Vol.69 No.4 (2017)
Contents
Article
TANIMOTO Ryo
Future Projection of Accessibility to Hospital Beds in the Suburbs: The Case of the Northern Osaka Metropolitan Area（425）
Research Notes
KOGAWA Haruyuki
Investigating Businesses Operated by Different Ethnic Groups in the Southern Part of Chuo Ward, Osaka City (447)
KAJITA Shin
Changes in the Socio-Spatial Patterns of Central Tokyo Inhabitants between 1965 and 1980: Mapping Enumeration District Statistics of the Population Census (467)
Focus
NAKAMURA Shusaku
Geographical Differentiation of Traditional Seafood Meals in Saga Prefecture, Japan (485)
Book Reviews (500)
Meeting Reports (508)
News (520)
Index (531)
Abstract
Future Projection of Accessibility to Hospital Beds in the Suburbs: The Case of the Northern Osaka Metropolitan Area
TANIMOTO Ryo
Graduate student, School of Letters, Kyoto University; JSPS Research Fellow
Lack of accessibility and differential access to various facilities and services in urban areas of Japan, especially access to medicine and healthcare, is expected to become problematic in the near future. This paper examined such a possible transformation and the problems of accessibility to hospital beds in a suburban residential area (northern metropolitan Osaka) by analyzing accessibility using the two-step floating catchment area method and evaluating current urban planning. Our current accessibility analysis identified two different accessibility problems related to hospital beds: insufficient supply and disparity among transportation modes or neighborhoods. As of 2025, our accessibility projections, based on improvements in public transportation and controls on the number and types of medical care beds, suggest that actual resolution of such problems requires a multifaceted approach to utilize existing resources in the study area. Furthermore, inpatient reductions through medicine/health policies by each prefecture and the Japanese government might lead to serious shortages in nursing homes. Investigation of current urban planning identified the following two critical requirements to improve accessibility to medical facilities and nursing homes: promotion of cooperation between the planning implemented by each municipality and specialized medicine/health policies that target broader areas, beyond individual municipalities, and continuation of a flexible and critical examination into the validity of current urban planning by each municipality.
Key words: accessibility, hospital beds, nursing home, suburban residential areas, location normalization plan, two-step floating catchment area method
Investigating Businesses Operated by Different Ethnic Groups in the Southern Part of Chuo Ward, Osaka City
KOGAWA Haruyuki
Graduate student, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University
The purpose of this paper was to elucidate the actual situations of businesses operated by non-Japanese ethnic groups in the southern part of Chuo Ward, Osaka City. In this study area, a mixture of businesses run by different ethnic groups can be found. Approximately 200 ethnic facilities were con-firmed in the study area, as of December 2016, and the majority of them are run by Korean or Chinese businesspeople. The former are distributed widely along small streets as well as the main streets, primarily in the northern part of the study area, while the latter follow a rather linear distribution along the main streets of the area’s southern part. In terms of the major categories of these ethnic facilities, restaurants and service industries are prominent, and diversification/specialization is currently under way in both the Korean and Chinese business communities. With respect to service industries, some Korean facilities have succeeded in attracting Japanese customers, but the customers of their Chinese counterparts are still limited to the managers’ compatriots. A number of actual situations associated with the ethnic business establishments have been found in the study area, including a complicated relationship between the nationality and ethnicity of the establishments’ managers.
Key words: foreign population, ethnic group, newcomer, ethnic-owned business, Chuo Ward, Osaka City
Changes in the Socio-Spatial Patterns of Central Tokyo Inhabitants between 1965 and 1980: Mapping Enumeration District Statistics of the Population Census
KAJITA Shin
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Social area analysis of central Tokyo in the postwar era has only been conducted since the 1970s be-cause census tract or grid square statistics were not used prior to this decade. Additionally, the census tracts and grid squares were too large in scale to reflect the geomorphological effects on socio-spatial patterns. The purpose of this paper was to make high-resolution social maps of central Tokyo by using the enumeration districts (EDs)—the smallest enumeration units—of the 1965 and 1980 population censuses and a geographic information system (GIS), and to examine the changes that occurred in this period. For central Tokyo, the printed ED maps of both censuses are accurate enough to produce geographical data through georeferencing procedures and tracing. The 1965 social maps, especially those of the proportion of workers by occupation, display clear contrasts between eastern (Shitamachi) area and western (Yamate) area, as well as between hills and valleys in Yamate. They also strongly reflect the premodern employment styles that originated from live-in apprenticeships in retail and wholesale areas. Nevertheless, these characteristics disappeared to a certain degree in the 1980 maps. Three important reasons for this are that factories and deteriorated housing facilities, i.e. slums, were demolished, the progress of infrastructure development, especially subway construction, improved locational conditions for residential quarters and commercial activities, and modernization of the empolyment style led to a separation between the residential and working place. As a result, contrasts between Shitamachi and Yamate appear more sharply in the social maps and statistical figures of 1980.
Key words: social maps, population census, enumeration districts, geomorphological effects, geographic information system (GIS), central Tokyo
Geographical Differentiation of Traditional Seafood Meals in Saga Prefecture, Japan
NAKAMURA Shusaku
Faculty of Education, University of Miyazaki
The purpose of this study was to clarify the regional features of traditional seafood meals and their distribution factors in Saga Prefecture. The results are summarized as follows. It was revealed that there are eight distribution types of seafood meals: Type1 is the Pan-prefecture area (High frequency of eat-ing). Type2 is the Pan-prefecture area (Medium frequency of eating). Type3 is the wide coastal area. Type4 is the coast of Genkai-Nada. Type5 is the coast of Ariake-Kai with the Saga plains area. Type6 is the inland and mountainous area. Type7 represents other areas. Type8 represents meals in areas that are disappearing. The distribution of the traditional seafood meals was dependent upon historical, economic and cultural factors. We also found that the frequencies of eating of the traditional seafood meals varied according to who they are and where they live; those who ate them most frequently were the aged living in inland and mountainous areas, followed by the people living in coastal fishing villages and towns/cities, and then those people living in inland villages and towns/cities. The traditional seafood meals are important cultural treasures of the region. Therefore, it is necessary not only to keep a record of them, but to also use them for activation of the region.
Key words: regional culture, traditional seafood meals, geographical differentiation, distribution factor, Saga Prefecture