Rest Of Japan Research Articles

LateTriassic A‐type granite boulders in Lower Cretaceous conglomerate of theHida belt, Japan: Their origin and bearing on theYamatotectonic line inFar East Asia

AbstractTo identify the origin of the Hida belt in central Japan, geochemistry and U–Pb age of zircons were analyzed for the extra‐large granitoid boulders in the Lower Cretaceous fluvial conglomerate of the Jinzu Group. This study clarified that the boulders of granitoids have geochemistry of typical A‐type granite, as characterized by high Nb + Y and high Ta + Yb values. U–Pb ages of igneous zircons from three individual granite boulders are concentrated at ca. 220 Ma (Late Triassic). As to Late Triassic A‐type granites, there is no corresponding body previously recognized within Japan, whereas identical A‐type granites occur in the eastern Songliao block on the immediate west of the Jiamusi block in NE China. The large size of boulders and the fluvial facies of the hosting conglomerate indicate their origin in the Hida belt per se, suggesting the cryptic and/or past occurrence of A‐type granite, rather than in NE China. Together with the eastern Songliao block (China), Laoelin‐Grodekov (LG) belt (Primorye, Russia), and Yamato Ridge (Japan Sea), the Hida belt forms a unique domain on the immediate west of GSC in Far East Asia, which is characterized commonly by the co‐occurrence of Permo‐Triassic and Jurassic granitoids, and probably with Late Triassic A‐type granite. These confirm that Hida belt represents an allochthonous unit tectonically emplaced onto the rest of Japan, which is composed of the Phanerozoic subduction‐related orogenic belt (Nipponides) developed along the Pacific side of Greater South China (GSC) since the Cambrian. For emphasizing a major geotectonic boundary of the Mesozoic granitoid provinces in Far East Asia, we propose the Yamato tectonic line between the easternmost Central Asian orogenic belt and GSC/Nipponides, which is traced for up to 3000 km from the Russia/China/North Korea border to SW Japan.

Tourism-led economic contribution, interregional repercussion effects, and intersectoral propagation activities in Tokyo Metropolitan

This study aims to investigate the contribution of visitors’ expenditure to Tokyo Metropolitan’s economy including its decomposition, the interregional repercussion effect between Tokyo and the rest of Japan, and the intersectoral propagation activities between tourism and the other sector in Tokyo based on two-region interregional input–output model and Miyazawa’s partitioned matrix multipliers. Measurement in tworegion model yielded to a higher value compared to single-region model, where domestic visitors lead the major contribution in overall, prominently on services sectors. The indirect and feedback effects to industries in Tokyo were strongly linked to tertiary sector, while spillover effect to the rest of Japan was more widely distributed. The economic activities in Tokyo were highly dependent on the industries in the rest of Japan, in similar manner as tourism on the other sectors within Tokyo. Tourism industries have strong inducible effects on the other sector. Considering these interregional and intersectoral interdependencies, improving the tourism sector in Tokyo may imply a promising effect to benefit the economy of Tokyo and subsequently other Japanese regions.

Perinatal mortality after the Fukushima nuclear accident: An ecological study.

ObjectiveThis study continues former studies on perinatal mortality in Japan after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) accident in March 2011. An increased study region is chosen, and the study period is extended to 2019.MethodsJapanese monthly perinatal mortality data are provided on a prefecture level by the Japanese government. The study region consists of 12 prefectures around the FDNPP; the rest of Japan is used as the control region. A combined non-linear regression of perinatal mortality rates in the study- and control regions is conducted. The regression model allows for a common asymptotic lower limit of perinatal mortality, seasonal variations, and periodic peaks in 2012–2019 in the study region. To determine the dependency of the effect on distance from the FDNPP, the study region is divided into four core prefectures and eight prefectures surrounding the core prefectures.ResultsPerinatal mortality rates in the study region show a significant 6.4% (95% CI: 1.8%, 13.4%) overall increase in 2012–2019 relative to the trend in preceding years with no attenuation during 2012–19. The increase translates to 590 (165, 1226) excess perinatal deaths (p = 0.016). It is characterized by annual peaks with maxima in April. A 13.6% increase is determined in the four core prefectures and a 4.3% increase in eight prefectures surrounding the core prefectures. Before 2012, there is a peak around April 2011 and a decline in October 2011; another significant peak is detected in November 2012. In the 4 core prefectures, large increases are found in the first quarter of 2018 (+70%) and in May 2019 (+130%).ConclusionThis study finds periodic peaks in perinatal mortality in spring 2012–2019 in 12 prefectures of Japan surrounding the FDNPP. In light of massive increases in 2018 and 2019 in the four core prefectures, continued investigation of perinatal mortality in contaminated regions of Japan is recommended.

