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GEORAPHY 481: GEOGRAPHY OF JAPAN
2014-15 Winter Session Term 2: 3 credits
Instructor: D. Edgington (215C)
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the forces that have led to the
distribution of activities and people in Japanese cities and rural areas. In particular, the course focuses on
social, economic and institutional factors that have shaped natural and built environments and
landscapes. Issues to be covered include:
1. Physical Geography, Climate and the Distribution of Resources
2. Basic Features of the Japanese Economy, including its Historical Development
3. Agriculture, Agricultural Policy, Spatial Patterns of Agricultural Production
4. Manufacturing, Industrial Location, Industrial Case Studies
5. Demographic characteristics, Changes in the Distribution of Population
6. Urban Growth, Urban Morphology and Urban Problems
7. Environmental Problems in Japan
8. Regional Development Planning
9. Japan in the World
Course Evaluation
1.
2.
A 3000 word term paper (40%)
Class presentation, seminars and participation (60%)
Required Texts
(1) A Geog. 481 Course Reading Package is available in the Bookstore (approx. price $60).
(2) Students should also refer to the following book on Reserve in the Koerner Library and G.I.C.
-P.P. Karan (2005) Japan in the 21st Century: Environment, Economy and Society, Lexington, The
University Press of Kentucky.
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Geography 481: Geography of Japan
Term 2, 2007-08
Tentative Program
WEEK
Tuesday
Thursday
1.
(2/9) Introduction to Course
(4/9) The Regions of Japan
2.
(9/9) Physical Geography, Climate,
Resources (Organization of Essay
Topics and Presentation Timetables)
(11/9) Seminar I: Land and Disasters
3.
(16/9) Japanese History and Culture
(18/9) Basic Features of the Japanese
Economy
4.
(23/9) Seminar II: Economic Development
(25/9) Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry
5.
(30/9) Seminar III: Rural Development
(2/10) Manufacturing
6.
(7/10) Seminar IV: Industrial Case Studies
(9/10) Demography and Internal
Migration
7.
(14/10) Urbanization
(16/10) Environmental Problems
8.
(21/10) Regional Development
(23/10) Post-industrial Japan
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(28/10) Seminar V: Urban and Regional Japan
(30/10) Japan in the World
10.
(4/11) Seminar VI: Japan in the World
(6/11) Doing Research on Japan
12.
(11/11) UBC Closed: No lecture
(13/11) Class Papers I
13.
(18/11) Class Papers II
(20/11) Class Papers III
14.
(25/11) Class Papers IV
(27/11) Class Papers V
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GEOGRAPHY 481
CLASS PAPERS
1.
Class Paper Topics
Topics can be individually negotiated with your instructor or you can choose from the list on pp.
5-8.
2.
Proposals
To be handed in and agreed to by your instructor no later than Thursday, 18 September, 2014.
Your proposal (one page) should include:
Title
Objectives
Major Headings
Preliminary List of Sources
3.
Class Presentations
- Maximum time: 15 minutes, depending upon the number of papers in any period. If 15
minutes is insufficient time to cover all aspects of the topic of your paper, select a part of the
paper for presentation and make this clear in your introduction.
- For most, it would be wise to try out your presentation among friends at least once before your
class appearance in order to be reasonably sure of timing and suitability of organization and
illustrations.
- Please prepare a one page outline of the presentation (including 2 or 3 important references) for
distribution to students one session before presenting your paper (this will be assessed).
Format:
-
4.
Title
Objectives
Headings
Conclusion
Major References
all students will be required to make a short response to the class paper of one of their
colleagues.
Final Papers
- To be handed in two weeks after your oral presentation. Marks will be deducted for late
submissions. The final date at which I will be prepared to read any paper is the day of the
exam.
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Format
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6ff
Remainder
Conclusion
End pages
Title etc.
List of contents (i.e. Headings)
List of Tables
List of Figures
Abstract (Summary)
Introduction - to include a clear statement of the topic
and how your paper deals with it.
Use headings (hierarchy – e.g. 1.1, 1.2 etc where
necessary). Include all Tables, Figures and References in
text (i.e. do not put them all at the end). Use simple direct
references such as Smith (2004, 324) rather than literary
style.
a summary of your major findings and, where relevant,
their public policy implications.
1) Footnotes.
2) List of references.
