Part Of Tokyo Research Articles

Exploring Motivations and Barriers to Participate in Skill-Sharing Service: Insights from Case Study in Western Part of Tokyo

Skill-sharing services have the potential to foster regional development and mutual aid within a community through residents’ social participation. Despite the growing social demand for skill-sharing services, few cases have utilized individuals’ knowledge, skills, and other intellectual assets. To widely diffuse such services, it is necessary to clarify user factors (motivations and barriers to use services) and reflect on the service design process. However, there is limited knowledge regarding user analysis and skill-sharing services. Thus, this study explores user factors that affect the intention to use skill-sharing services and derives guidelines for skill-sharing service design and development. A hypothetical user factor model was constructed through a literature review of user research in sharing services and empirical analysis of actual skill-sharing services. The hypothetical model was applied to a survey on the use of skill-sharing services by residents in Hino city, the western part of Tokyo (n = 358). The results revealed that social motivation and self-actualizational motivation significantly affected the service use intention of skill providers. Economic motivations and enjoyment of service activities derive the service use intention of skill receivers. Moreover, familiarity was identified as a significant factor for both skill providers and receivers. These findings generated practical propositions for service designers to foster the further diffusion of skill-sharing services.

Managing China’s rise in the Indo-Pacific: Japan’s strategic engagement with India

ABSTRACT The article explains how Japan's strategic interests are converging with India against an assertive China in the Indo-Pacific. Japan has been pursuing a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) policy, which seeks to manage China's rise by deepening Japan's strategic coordination and cooperation with its closest partners through the Quad. Though Japan still values its bilateral relationship with the United States (US), its security partnership with India is part of Tokyo's persistent efforts to support the US-led rules-based international order. In order to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Indo-Pacific region, Japan has been a strong supporter among the Quad to promote non-military cooperation, primarily focusing on infrastructure building, supply chain resilience and technological innovations. The article argues that Japan's strategic engagement with India is now an integral part of its wider national security posture as Tokyo has come to recognise New Delhi as an important balancer against Beijing. That the US has enhanced its ties with India in recent years has further facilitated Japan–India strategic convergence since it is aligned with American policy towards the Indo-Pacific region in an era of great power competition.

Male-Dominant Hepatitis A Outbreak Observed among Non-HIV-Infected Persons in the Northern Part of Tokyo, Japan.

Recently, we experienced an outbreak of acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection between 2018 and 2020. Herein, we describe this male-dominant HAV infection outbreak observed among non-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons in the northern part of Tokyo, Japan. Clinical information was collected from patient interviews and from medical record descriptions. In the present study, 21 patients were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 90.4 and 33.3% of patients were males, and men who have sex with men (MSM), respectively. The total bilirubin levels and platelet counts tended to be lower in the MSM group than in the non-MSM group. C-reactive protein (CRP) levels tended to be higher in acute liver failure (ALF) patients than in non-ALF patients. Prolonged cholestasis was observed in one patient (4.8%). We also found that 18 HAV isolates belonged to HAV subgenotype IA/subgroup 13 (S13), which clustered with the HAV isolate (KX151459) that was derived from an outbreak of HAV infection among MSM in Taiwan in 2015. Our results suggest that the application of antivirals against HAV, as well as HAV vaccines, would be useful for the treatment and prevention of severe HAV infection.

The Risk of Liquefaction Associated with Water Head Fluctuation in the Low-lying Area of Tokyo

In the wide area of the eastern part of Tokyo, the ground level is less than mean sea level. This area is more vulnerable to disasters than other areas. If large flood damage such as storm surge should occur in this area, the disaster would be a long-term catastrophe. On the coast of Tokyo Bay, countermeasures have been taken by tide embankments and floodgates. However, considering the damage scale when it occurs, an analysis in this area is very important. In this area, ground settlement occurred and groundwater head dropped because groundwater excessively withdrew by the industrial purpose during the period of economic growth. Currently, the groundwater head recovers and the ground settlement has been subsided. However, due to the groundwater head fluctuation, pore water pressure distribution had been different from hydrostatic pressure distribution. Therefore, in the analysis in this area, it is necessary to consider past groundwater head fluctuation. In this research, the ground settlement and the distribution of pore water pressure are simulated from groundwater level fluctuation over the past 100 years. Then, we conducted the seismic analysis by input the distribution of effective stress calculating from the simulated ground water pressure. The sites analyzed in this research are Tokyo Sea Life Park at the mouth of Arakawa River.