Reduction in live births in Japan nine months after the Fukushima nuclear accident: An observational study.

BackgroundAfter the Chernobyl accident on 26 April 1986, a drop in birth-rate was found in several European countries in the first quarter of 1987. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether a similar drop in live births occurred in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear accident.Data and methodsA study region was defined consisting of Fukushima prefecture plus 10 nearby prefectures. The observed monthly numbers of live births (LB) in October 2011 through December 2012 were compared with the predicted numbers determined from the trend of live births in the remaining months from January 2006 through December 2018. The study region was divided into Fukushima plus three adjacent prefectures (Area A, assumed effective mean dose in the first year 1 mSv) and seven surrounding prefectures (Area B, 0.5 mSv). The rest of Japan (Area C) served as the comparison (control) region (0.1 mSv). A combined regression of live births (LB) in areas A, B, C was conducted with individual trend parameters but common parameters for monthly variations.ResultsIn the study region as a whole (areas A and B combined) a highly significant 9.1% (95% CI: -12.2%, -6.0%) drop in LB was found in December 2011. Reduced numbers of live births were also observed in October-November 2011 (-3.3%, p = 0.006), i.e. in births exposed early in pregnancy. In the second quarter of 2012, i.e. in live births conceived more than 3 months after the Fukushima accident, the decrease was greater (-4.3%, p < 0.001) than in the first quarter (-1.6%, p = 0.11). i.e. in those conceived within the first three months after the accident while no significant decrease was detected in the third (-0.7%, p = 0.44) and fourth (-0.5%, p = 0.62) quarters. The effect in Dec 2011 was greater in Area A with -14.0 (-17.6, -10.3) % than in Area B with -7.8 (-11.1, -4.5) % and non-significant in Area C with -1.3 (-4.2, +1.6) %, p = 0.38. The combined regression of the data in areas A, B, and C found a highly significant association of the effect in December 2011 with radiation dose. Conclusion: It is suggested that the observed drop in LB in December 2011 may reflect early deaths of the conceptus from high radiation exposure following the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 12–15, 2011.

Regional economic effects of transport infrastructure development featuring trade gateway region-asymmetric spatial CGE model approach

Port, or airport, is an essential infrastructure for international trade. Actually it is impossible to export/import for island countries without such port infrastructure. International freight transport system includes not only the infrastructure facilities but also the specialized procedure of international cargo handling and trading in the “trade gateway” region. It means that the situation of transport, or trade, system is asymmetric between the trade gateway region and other regions.This paper proposes a methodology based on spatial computable general equilibrium (SCGE) model framework taking into account of the asymmetric aspects of trade gateway region explicitly. The model describes the role of export and import sector in the trade gateway region, which do not exist other hinterland regions. We then apply the model to Japanese economy divided into two regions, trade gateway (Tokyo) and rest of Japan. Some transport development scenarios are evaluated quantitatively. A sensitivity analysis remarks the discussions regarding the effects of elasticity assumptions.

