Development of Urban Geography in Japan from the Viewpoint of the Growth of Urban Geographers

Abstract

Three major periods in the development of urban geography and the growth in the number of urban geographers in Japan can be recognized: the first is from 1904 to 1929, the second is from 1930 to 1946, and the third from 1947 to the present.The first period was initiated by the studies of Professor N. Yamazaki, Tokyo University. This was then followed by the papers of M. Odauchi, K. Tanaka and T. Ogawa. Among these geographers, urban geography was not their specialization with the exception of M. Odauchi. Consequently, there were practically no urban specialists at this time.The second period can be subdivided into a prewar period and a wartime stagnation period in urban geographic research, The former period was started with the establishment of the Association of Japanese Geographers. The main trends in this period were morphological and quantitative analyses of urban area and the statistical analyses of urban population. There were many articles regarding urban areas in geography, but most of these articles were written by non-specialists. Geographers who concentrated their efforts on urban geography included S Kiuchi, Y. Ogasawara and K. Kagami in the latter part of the prewar period. However, the war brought about a stagnation in urban studies from about 1940 to 1946.The third period is the postwar period which was initiated by the studies on war-damaged cities by S Kiuchi, K. Inoki, E. Inami and K. Tanabe. Later, S Kiuchi published a seminal book entitled, Urban Geography, which greatly influenced the younger geographers and students. Many geographers began to specialize in this area of study as postwar interest in urbanization grew. The rapid growth can be seen by the eleven symposia on urban geography which have been held between 1953 and 1973 during the annual meetings of AJG. The studies by urban specialists cover the entire range of this field. In addition, studies on foreign cities have increased in recent years. The use of quantitative methods for urban studies has progressed recently.