Current Status of Absorbed Dose Rate in Air in Metropolitan Tokyo due to Radionuclide Deposition in Asphalt Pavements after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Introduction The distribution of environmental radiation in eastern Japan was dramatically changed after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1-NPP) accident that occurred in March 2011. The released total amounts of artificial radionuclides were estimated to be 100 - PBq of 131I and 6 - 20 PBq of 137Cs and they are about 10% and 20% of the respectively estimated amounts emitted in the CHERNOBYL accident. In metropolitan Tokyo, 220 km southwest of the F1-NPP, such artificial radionuclides as 131I, 134Cs and 137Cs were wet-deposited on March 21 - 23 by rainfalls. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government , the average absorbed dose rate in air (range) that was observed in June 2011 was 61 ± 24 nGy h-1 (30 - 200 nGy h-1), and that value was a maximum of 4.1 times higher than measured values before the accident . The area with the highest dose rate due to radionuclides deposited from the F1-NPP accident was Katsushika Ward which is located in the northeastern part of Tokyo. The absorbed dose rate in air measured in July 2011 in Katsushika Ward was 268 nGy h-1, which was 6.9 times higher than the value before the accident (i.e., 39 nGy h-1). Higher absorbed dose rates in air were observed on both the western end and the eastern end including Katsushika Ward, of Tokyo. However, the contribution ratio from the radio cesium (134Cs + 137Cs) to the absorbed dose rate in air in the eastern end was twice as high as that of the western end.

S202032 岩手県の中学生修学旅行での東京下町の工場見学

S202032 岩手県の中学生修学旅行での東京下町の工場見学

Solving real-world vehicle routing problems with time windows using virus evolution strategy

This paper proposes a new solution to the vehicle routing problem with time windows using an evolution strategy adopting viral infection. The problem belongs to the NP-hard class and is very difficult to solve within practical time limits using systematic optimization techniques. In conventional evolution strategies, a schema with a high degree-of-fitness produced in the process of evolution may not be inherited when the fitness of the individual containing the schema is low. The proposed method preserves the schema as a virus and uses it by the infection operation in successive generations. Experimental results using extended Solomon's benchmark problems with 1000 customers proved that the proposed method is superior to conventional methods in both its rates of searches and the probability of obtaining solutions. Further experiments using the map of the central part of Tokyo with 20000 intersections and real traffic data also gave that the rate of search of the proposed method is higher than that of the conventional method.

Catastrophe, Opportunism, Contestation: The Fractured Politics of Reconstructing Tokyo following the Great Kantô Earthquake of 1923

‘Earthquake and fire destroyed the greater part of Tokyo. Thoroughgoing reconstruction needed. Please come immediately if possible, even if for a short stay.’ So cabled Viscount Gotô Shinpei, former mayor of Tokyo (1920–1923) and current Home Minister to his long-time friend and Director of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, Charles A. Beard. Six days earlier, on 1 September 1923, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude between 7.9 and 8.2 devastated much of Tokyo and the surrounding Kantô region. The quake and the resulting fires, conflagrations that burned for over two days, destroyed nearly 70% of all structures in Tokyo, inflicted damage with a monetary cost upwards of 5.5 billion yen, killed more than 120,000 citizens, and rendered just over 1.5 million people homeless: it was an urban catastrophe surpassed in scope only by the devastation wrought by aerial bombing during the Second World War. The Kantô Daishinsai was Japan's most deadly, economically costly, and physically destructive natural catastrophe in history. Within a world history context moreover, the 1923 earthquake was one of the most devastating and disruptive natural disasters of the 20th century, yet it is also one of the least studied.