Perinatal mortality after the Fukushima accident: a spatiotemporal analysis

Objective. This study investigates the trend of perinatal mortality rates in Fukushima Prefecture and four neighboring prefectures (Miyagi, Gunma, Tochigi, and Ibaraki) after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011. Material and methods. Japanese monthly perinatal mortality data on a prefecture level are available on a website of the Japanese government. A combined regression of perinatal mortality rates from the study region and the rest of Japan (the control region) is conducted. The regression model allows for an asymptotic lower limit and a level change of perinatal mortality rates in 2012–2017 in the study region relative to the predicted trend. Results. In 2012–2017, perinatal mortality in the study region shows a significant 10.6% increase relative to the trend in preceding years (p = 0.006). The excess mortality translates to 195 (95% CI: 28, 462) excess perinatal deaths. The increase is three times greater in Fukushima Prefecture than in the four neighboring prefectures and the difference in excess rates is statistically significant (p = 0.010). Periodic peaks of perinatal mortality are found in 2012–2017 with maxima around April. Conclusion. We find an increase in perinatal mortality in Fukushima and four neighboring prefectures after the Fukushima nuclear accident. The results agree with similar observations in Germany and Ukraine after the Chernobyl disaster. Due to its ecological design, the study cannot prove a causal link between radiation exposure and perinatal mortality. Continued observation of the trend of perinatal mortality in contaminated regions of Japan is recommended.

The Tenpō-Era (1830–1844) Map of Matsumae-no-shima and the Institutionalization of Tokugawa Cartography

ABSTRACTJapan’s early modern Tokugawa government (1603−1868) sponsored a series of projects of national mapping. The Matsumae family, ruling what is now Hokkaido, were loosely incorporated into these projects. It was only during the last of these, in the Tenpō era (1830−1848), that their lands were represented in the same manner as the rest of Japan because the central government made the final Matsumae-no-shima map. This article examines the production of this final official map of Japan’s north to argue that the Tokugawa’s institutional mapping made this region part of the nation through its own mapping framework, distinct from the cartographic forms with which national or imperial states are usually associated.

Radionuclide pollution inside the Fukushima Daiichi exclusion zone, part 2: Forensic search for the “Forgotten” contaminants Uranium-236 and plutonium

In the course of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident (March 2011), large quantities of radionuclides, mainly of the volatile elements such as cesium and iodine were released to the environment. In small amounts non-volatile elements such as plutonium and uranium have also been released. For this study vegetation, litter and soil drill core samples were taken in 2013 and 2015 in the contaminated area in Fukushima prefecture. In 2015 the samples were taken as close to the sampling locations of the 2013 campaign as possible. To investigate the origin of plutonium and uranium the isotopic ratios 240Pu/239Pu and 236U/238U were measured using accelerator mass spectrometry. While the determined 240Pu/239Pu ratios indicate global fallout as the plutonium source for most samples, reactor plutonium of the reactors of Fukushima Daiichi is identified unambiguously in some vegetation and litter samples. This assumption is corroborated by the detection of 236U. None of the samples contained higher plutonium activity concentrations than in the rest of Japan, caused by global fallout. This holds even for the samples where the reactors were identified as the source from the isotope ratios. This and the strong localization, even for neighboring sampling sites, indicate that the overall small quantities of plutonium were most likely released in the form of particulate matter.

Disasters as opportunity for change: Tsunami recovery and energy transition in Japan

Disasters may offer a window of opportunity, in which extraordinary circumstances create momentum for positive social change. While this potential is popularized through the concept of “building back better,” few studies have examined quantitatively the processes and drivers of broader social change in a post-disaster context. Using renewable energy transition (specifically, solar photovoltaic diffusion) as one measure of building back better, this study explores how pre-and post- disaster contexts, capacities, and policies affected recovery outcomes of 30 coastal communities nearly 5 years following the Great East Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster (Tohoku disaster). Our study shows that the disaster-affected communities adopted significantly more solar power than the rest of Japan following the introduction of the country's Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) system in 2012. The communities examined are highly diverse in their solar energy adoption as of 2015, and regression analysis was conducted to explain differences in overall solar energy diffusion as well as in adoption of very large scale mega-solar projects. The dynamic relationship between physical damage and subsequent solar adoption was found to be nonlinear, as was the relationship between degree of household relocation and solar energy adoption. Differences in communities’ mega-solar adoption were also explained by the variability in hazard zone designation and extent of physical damage. These findings suggest that a disaster may serve as an opportunity for positive community change when immediate impact (or the level of change involved in a reconstruction process) is high enough but not overwhelming. Overall, this study finds potentially complex relationships.