3) Appendices if required
- The paper should be a scholarly, well-balanced essay around 3,000 words in length. This is a
recommended figure only as length will depend on the topic under discussion. However, the
body of your text should not be less than 2,500 words and not more than 4,000 words.
Evidence of reading the general references and material discussed in lectures should be
apparent in your essays. N.B. I will not be held responsible for lost class papers. Please hand
them to me directly, or to the Geography general office and get them date stamped.
5.
Seminars Their format etc will be dealt with in class.
6.
Assessment The Assessment will be based on a final exam, seminars and your paper, broken
down as follows:
Essay Outline and Oral Presentation
Response, Attendance, and Participation in Class and Seminars
Written Paper
Team Presentation in Seminars
30%
10%
40%
20%
____
100%
(Students must complete ALL of the above to pass the course)
NOTE
The assessment of your oral presentation and written paper is based on the following five criteria:
1.
Structure - the logic of the order of presentation of your argument and clarity of
expression/correct use of English.
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2.
Adequacy of attention paid to the literature and evidence of reasonably wide reading.
3.
Use of data to back up arguments and the overall content. (N.B. be sure to cite all your facts and
assertions, or else you will lose marks).
4.
Discussion of public policy implications (where relevant).
5.
The presentation itself- use of notes, maps and other data, overhead projector, and the layout of
the written paper (e.g. correct labeling of figures, tables and references, see notes in section 4
above). *Students should provide at least one map, one table and one figure in their written
essay.
To score highly you will have to pay particular attention to all of the above criteria in your written paper.
Previous papers which scored a first class (`A’ grade) mark are available for inspection in my office.
Withdrawals: Students wishing to withdraw from this course without any record of the course on their
transcript must do so before September 16th, 2014. Students may withdraw up to October 10th, 2014,
and have a `W’ recorded on their transcript.
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SUGGESTED CLASS PAPER TOPICS
1.
Changes in Agricultural regions. In the past twenty years, the position of agriculture in the
national economy of Japan has rapidly fallen. Show what effects this has had on the agriculturalbased population. What are the underlying forces at work here? Chart the trends in rural
population between 1985-2010 by prefecture. What are the implications for the local population
and for the government?
REFERENCES:
R.H. Moore (1990) Japanese Agriculture: Patterns of Rural Development, Boulder, CO.
Westview Press.
A.G. Mulgan (2006) Japan's Agricultural Policy Regime, London, Routledge.
P. Matanle and A.S. Rausch (2011) Japan’s Shrinking Regions in the 21st Century, Amherst,
Cambria Press.
Compare the 1985 and 2010 Census of Population
2.
Steel Production. Steel has always been associated with the basic industries of the Japanese
economy, yet now its future is uncertain. Describe the industry’s early beginnings, post-war
growth and pressures caused by the oil ‘shocks’ of the 1970s. Analyze the changes in steel
production by prefecture between 1975 and 2010 and give reasons. What changes in the steel
industry have been brought about by ‘endaka’, and the recent surge in demand in steel from
China.
REFERENCES:
H. Hasegawa (1996) The Steel Industry in Japan: A Comparison With Britain, London,
Routledge.
D.W. Edgington (2013) Restructuring Japan’s Rustbelt: The Caseof Muroran, Hokkaido,19852010, Urban Affairs Review, 49, 475–524.
Japan Statistical Yearbook, 1975, 1985, 1995, and 2005.
3.
Electronics Production. By contrast to steel, heavy industry and even automobile production,
the electronics industry in Japan is still experiencing rapid growth. Chart its early history and
post-war growth, including the rise of decentralised integrated circuit factories in areas such as
Kyushu. Analyze the changes in electrical production by prefecture 1975-2010, and the overseas
factories of Japanese electronics firms.
REFERENCES:
B. Johnstone (1998) We Were Burning: Japanese Entrepreneurs and the Electronic Revolution.
New York, Basic Books.
P.J. Katzenstein (ed.) (2006) Beyond Japan: The Dynamics of East Asian Regionalism, Ithica,
N.Y., Cornell University Press.
D.W. Edgington and R. Hayter (2000). "Foreign Direct Investment and the Flying Geese Model:
Japanese Electronics Firms in Asia Pacific”, Environment and Planning A, 32, 281-304.
D.W. Edgington and R. Hayter (2000) The In Situ Upgrading of Japanese Electronics Firms in
Malaysian Industrial Clusters, Economic Geography, 89, 227–259.