Ｍｏｒａｎ’ｓ Ｉ統計量による犯罪分布パターンの分析

This paper examined the spatial patterns of crime in a part of Tokyo. 68400 cases reported to the police were classified by 15 crime types, and then Moran's I, one of the indicators of the spatial autocorrelation was calculated using CrimeStat software. Moran's I for almost crime types including burglary, theft, snatching indicates significantly positive autocorrelation. To examine the effects of aggregation unit's size on Moran's I, data aggregated by both residential blocks and chome districts are used for calculation.The results from two types of spatial weight matrix are also discussed.

明治初頭における東京の居住 : 近世近代移行期における江戸,東京の都市空間(その2)

One of the most important particularities of the Japanese early modern ages' city, its city type is called Jokamachi, is that the utility of estate and the plan of building depended on the people's rank system of the Tokugawa Shogunate. So, after the Meiji Restoration, the remarkable trans-figuration and disorganization occured on the urban space of Tokyo. At the beginning of Meiji Era, although the parts of Tokyo, for example the form of dwelling, still had similarities with the Edo period's one, the city system which organized the parts had been gradually turning to another one.

Study on suspended particulate matter in the vicinity of a roadway

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentrations were measured and their composition was analysed at many sites around The Loop Road No. 8 (Traffic 100,000 vehicle/day) to determine the source contribution to SPM in the central part of Tokyo. It was found that SPM concentrations decreased with distance from the road. SPM concentrations decreased with distance by about 20% at 100m from the road. Total SPM in winter was composed of three main components carbon by 40%, ions by 30% and metals by 10%. Principal component analysis was performed for the data set of 16 data and 25 variables and identified three principal components, explaining 86.4% of total variance of SPM. The first principal component, which accounts for 64.3% of the total SPM, is regarded as an overall contamination index. The most plausible source of this component may be waste and biomass burning. The second principal component may be road dust and the third principal component may be attributable to automotive exhaust emissions.

PIXE MEASUREMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC PARTICULATE MATTER IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA NEAR A MAJOR URBAN HIGHWAY

In order to study influence of automobile traffic on a local urban atmospheric environment, we have investigated suspended particulate matter (SPM) collected at sampling sites in a region which includes a major highway and a residential area in the southern part of Tokyo during August - November 1999. The atomic composition of each sample was measured by means of PIXE analysis using a 2.0 MeV proton beam. Sixteen elements were quantitatively measured. The positional dependence of SPM loading was determined for each element using samples simultaneously collected at three different sites. For the experimental results obtained for downwind conditions, the measured concentration as a function of the distance from the highway was compared with a simple calculation based on the Gaussian plume model. The concentration distribution of some heavy elements in the fine fraction is well reproduced by this analysis. It has been found that for ordinary moderate downwind conditions the area within 300-400 m from the highway is directly affected by emission due to the automobile traffic.

Water recycling systems in Tokyo

Water resources for water supply of Tokyo depend mainly on surface water from many dams and rivers in the Kanto province and ground water in a part of Tokyo. But because of an increase in water demand and a reduction in water resource development, a water shortage has occurred every few years. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) announced a new policy to conserve limited water resources and has implemented several measures to promote the consumers' consciousness for water conservation, use of reclaimed water and development of water-saving appliances. With water for miscellaneous use (=nonpotable use), the TMG has encouraged “reuse of treated wastewater”, “use of industrial water for miscellaneous use”, and “use of rainwater”. According to three types of reclaimed water systems - individual building, limited area, and broad area recycling systems - the TMG established a guideline for the water for miscellaneous use. This paper describes the background of the issue, contents of the guideline, and results of the promotion and theme in the future.