The first Japanese trial of the community-based integrated care system in a rural area

Introduction: Japan has the highest elderly rate of population in the world. In 2012, the government implemented the community-based integrated care system, which integrates various health-related resources within the community through cooperation among formal, long-term care facilities, welfare and medical care specialists, and informal voluntary activities by the residents. The system was first born in a rural town in Hiroshima.Description of the policy: This presentation shows how a trial in a typical rural town achieved the community-based integrated care system, influenced the governmental policies, and became the first model for the subsequent nationwide reform of healthcare system. In 1970s, the aging population has been prominent in Mitsugi. At that time, care for the elderly was fragmented into various service sections. An integrated care system marshaling all services and providing an integrated delivery system, which was later called the community-based integrated care system, has been gradually constructed in Mitsugi as follows.Firstly, in 1970s, the hospital started providing home-visit services; doctors, nurses, long-term care workers and the like would visit patients’ houses, support their life at home instead of patients coming to the hospital. It promoted linkage between care services in the hospital and at home. Secondly, the Health Management Center was opened as an annex of the hospital in 1984. This center involved some departments of the municipal government, which had been responsible for the preventive, welfare and long-term care services in those days. It enabled the hospital to play a role in not only medical but also preventive, welfare and long-term care services, which facilitated providing these services seamlessly. Thirdly, long-term care facilities such as a nursing home and a group home for demented elderly patients were established. These facilities made long-term care possible for the elderly people that cannot be cared for at home. Lastly, Mitsugi launched volunteers’ action by community citizens to help the elderly with the cooperation of the hospital. This volunteer system has formed the connection between residents and the hospital, which has made more seamless community-cooperative comprehensive care possible.Results: After the system, the proportion of bedridden people decreased remarkably from 3.5 to 1% in this town. In addition, this system realized slowing growth of healthcare costs, while they were then rapidly increasing throughout the rest of Japan. Although healthcare costs for elderly in Mitsugi were above average in Hiroshima prefecture until about 1985, the status has since been reversed, maintaining a lower level than the prefectural mean. After its success, the first community-based integrated care system case in Mitsugi became the model for the national policy implemented in 2012.Highlights: Success in a small rural town can influence the entire country. This is the first case of diffusion of a healthcare system from rural to urban areas, which is unusual. The reasons why the first community-based integrated care system arose in Mitsugi are the aging of the population, easy integration of services due to its small size, the economic support from the prefecture, and existence of a leader that coordinated different sectors of healthcare.Conclusion: There are three future tasks to sustain the community-based integrated care system. Firstly, the system suitable for each community should be constructed. Secondly, vigorous resident participation is needed in this system so that they can find and introduce neighbors that need medical or long-term care services to the system. Finally, finding ways to reduce the costs for medical and long-term care services at a nationwide level.

Increases in perinatal mortality in prefectures contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan: A spatially stratified longitudinal study.

Descriptive observational studies showed upward jumps in secular European perinatal mortality trends after Chernobyl. The question arises whether the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident entailed similar phenomena in Japan. For 47 prefectures representing 15.2 million births from 2001 to 2014, the Japanese government provides monthly statistics on 69,171 cases of perinatal death of the fetus or the newborn after 22 weeks of pregnancy to 7 days after birth. Employing change-point methodology for detecting alterations in longitudinal data, we analyzed time trends in perinatal mortality in the Japanese prefectures stratified by exposure to estimate and test potential increases in perinatal death proportions after Fukushima possibly associated with the earthquake, the tsunami, or the estimated radiation exposure. Areas with moderate to high levels of radiation were compared with less exposed and unaffected areas, as were highly contaminated areas hit versus untroubled by the earthquake and the tsunami. Ten months after the earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear accident, perinatal mortality in 6 severely contaminated prefectures jumped up from January 2012 onward: jump odds ratio 1.156; 95% confidence interval (1.061, 1.259), P-value 0.0009. There were slight increases in areas with moderate levels of contamination and no increases in the rest of Japan. In severely contaminated areas, the increases of perinatal mortality 10 months after Fukushima were essentially independent of the numbers of dead and missing due to the earthquake and the tsunami. Perinatal mortality in areas contaminated with radioactive substances started to increase 10 months after the nuclear accident relative to the prevailing and stable secular downward trend. These results are consistent with findings in Europe after Chernobyl. Since observational studies as the one presented here may suggest but cannot prove causality because of unknown and uncontrolled factors or confounders, intensified research in various scientific disciplines is urgently needed to better qualify and quantify the association of natural and artificial environmental radiation with detrimental genetic health effects at the population level.