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Japan Statistical Yearbook.
4.
Japanese Housing and New Towns. The situation of Japan’s housing has often considered to
be one of the nation’s most pressing social problems. Japanese approaches to its housing
programs, and the planning and development of new towns, have been quite different to
approaches taken elsewhere (e.g. the British New Towns). Describe the housing problem in
Japan, post-war ‘danchi’ developments, and new town programs. Analyse the increase in
metropolitan population and housing for the three major urban areas by Ku (Tokyo, Osaka and
Nagoya), 1975-2005.
REFERENCES:
D. Edgington (1989) ‘The Japanese New Town Experience’, in D. Yencken ed. Multifunction
Polis: Social Issues Study. Canberra, Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce
(available from D. Edgington)
Population and Housing Census of Japan.
5.
Japanese Science Cities and Research Park Program. As Japan moves into a more
technologically focused stage of economic development so it has planned for new types of city
infrastructure, such as science cities and decentralised research parks. Show why there is a need
for this and describe the major government programs involved (e.g. Technopolis, Tsukuba
Science City, Kyoto Research Park). Analyse the change in high technology production between
1975 and 2010 by prefecture. Will Japan be successful in decentralising its research and
technology activities away from the major metropolitan areas?
REFERENCES:
D. Edgington (1989) New Strategies for Technology Development in Japanese Cities and
Regions, Town Planning Review, 60, 1-27.
`Advances In The Japanese Innovation System’. Special Issue of Prometheus, Vol 26 (1), 1-124.
6.
Tokyo. Describe the early history of the nation’s capital and its post-war growth. Analyze the
change in population and employment by ku (ward). What are the government’s current plans
for managing the growth of Tokyo?
REFERENCES:
R. Cybriwsky (1998) Tokyo: The Shogun's City At The Twenty-First Century, New York, John
Wiley and Sons.
Chart the changes between 1975 and 2010 Population Census and Establishment Census.
7.
Osaka. Osaka used to be the nation’s premier industrial and commercial centre, but since 1945
it has been eclipsed by Tokyo and the Kanto region. Describe Osaka’s pre and post-war growth
and change and give reasons for its relative decline. Analyze changes in population and
employment by ku (ward). What are the government’s current plans for stimulating the
economic revival of Osaka?
REFERENCES:
D.W. Edgington (2000) “Osaka: City Profile”, Cities, 17, 305-318.
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Chart the changes between 1975 and 2005 using the Population Census, and Establishment
Census.
8.
Nagoya. Chart the early growth and post-war development of the nation’s third largest city.
Describe the importance of Toyota to the city’s economy. Analyze changes in population and
employment by ku (ward). What are the current planning strategies for Nagoya.
REFERENCES:
D.W. Edgington (1999) “Firms, Government and Innovation in the Chukyo Region of Japan”,
Urban Studies, 36, 305-339.
1975 and 2000 Population Census and Establishment Census
Articles on Nagoya from D. Edgington
9.
Japan’s Regions. Profile one of Japan’s major regions (Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu,
Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu)
You should cover:
early history up to 1945
post-war development
contemporary population and employment trends
major industries
major cities
government planning and strategic policies
REFERENCES:
1975 and 2010 Population Census and Manufacturing Census
1975, 1985, 1995, 2000 and 2010 Japan Statistical Yearbook
Articles on different regions available from D. Edgington
OTHERS
10.
Changes in Village Life
11.
Ageing of the Japanese population
12.
Traditional Craft Industries (jiba sangyo)
13.
The Automobile Industry
14.
Japanese Transport Systems
15.
Shopping Centres in Japanese Cities
16.
Land Prices in Tokyo
18.
Japan’s Leisure Industries
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19.
Patterns in Japanese Overseas Trade and Investment
20.
Foreign Workers in Japan
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GEOGRAPHY 481: GEOGRAPHY OF JAPAN
General Reading List (Note: Students are responsible for assembling their own readings in the
preparation of class papers)
Atlas
Geographical Survey Institute (1977) The National Atlas Of Japan (kept in Map Library)
Teikoku’s Complete Atlas of Japan (11th Edition) (1991) Tokyo, Teikoku Shoin
Japan: An Introduction
T.W. Harrison (2008) 21st Century Japan, Montreal, Black Rose Books.