The water table in the Tokyo District

The aim of this study was to reveal the mechanisms of occurrence, movement, and distribution of unconfined water under the Tokyo District, Japan's largest city, and the outlying areas, where its people live and do business. As many as 15 simultaneous investigations were made to determine the exact level of the groundwater table and the long-term fluctuations of the water level. The work was aided by automatic recorders, aquifer testing, geological observations, and topographical and other related studies undertaken from 1966 to the present. Unconfined groundwater systems in the Tokyo area are controlled by the geology and topography of a diluvial upland and alluvial lowland. The former is represented by a deposit referred to as the Kanto loam, which is a volcanic ejecta originating from the volcanos of Fuji and Hakone. An aquifer, representing the unconfined water beneath the upland, is probably related to terrace gravels widely distributed throughout the upland area. It should be noted that in some sections of the area, the Kanto loam forms groundwater mounds, and shallow well zones have been presently confirmed which have been there since ancient times and are used as a partial source for household water supplies. This means that the unconfined water now available seems to come from several formations and is related to the topography and geology of that particular area. The massive movement of people to the suburbs of the western part of Tokyo began in the latter half of the 20th century. During this urbanization, there was a tremendous need for housing and subsequent need for additional and dependable water supplies. This need was met by the introduction of advanced equipment and technical knowledge. Changes in the hydrological environment caused by the urbanization of the area are, at present, so serious that immediate action needs to be taken for a more permanent and stable supply of groundwater. This can only be achieved by adequate maintenance of the surrounding environment as well as conservation of the underground water resources. This article discusses quantitatively the analytical reports of the changes found as a result of a hydrological survey of that environment.

Through the Japanese Looking Glass

A few weeks before President Bush brought his unprecedented trade mission to Japan, Tokyo's 30 million inhabitants were brought into the living rooms of middle class and they didn't like what they saw. On a congested street corner in Tokyo's famous Shinjuku business/entertainment district, an even more-than-normal crowd of Japanese pedestrians had congregated around a series of televisions screens, which upon closer inspection bore the familiar face of ABC Nightline's Ted Koppel. In a part of Tokyo where getting from one destination to another seems the only purpose in life, the crowd of Japanese, ranging from all ages, had been stopped dead in their tracks, their usually solemn faces revealing shock and dismay at what they were hearing and seeing. Through his high-tech populism, Koppel was searching for the message that the average American wanted President Bush to take with him to Japan. If what's good for General Motors is good for America, then Koppel's three guests-GM assembly line workers facing imminent layoffs under the recently announced cutbacks-were America personified. As for the message, it was the same one that the Japanese have had thrown at them repeatedly since President Bush brought his businessdominated entourage to Tokyo: if the American economy is to recover, then Japan must open its markets to free trade for American cars, computers, paper, and glass; otherwise, Japan will face the wrath of American legislators under pressure from increasingly protectionist constituencies and of an incumbent president looking for a re-election strategy in the depths of a recession. As the Japanese crowd endured a first glimpse of the kind of finger-pointing which was soon to be imported onto their shores, a Japanese friend turned to me and said, You Americans are incredibly

On relationships between heat island and sky view factor in the cities of Tama River basin, Japan

This study aims at firstly identifying heat island phenomena, secondly relating heat island intensity to city size, and thirdly providing basic urban climatic information to city planners or ordinary citizens. Horizontal distributions of dry- and wet-bulb temperature were measured seasonally in small to medium sized cities by mobile observers. Also, at a fixed station, wind speed and wind direction in addition to temperature were observed. The cities selected for this were Tachikawa, Fuchu, Fussa, Higashimurayama and Akikawa, which are suburban cities in the W part of Tokyo. This area is part of the middle basin of Tama River. Observations were made both during the day and at night in winter (February and December), spring (March and May), summer (July and August) and autumn (October and November) over a period of maximum duration of 1.5 h. In all cities heat islands were observed to develop to some extent. Their intensities were largely dependent on weather conditions. Cities in Japan have been growing rapidly and randomly, and merging into neighbouring small cities or towns. This expansion is called sprawl. Due to these factors it is very difficult to determine a good indicator of city sizes, i.e. population or DID (Densely Inhabited District) population does not represent the effect of city size on heat island intensity. Sky view factors were determined using a fish-eye lens and a calculation chart. We therefore examined central urban area and sky view factor as a cause factor for heat islands. It is concluded that sky view factor is a very useful indicator of the effect of urbanization on heat island intensity.