Understanding of economic spillover mechanism by structural path analysis: a case study of interregional social accounting matrix focused on institutional sectors in Japan

The aim of this research is to introduce a multiregional social accounting matrix (SAM) in Japan evaluating the regional and interregional spillover effects of economic impacts and to show the impact flows of economic linkages based on SAM. While research on national and regional SAM has become common, examples of interregional SAM are rare currently. This study points out that there is a substantial need to build a small regional and interregional SAM because of economic sensitivity. Our work evaluates the economic effects of national and regional government behavior, such as changes of the local tax system and decentralization of power, on the regional economy by structural path analysis. This research finds the differential impact flows of local government expenditures to regional incomes between a remote area and the rest of Japan (ROJ), or the leakages of remote area’s money to ROJ via property income.

Beyond the Metropolis: Second Cities and Modern Life in Interwar Japan by Louise Young

Reviewed by: Beyond the Metropolis: Second Cities and Modern Life in Interwar Japan by Louise Young Miriam Kingsberg Beyond the Metropolis: Second Cities and Modern Life in Interwar Japan. By Louise Young. University of California Press, 2013. 326 pages. Hardcover $85.00/£62.95. Beyond the Metropolis understands the city not simply as a concentration of individuals, institutions, and infrastructure, but also as a sociocultural network and ideological entity. From a vantage point beyond Tokyo, it examines what author Louise Young refers to as Tokyo-centrism: a cultural geography originating in the interwar context of rapid urban growth that privileged the capital while marginalizing the rest of national space. Young takes pains to emphasize that Tokyo in the Japanese imagination was hardly consistent with actual assemblages or experiences of the metropolis. As historiography has shown, Tokyo was an expanding, dizzying sprawl of suburbs and slums with no clear “center.” Yet deprivation, danger, and disease failed to tarnish its allure; rather, Tokyo-centrism operated through synecdoches both geographic (the glitzy commercial district of Ginza, for example) and human—including the moga (modern girl) and narikin (self-made millionaire). As a result of its overwhelming sociospatial hegemony, Tokyo has tended to dominate the literature on Japanese urban history. Breaking with this pattern, Beyond the Metropolis adopts the novel perspective of Japan’s “second cities,” a heterogeneous constellation in political, economic, cultural, and ideological thrall to the capital. The second cities of Young’s study are not the five major interwar conurbations—Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe—that simultaneously deferred to and defied (elements of) Tokyo-centrism. Rather, they are Japan’s prefectural and regional capitals, caught between a universalist view of urban modernity and a particularist concern for local relevance. Just as Tokyo framed itself against an uninterrogated rural space (as the rest of Japan was imagined to be), the capital itself offered an Other to second cities in creating unique urban identities. During the interwar period, each of these cities exhibited a specific developmental trajectory, profile, and relationship to surrounding regions. Through her analysis of the center from the perspective of the periphery, Young convincingly challenges our understanding of modernity as a passive diffusion resulting in convergence and homogenization. Her narrative instead highlights diversification and the agency of individuals, institutions, and ideas. As case studies, the author selects the cities of Kanazawa, Niigata, Okayama, and Sapporo. Sources including gazetteers, chamber of commerce records, company histories, social surveys and reports, tourist guides, travel diaries, local magazines and newspapers, city plans, memoirs, media productions, and fiction spotlight intriguing commonalities as well as differences. Niigata and Kanazawa originated as castle towns on Japan’s historically neglected Sea of Japan coast. Niigata, however, was one of the first Japanese ports opened to foreign trade in the nineteenth century; as such, it became a [End Page 241] gateway for Western imports, and, during the 1930s, for trade with Japan’s empire on the Asian mainland. Okayama, a castle town on the Pacific shore, and Sapporo, a frontier city amid the coalfields of Hokkaido, were situated relatively fortuitously, yet their development was as much or more the result of human actions as geography. During World War II, Okayama alone was devastated by Allied firebombing, but after 1945 all four cities forged new paths, influenced by but not dependent upon their prewar contours. Rather than organizing the book by city, Young provides an integrated, thematic, and loosely chronological treatment of all four locations. The first chapter, “World War One and the City Idea,” explores the association of urbanism and modernity in the early twentieth century. After Japan rejected the legal social order of the Tokugawa period, cities emerged as both symbols and instruments of progress and enlightenment. During the so-called Great War, they took on additional roles as epicenters and engines of the burgeoning industrial economy. The populations and infrastructure of cities, including second cities, expanded at a dizzying rate to accommodate growth. The imagination of the urban evolved in tandem with its function, producing a new “social consciousness of the modern” (p. 32) that distinguished city spaces from the putatively backward countryside. Young’s next chapter analyzes Tokyo-centrism from the perspective of culture. Convergence...

