance means route distance, there are areas in which routes exceed walking distance from stations in Tokyo. The area surrounding JR Oji station (Oji area) corresponds to these circumstances. In the Oji area, people with visual impairments have difficulty in walking around because roads between facilities located in the area, and stations which are located outside of the area, have not adopted barrier-free design. Establishing the areas to be improved includes the possibility of limiting route choices. This problem is formulated as a policy exclusion that has been mentioned in previous studies. To provide more route choices to people with visual impairments, barrier-free policy will be necessary to make networks that connect different areas and enhance linkages between municipalities.
Key words: disabled people, barrier-free, improvement area, walking distance, policy exclusion, Tokyo
The Current State of Technological Adoption in Sayama Tea-producing Area and Developments in Production Organization
ARAI W. Sachiho
Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Since the latter half of the 1970’s, tea-producing areas in Japan, including the Sayama area which is well-known for its excellent tea quality and taste, have been forced to confront a prolonged sluggish demand for green tea. The author describes the recent technological adoption among the tea-processing farmers and subsequent change of regional production system in Sayama, on the framework of interaction between productivity and production organization. Technologies, especially development of the instrument of labor, exemplified by continuous upgrades of tea processing equipment and mechanical harvesters, have reduced workload during peak seasons and have made expansions in production possible in Sayama. However, under the prolonged decline of demand, tea-processing farmers in the study area have adopted two different strategies since the 1990’s: one being to establish a tea processing organization (co-operative) that aims to achieve higher productivity through installment of a gigantic tea processing plant, and the other seeking instead to pursue individual improvements in cultivation as well as in processing technologies, without introducing innovative advances in development of the instrument of labor. These trends have resulted in a transformation in the regional production system, since farmers taking the latter approach, who had been mainstream in Sayama and obtained green tea leaves from small local farmers for their supply, have started switching to a self-sufficient production system in order to improve their own tea quality.
Key words: technology, productivity, production organization, Sayama tea, Iruma City