Validation of an air pollution model for the Keihin area

This paper describes a dispersion model for a highly polluted region including Kawasaki, Yokohama and part of Tokyo. The models were based on the Gaussian plume dispersion equation and on the steady model for the calm condition. Hourly values for 3 months at 11 measurement points were used for validation of the calculated results. The validation also involved calculation of the correlation coefficients of hourly values and daily average values, the root mean square error and comparison of pcrecntile-concentration (P-C) curves and arrowhead charts.

Shinagawa Wharf and the Location of Industries Related to Paper

At Shinagawa wharf of the Port of Tokyo, there are the main berths for the liner services between Tokyo and Hokkaido. The paper in rolls is one of the main cargoes handled here, and since the completion of this wharf, in 1965 news paper factories, cutting plants and a warehouse for roll paper have been gradually moved into the area behind Shinagawa wharf. These establishments, however, are not so numerous in number in proportion to the amount of paper handled at this wharf. Other establishments related to paper are scattered in other parts of Tokyo. The shipping costs of paper are paid by producers, and the paper is delivered to the consumers and dealers by c. o. d. system. Thus, the areal structure of the section behind the wharf is greatly affected by the distribution of related industries.

Economic Geological Study on the Southern Kanto Gas-producing Region

The Southern Kanto dissolved-in-water type gas-producing region, which covers Chiba prefecture, a part of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Ibaraki and Saitama prefectures, is one of the largest gas-producing regions in Japan. The methane gas from the region has no geological relation to petroleum or coal. Stratigraphically most of the gas-producing horizons in the region are restricted to the marine Kazusa group of Pliocene to Pleistocene in age. (Here, the Kazusa group denotes all the formations between the Kurotaki unconformity and the top of the Kasamori formation.) The natural gas is concentrated in a basin-like structure of the Kazusa group, being mostly dissolved in connate brine water. It can be considered that the natural gas in the Kazusa group, at least the greater portion of it, is indigenous to the group. Roughly speaking, the natural gas potentiality is highest in the southern part of the Kujukuri district, and very low both in the western half of the area of distribution of the group and in the Kisarazu-Goi district.Judging from the geologic conditions during the deposition of the Kazusa group, such as lithofacies, depositional environments, and the modes of sedimentation of the group, the natural gas in the group was generated in the greatest quantities in the deep open-sea bottom where much argillaceous sediments were rapidly deposited. A considerable part of the gas thus generated has migrated into the porous layers in the group; however, since the time of the deposition of the group the gas has always behaved under the strong influence of the movements of the groundwater, that is, gravitative percolation of meteoric water into the strata, and compaction current in the strata. And, the movements of the groundwater have corresponded exactly to the changes in the pressure distribution of the water, which have been caused by sedimentation, deformation of the strata, and changes in paleogeography of the Kanto region ever since. Thus, the present modes of occurrence and the distribution of the natural gas in the Kazusa group can be clearly explained from the geologic conditions during the deposition of the group, and from the geohistorical factors which have more influentially controlled since the time of the deposition of the group than the former.

On the Distribution of Natural Gas in the Southern Kanto Gas-producing Region

The Southern Kanto dissolved-in-water type gas-producing region, which covers Chiba prefecture, and a part of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Ibaragi and Saitama prefectures, is one of the largest gas-producing regions in Japan. Stratigraphically most of the gas-producing horizons in the region are restricted to the Kazusa group (All of the formations between the Kurotaki unconformity and the top of the Kasamori formation are called the Kazusa group en bloc.). It is considered that at least most of the natural gas in the Kazusa group is indigenous to the group. Roughly speaking, natural gas potentiality is highest in the southern part of the Kujukuri district, and lowest in the western half of the area of distribution of the Kazusa group.