Japan and its Land and Regions
M. Wegener (1994) Tokyo's Land Market and its Impact on Housing and Urban Life, in P. Shapira et al
(eds.) Planning for Cities and Regions in Japan, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 92-112.
P.P. Karan (2005) Japan in the 21st Century, Chp 2.
History and Economic Development
R. Katz (1998) Japan, the System that Soured : the Rise and Fall of the Japanese Economic Miracle,
Armonk, N.Y., M. E. Sharpe.
R. Katz (2003) Japanese Phoenix: The Long Road to Economic Revival, Armonk, N.Y., M.E. Sharpe.
P.P. Karan (2005) Chapter 3.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
P.P. Karan (2005) Japan in the 21st Century, Chp 7.
Manufacturing and the Location of Industry
D.W. Edgington (1997) The Rise of the Yen, `Hollowing Out' and Japan's Troubled Industries, in R.F.
Watters and T.G. McGee (eds.) Asia-Pacific: New Geographies of the Pacific Rim, London, Hurst and
Company, 170-189.
P.P. Karan (2005) Japan in the 21st Century, Chps 11 and 12.
Population and Internal Migration
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P.P. Karan (2005) Chp 6.
Japanese Cities.
P.P. Karan and K. Stapleton (eds.) (1997) The Japanese City, Lexington, University Press of Kentucky.
P.P. Karan (2005) Chp 8.
Environment and the Quality of Life
M. Witherick and M. Carr (1993) The Changing Face of Japan: A Geographical Perspective, Sevenoaks,
Kent, Hodder and Staughton, Chapter 13.
B.F.D Barrett and R. Therivel (1991) Environmental Policy and Impact Assessment in Japan, London,
Routledge.
P.P. Karan (2005) Chp 13.
Regional Development Planning, Science Cities and Technopolis
P. Tanimura and D.W. Edgington (2001) "National Level Economic and Spatial Planning in Japan," in
R. Alterman (ed.) National Level Planning Institutions and Decision Making in Ten Countries,
Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 197-218.
OECD (2005) Territorial Review: Japan, Paris, OECD.
Japan in the World
K. Nagatani and D.W. Edgington eds. (1998) Japan and the West: The Perception Gap, Aldershot,
Ashgate.
P.P. Karan (2001) Japan in the Bluegrass, Lexington, The University Press of Kentucky.
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GEOGRAPHY 481: GEOGRAPHY OF JAPAN
Seminars
1. Format. The seminar component of this course will comprise discussion of a set of readings on topics
covered in class (e.g. Japanese agriculture, manufacturing etc).
2. Groups running seminars. For each seminar, students will be grouped into teams. Each team will be
assigned one of the 6 x seminars, and they will essentially take charge and run the seminar.
I would like each team to think about how they will use their 1 hour 20 minutes. You need to cover the
following:
-Explain the goals of the seminar you are in charge of (e.g. to examine various case studies of rural
revitalization in Japan)
-Summarize the readings. There will be four readings (journal articles or book chapters) per seminar.
Decide how the team will divided up their presentation (no more than 5 minutes each) among team
members.
-Promote group discussion. In the spirit of a true seminar, the team will have to `ask questions’ and
engage the rest of the class to bring out the important points covered in the readings (e.g. can Japanese
rural regions find alternative sources of growth to keep populations `on the farm’).
-Identify critical issues. At the end of the seminar the group should be able to summarize the key issues
involved.
Assessment. Assessment of each team’s effort and success in covering the above points will be done by
the remainder of students in class (e.g. excellent, good, fair, needs more work). The instructor will make
a summary of the class assessments and give this back to the seminar team in the following class period.
3. Reading notes.
To help practice your skills at summarizing journal articles and book chapters, all students will have to
choose one reading per seminar, bring their reading note and thoughts to the seminar and be prepared to
participate in discussion. These will be handed into the instructor and assessed.
Each reading note should follow this format:
1.
2.
3.
4.
It is written on one side of paper.
It is headed by an exact bibliographic reference to the article.
It contains your name.
The remainder of the page should contain four sections:
(a) the author’s argument or thesis
(b) the main points used by the author to prove the argument
(c) data or evidence used by the author
(d) your reaction to the reading, why you did or did not like it, including perhaps comments on the
validity of the argument, quality of evidence, questions not answered etc (see the example on the
reverse of this page).
