Vol.61 No.5 (2009)

Contents

Article

A Study of the Relationship between Transport Coordination and the Urban Transport Council after World War II
MIKI Masafumi (1)

Research Notes

Characteristics of a Social Networking Service Managed in a Local Area from the Viewpoint of User Networking: A Case Study of “Stacomi” in Okayama
WADA Takashi (20)

The Expansion of Municipal Authority and Regional Influence Resulting from Long―term Care Insurance System Reform: The Case of Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
HATAKEYAMA Teruo (37)

Forum

Geography and Regional Studies of Human―Animal Relationship (55)

Meeting Reports

116th Meeting of Historical Geography (74)
117th Meeting of Historical Geography (77)
97th Meeting of Geographical Thought (80)
31st Meeting of Metropolitan Area Studies (84)
32nd Meeting of Metropolitan Area Studies (90)
15th Meeting of Geographical Education (94)

Abstracts

A Study of the Relationship between Transport Coordination and the Urban Transport Council after World War II

MIKI Masafumi
(Faculty of Letters, Nara University)

This paper clarifies the decline of the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities by analyzing transport coordination in Osaka City after World War II. First, the author hypothesizes that influences in urban traffic planning were reversed between the Ministry of Construction （the Ministry of the Interior before World War II） and the Ministry of Transport （the Ministry of Railways before World War II） before and after World War II, by concentrating on the Urban Transportation Council which played an important part in subsequent transport coordination. This is considered from two points:
Transport management generally consists of both infrastructure and transport systems. The Ministry of Railways that regarded transport systems as businesses had difficulty controlling urban areas where the ratio of tram traffic was much higher than railway traffic, because the Ministry of the Interior, which regarded transport systems as belonging to infrastructure, dominated urban areas through the Urban Planning Central Council. However, the Urban Planning Central Council was abolished in 1941 under the influence of the wartime regime. Therefore, urban planning works were weakened because the Ministry of Interior was also dissolved. Since the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities in Osaka City was the basis of urban planning that was greatly controlled by that ministry, it was thought to be obligated to conflict with the Ministry of Transport after World War II.
The Ministry of Transport, which was organizationally constructed in 1949, promoted the Traffic Council to democratize traffic administration. The Traffic Council was related to the Land Transport Coordination Council from before World War II due to changes in transport legislation. The Urban Transportation Council used to be the Transport Coordination Council before World War II because it was constructed as one branch of the Traffic Council in 1955.
This paper considers the decline of the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities in Osaka from these two circumstances. Although necessarily unsettled before World War II, the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities was restored to reflect the desires of the wartime regime. The Ministry of Transport tried to break through using G. H. Q. support immediately after World War II; in spite of this, ideas of municipal control continued to be entrenched. However, urban areas had spread rapidly because residents were fleeing to the suburbs to escape the bombing in the cities during the war. Because the municipality had difficulty monopolizing transport businesses in municipal areas due to serious traffic jams and increased automobile traffic during the era of high economic growth, the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities lost geographical validity. Therefore, because the construction of municipal subway lines was very expensive, the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities also lost economic viability. As a result, the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities declined rapidly after the end of the period of high economic growth.
By considering the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities in Osaka, the reasons for its decline may be generally seen as a deficit in the transport businesses of the Osaka municipality. However, this paper clarifies that the municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities in Osaka declined not only due to geographical factors but also economic factors. Therefore, its decline was also related to the reversal of relative power between the Ministries of Transport and Construction in urban transport planning after World War II.

Key words: urban transportation, Transportation Council, Osaka City, municipal monopoly of urban traffic facilities, urban infrastructure, transport system

Characteristics of a Social Networking Service Managed in a Local Area from the Viewpoint of User Networking: A Case Study of “Stacomi” in Okayama

WADA Takashi
(Faculty of Economics, Tokuyama University)
(Graduate Student, Hiroshima University)

This article attempts to examine the characteristics of a social networking service managed locally as a communication space by using the website “Stacomi” as an example. Its management, the characteristics of its users, the social networks of the users, and network―related events hosted in real space were analyzed.
Stacomi was founded in Okayama Prefecture by a venture enterprise （Standard Co.） whose aim is to make local governance in Okayama more active. Most users live in Okayama City, probably because personal invitations sent by Standard Co. staff members, who are Okayama residents themselves, are a primary method of recruitment. Highly motivated users who require extensive social connections for their businesses use Stacomi primarily as a database for tracking regional news, as a medium for drawing participants to events, or as a tool for attracting new customers. Stacomi includes hubs that are divided into two types: groups of users who have ties to many popular users and are eager to recruit new participants, and groups of users who have ties to other hubs and wish to increase the number of their acquaintances.
The communities active on Stacomi include three types: those featuring users who form groups in real space devoted to a common interest or common goals and use Stacomi as a social medium; those featuring users who met on Stacomi and thereafter plan and manage events in real space,; and those featuring users whose primary aim is to share news related to the area in which they live. The “Okayama Culture Zone,” for example, provides a link between hubs that leads to links between different clusters in the same area. This cooperation between hubs and active users results in an enrichment of the activities held in real space.
Two types of events are hosted in real space: those that Standard Co. strategically plans and manages, and those that users facilitate to either engage in previously planned activities or plan new activities. The participants in these events are also divided into two types: users who need information for their businesses and are eager to form new social ties, and users who need information for their daily lives and wish to maintain contact with old acquaintances.

Key words: the Internet, SNS, community, social networks, Okayama

The Expansion of Municipal Authority and Regional Influence Resulting from Long―term Care Insurance System Reform: The Case of Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

HATAKEYAMA Teruo
(Department of Geography, College of Humanities and Sciences, Nihon University)

Citing Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture as an example, this manuscript clarifies the changing authority and roles of municipalities resulting from the introduction of the long―term care insurance system. Additionally, it looks at the influence that this has had on long―term care insurance services, as well as on the region.
The city did not become directly involved in the provision of long―term insurance care services associated with the April 2000 introduction of the long―term care insurance system. Furthermore, the entry of private business into this area has accelerated, and long―term care facilities have increased to a greater extent than municipal planning had targeted. This means that the municipality cannot effectively regulate the provision of long―term care insurance services.
Subsequently, in April 2006, the long―term care insurance system was drastically revised. Municipal authority over the establishment of a comprehensive support center for the community, community―based services, etc., was greatly enhanced. This has been reflected by the municipalities advancing into the area of construction of community comprehensive care systems. However, regional control, which centers on the municipalities in the midst of the mainstream trend of neo―liberalism in public service outsourcing, has become a difficult situation. It is necessary to reexamine this municipal involvement in long―term care services, which has resulted from the expansion of municipal authority through the movement towards regional decentralization.
Thus, the author considers that regional gaps in the provision of long―term care services can be largely attributed to municipal policies, ideas, and financial conditions, following the expansion of municipal authority. However, it is likely that if municipalities are more likely to outsource services based on neo―liberalism, the aging situation, and the industrial structure related to service providers’ market entry activities, will be primary factors in regional gaps in long―term care insurance services.

Key Words: Long―term care insurance system reform, municipal authority, comprehensive support center for the community, community―based service, Fujisawa City