有形民俗文化財の保存の実態と地域的アイデンティティへの役割

Along with its economic development, Japan has experienced significant changes in its people’s living environments and lifestyles, as well as loss of tangible folk cultural properties that were originally produced as necessities of daily life and passed down from generation to generation while undergoing constant evolution and improvement. Tangible folk cultural properties are objects and implements traditionally used in everyday life related to food, clothing and shelter, livelihood activities such as farming and fishing, and annual events in local communities. They are important cultural heritages indispensable for understanding the changes in modes of life. However, with changes in the industrial structure and lifestyles since the Meiji Period, many tangible folk cultural properties are on the verge of being dispersed or lost. Furthermore, since they are familiar tools and implements used in daily life, their true value as cultural heritages is not fully recognized, and they are often not preserved or used properly. Tangible folk cultural properties have long been close to local residents who have created their own regional identities.A study and analysis project conducted in the Kanto and Seto-uchi Regions and three prefectures in the Tokai region in 2010, 2012 and 2013 showed that many tangible folk cultural properties were lost, particularly with significant changes in the industrial structure and social lifestyles during the postwar period of rapid economic growth. As expected, the most severe tangible folk cultural property loss was seen in the Kanto Region. In the Tokai and Seto-uchi Regions, many traditional tools used in daily life have unexpectedly survived.A hypothesis was developed from the results of the 2010 research conducted in the Kanto Region that tangible folk cultural properties remaining in a local area provide the major source of energy for developing unique communities and human resources. Based on this hypothesis, I conducted research in the Kyushu Region （Okinawa Prefecture excluded because it differs greatly from the rest of Japan in terms of historical and cultural background）, as well as the Tokai and Seto-uchi Regions to apply the hypothesis in these regions in addition to Kanto. The results showed that many tangible folk cultural properties produced in the Kyushu Region from the Meiji Period to the end of World War II were used throughout the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods, regardless of their type. This is also true in the Kanto, Tokai and Seto-uchi Regions. However unlike Kanto and Tokai, Kyushu has properties that were made in the Edo Period （before the Meiji Restoration） and use continued for occupational or religious purposes until after the end of World War II. Among folk cultural properties for occupational use, those produced and used until the 1970s account for 34% of the total in Kyushu, compared with 16% and 12% in Kanto and Tokai, respectively. As for folk cultural properties for religious use, some were made in the Edo Period, and continued to be used until the last years of the postwar high economic growth period （9% of the total folk cultural properties for religious use）. More folk cultural properties created in and before the Edo Period have survived in the Kyushu Region than in the three other regions. Kyushu even has folk cultural properties that were produced in the Showa Period （1965-1974） that are still used today. Northern Kyushu has been Japan’s leading center for heavy industries since the Meiji Period. Nevertheless, numerous folk cultural properties used in daily life for occupational purposes still survive in this area. This shows that in Kyushu, a region with a long history, the conventional ideas of the local people have been maintained, while both traditional local and heavy industries, which played a leading role in modern Japan’s economic growth, coexist well creating a dual industrial structure.JEL Classifications: H54, R51, R53, Z11