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5. Reading notes are due at the end of the discussion session covering the articles concerned. Late notes
will not be accepted since they no longer fulfill their purpose. In the event that you are absent from a
seminar, you may hand in the note prior to the class, either by handing it to me directly or by leaving it
in my mail box in the Geography Department office. The reading notes will be assessed, returned the
week after being handed in, and contribute to your grade in the course.
Example
Hadfield, P. (1991) Generally Speaking, There is No Cause for Alarm, chp 3 in Sixty Seconds That Will
Change the World: The Coming Tokyo Earthquake, Boston, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 39-55.
THESIS: Some time in the next few years it is likely that Tokyo will experience a severe earthquake,
which many geologists believe will herald decades of seismic upheaval beneath Japan’s capital.
Hadfield argues that the government, while willing to support nominal awareness programs, such as the
`Disaster Day’ events, hesitates to commit substantial funds for monitoring and research into earthquake
prediction.
MAIN POINTS: Every year on September 1, Japan commemorates the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923
with a number of `Disaster Day’ events up and down the Pacific Coast region. While residents are taught
to `turn off their gas at the first sign of a tremor’, the reality of a serious earthquake would mean that
most would be helpless to do this. The major guardian of earthquake and tsunami activity around Japan
is the Earthquake Prediction Centre of the Japan Meteorological Agency in Tokyo and five other
branches. Here are contained a large number of seismograph machines linked to remote monitoring
devices, some buried deep in the earth’s surface and even under the sea bed. This Agency, or the
Earthquake Assessment Committee, is charged with the responsibility of advising the Prime Minister
when to make a public warning of an impending quake, and to alert the population of incoming tsunami.
The monitoring system is expected to give at least two days warning of a serious earthquake. However,
because of the lack of effective prediction results in the past, many Professors at the Agency warn that
insufficient funds are given to earthquake prediction in Japan, and much of the existing budget has to go
to maintaining expensive and sophisticated equipment. The article finishes by cautioning that the lack of
a big earthquake in Japan has starved this 20 year program of resources and reduced its chances of
predicting a very large (chokka-gata) earthquake in the Tokyo region.
SOURCES USED: Interviews with Japanese Professors and government bureaucrats.
ASSESSMENT: This article was written before the Great Hanshin (Kobe area) Earthquake of January,
1995. That quake took the government completely unaware, and the local and central authorities were
soundly criticized for not providing adequate rescue support in the first 24 hours after the disaster. Q.
Will the amount of funds going to earthquake prediction and preparedness increase from now on? What
does the high risk of earthquakes in the Tokyo area indicate for Japan’s regional development planning?
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SEMINAR 1
GEOG 481
Issues Relating to Land and Natural Disasters
Reading 1: C. Mather, P.P. Karen and S. Iijima (1998) Chp 2. `Primary Characteristics’, in Japanese
Landscapes: Where Land and Culture Merge, Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 25-58.
Cultural geographers have long studied the impact of land and landscapes on social and economic
behaviour. Compared to Canada, land in Japan is often seen as a very scarce commodity. Question: In
what ways have the Japanese adapted to this?
Reading 2: K. Sasaki (2002) Experiencing the Housing Crisis, in A. Waswo (ed.) Housing in Postwar
Japan: A Social History, London, Routledge Curzon, 5-38.
This author, a sociologist, reveals the poor quality and small spaces of Japanese housing. It is an original
study as it uses the author’s own experiences starting as a young newly-wed in the 1960s, and her
family’s search for better housing in the Osaka region over a 10-year period. Why does Japan perform
poorly in the housing sector?
Reading 3: A. Sorensen (2011) Uneven Geographies of Vulnerability: Tokyo in the Twenty-First
Century, in S. Hammet and D. Forbes (eds.) Planning Asian Cities: Risks and Resilience, London,
Routledge, 40-66.
Reading 4: T. Kubo and Y. Miwa (2011) A Community Wiped Off the Map and a Shattered
Community, in Y. Funabashi and H. Takenaka (eds.) Lessons from the Disaster: Risk Management and
the Compound Crisis Presented by the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tokyo, The Japan Times, 49-80.
These two readings reflect on the constant threat of a number of disasters, not just to Japan’s crowded
cities, but also in remote fishing communities in the northern Tohoku region. How could Japanese urban
and rural communities better prepare for disasters?