Expert Assessment on Agri-Food Implications of March 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Accident in Japan

The March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant accident have had immense impacts on Japanese agri-food sector. Previous analysis has demonstrated that some of the impacts that triple disaster are difficult to identify and assess due to the insufficient information, controversial data, continuing challenges and uncertainties, etc. In order to expend the assessments we have organized two expert assessments in order to identify the 2011 disasters’ short and longer terms impacts on agriculture, food industries and consumers as well as factors for persistence of negative impacts, and longer-term impacts on major resources, productions, organisations, efficiency, etc. in the most affected regions and the rest of Japan. This paper presents the results of the experts’ assessments on socio-economic impacts of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster on the Japanese agriculture and food sector. Nearly four years after the triple disaster, it gives some tentative assessment on the diverse (specific, combined, short-term, long-term, functional) impacts of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident on agriculture, food industries, and food consumption in different regions of the country.

Postwar Development of Hokkaido

The near revolutionary reforms that U.S. occupiers enforced in Japan between 1945 and 1952 altered the characteristics of the Hokkaido development system, but did not make it correspond to the administrative system in the rest of Japan. Although the establishment of the postwar Hokkaido development system was a subplot of the nationwide local government reform from the perspective of the U.S. occupation authorities, this process can be explained only when one understands the changes to the general occupation policy and the actions of the occupiers. While the Hokkaido electorate chose a socialist governor, by the end of U.S. occupation, the decision-making power drifted toward Japan’s conservative central government. While the occupation authorities originally prohibited creation of the Hokkaido Development Agency in 1947, they lifted that ban three years later and even reluctantly approved the establishment of the Hokkaido Development Bureau in 1951, although General Headquarters/Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (ghq/scap) discouraged such a move throughout the occupation. This article argues that the outcome was a compromise that failed to match anyone’s concept of an ideal situation.

Abstract P365: Turning in the Mortality Trends from Coronary Heart Disease in Japan: Age-Specific Analysis of the Regional Difference in Japan from 1969 to 2007

Objective: To examine the recent mortality trends of coronary heart disease (CHD), we compared the age specific CHD mortality trends in Japan and in urban and in the rest of Japan, respectively using Vital Statistics. Methods and Results: We compared CHD mortality rates in all Japan, the urban population (20 million) and in the rest of Japan (100 million) from 1969 to 2007 for 30 to 69 years of age. In 1969 [[Unable to Display Character: &amp;#8209;]] 1970, the age[[Unable to Display Character: &amp;#8209;]]adjusted CHD mortality rate was 57.7 per 100,000 for men and 25.9 for women in Japan, and was the same as those of the urban population (59.2 for men and 26.8 for women) and the rest of Japan (57.3 for men and 25.9 for women). The CHD mortality rate in the rest of Japan decreased to 28.4 for men and 7.6 for women in 2006-2007. Although CHD mortality rate in the urban population also decreased to 39.9 for men and 10.1 for women in 2006 - 2007, the decline was much smaller. Trends in age-specific CHD mortality rates was compared between Period I (1969 - 1978), Period II (1981- 1994) and period III (1996 - 2007). Among men in Japan and in the rest of Japan, the decline in the mortality rate for the 30 to 49[[Unable to Display Character: &amp;#8209;]]year[[Unable to Display Character: &amp;#8209;]]old[[Unable to Display Character: &amp;#8209;]]age group was initially observed in Period I and II, and has turned to increase significantly (p&lt;0.001) in the Period III while continuous declining trends in 50-59 and 60-69 year old-age-group. Trends in urban population went ahead, changes in the declining trends was observed both the Period II and III among 30-49 year-old-age group and period III among 50-59 year-old-age group while continuous decline was observed among 60-69 year-old-age group. Similar trends were observed among women. These trends coincide with the increase in the fat intake mainly among younger generation. Conclusions: Observed increase in CHD mortality of men in Japan among younger generation proceeded by those in the urban population may predict the future increase in CHD mortality in Japan.

Whole-genome analysis of bovine rotavirus species C isolates obtained in Yamagata, Japan, 2003–2010

An epidemic of diarrhoea in adult cows occurred at a total of 105 dairy farms in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, between 2003 and 2010. Reverse transcription-PCR diagnostic tests revealed the presence of bovine rotavirus species C (RVCs) in samples from each of six farms (5.7 %). In this study, we determined the full-length nucleotide sequences of 11 RNA segments from six bovine RVC strains and investigated genetic diversity among them, including two bovine RVC strains identified in a previous study. Comparisons of all segmental nucleotide and the deduced amino acid sequences among bovine RVCs indicated high identities across all genes except for the VP4 gene. Phylogenetic analysis of each gene revealed that the six bovine RVCs belonged to a bovine cluster distinct from human and porcine RVCs. Bovine RVC strains could be clearly divided into two lineages of the VP4 genes. The nucleotide sequence identity for VP4 genes between lineage I and II was 83.7-84.8 %. Moreover, bovine RVC strains belonging to lineage I exhibited one amino acid deletion and three amino acid insertions, which differed for those strains belonging to lineage II. Our data suggest that multiple bovine RVCs originated from a common ancestor, but had different genetic backgrounds, not only in Yamagata Prefecture but also in the rest of Japan.

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN SHIKOKU REGION BY INTER‐REGIONAL INPUT–OUTPUT TABLE

AbstractThis paper proposes the use of inter‐regional input–output model for water accounts (IRIO‐Water), which combines inter‐regional input–output model and water accounts system, as a tool to evaluate water demand and water‐policy impacts among each industrial sector in Shikoku region of Japan. This IRIO‐Water model which combines a descriptive device and an analytical tool, is enumerated by combining three regions as (1) upper Shikoku, (2) lower Shikoku, and (3) the rest of Japan under conditions of rainfall pattern, geographical area, and inter‐regional trade of each region. The calculation results of water demand are compared among each industrial sector with impacts from implementation of governmental policies such as 3Rs policy (reduce‐reuse‐recycle). The results in this paper indicated that IRIO‐Water model provides a tool that allows decision makers to accurately evaluate water demand and water‐policy impacts with consideration not only of inter‐industry trade, but also of inter‐regional linkages.

Global Transport and Deposition of 137Cs Following the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident in Japan: Emphasis on Europe and Asia Using High–Resolution Model Versions and Radiological Impact Assessment of the Human Population and the Environment Using Interactive Tools

The earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that occurred offshore of Japan resulted in an important loss of life and a serious accident at the nuclear facility of Fukushima. The "hot spots" of the release are evaluated here applying the model LMDZORINCA for (137)Cs. Moreover, an assessment is attempted for the population and the environment using the dosimetric scheme of the WHO and the interactive tool ERICA, respectively. Cesium-137 was deposited mostly in Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and North Pole (80%), whereas the rest in the continental areas of North America and Eurasia contributed slightly to the natural background (0.5-5.0 kBq m(-2)). The effective dose from (137)Cs and (134)Cs (radiocesium) irradiation during the first 3 months was estimated between 1-5 mSv in Fukushima and the neighboring prefectures. In the rest of Japan, the respective doses were found to be less than 0.5 mSv, whereas in the rest of the world it was less than 0.1 mSv. Such doses are equivalent with the obtained dose from a simple X-ray; for the highly contaminated regions, they are close to the dose limit for exposure due to radon inhalation (10 mSv). The calculated dose rates from radiocesium exposure on reference organisms ranged from 0.03 to 0.18 μGy h(-1), which are 2 orders of magnitude below the screening dose limit (10 μGy h(-1)) that could result in obvious effects on the population. However, these results may underestimate the real situation, since stable soil density was used in the calculations, a zero radiocesium background was assumed, and dose only from two radionuclides was estimated, while more that 40 radionuclides have been deposited in the vicinity of the facility. When monitoring data applied, much higher dose rates were estimated certifying ecological risk for small mammals and reptiles in terms of cytogenetic damage and reproduction.