The title of this book, "Traditional Wisdom and Modern Knowledge for the Earth s Future," is from the theme of the 2013 Kyoto Regional Conference of the International Geographical Union. Over the past few decades, globalization has strengthened connections among countries and regions of the world and has greatly changed existing geographies. However, this trend has also fostered various problems on a regional or global scale, such as economic imbalance, social fragmentation, political conflicts, and environmental crises. While acknowledging the world s diversity, geography as a discipline must endeavor to resolve these problems by devising plans for cooperation and symbiotic existence of the different peoples of the world. An old Japanese proverb, "On-ko chi-shin," taken from a Chinese one, "Wengu Zhixin," says that only by exploring the old can one understand the new. People should first understand how traditional ideas, linked to interaction between society/culture and the environment, were formed in different countries and regions. Traditional wisdom, in harmony with the environment, remains prevalent. This book examines how we can mold the earth s future through such traditional wisdom and modern knowledge from the nine keynote speeches of the Kyoto Regional Conference focusing on three topics: traditional wisdom, the environment, and the Great East Japan Earthquake."

This is the first anthology that conveys in detail the actual situation of population geographies in Japan, a country facing some of the world's most serious demographic trends such as low fertility, population aging, and depopulation. The anthology consists of two volumes with the common title Japanese Population Geographies. All of the included entries are based on original Japanese papers written by leading geographers and published within the past few years, useful for understanding Japan’s current population geographies. The first volume analyzes the postwar transition of internal migration, examining the structural changes of population in urban areas, and proposes a new measure different from the traditional resident population. This volume also presents an investigation of the retirement migration of baby boomers as well as displacement migration due to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The second volume’s contents examine the residential choices of minority populations such as foreign residents and sexual minorities. It also discusses future prospects associated with mono-polar concentration into Tokyo, regional forecasting using population projections based on small-area units, and the importance of a politico–economic perspective in the future research. Taken as a whole, this anthology offers the following two significant contributions. First, the excellent achievements obtained in Japan, which is experiencing serious demographic trends, reflect key developments within the context of the world's population geography. The second contribution is that the book  brings the latest insights and important policy implications to countries that are facing various issues associated with decreasing fertility, aging population, and declining population.

This is the first anthology that conveys in detail the actual situation of population geographies in Japan, a country facing some of the world's most serious demographic trends such as low fertility, population aging, and depopulation. The anthology consists of two volumes with the common title Japanese Population Geographies. All of the included entries are based on original Japanese papers written by leading geographers and published within the past few years, useful for understanding Japan’s current population geographies. The first volume analyzes the postwar transition of internal migration, examining the structural changes of population in urban areas, and proposes a new measure different from the traditional resident population. This volume also presents an investigation of the retirement migration of baby boomers as well as displacement migration due to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The second volume’s contents examine the residential choices of minority populations such as foreign residents and sexual minorities. It also discusses future prospects associated with mono-polar concentration into Tokyo, regional forecasting using population projections based on small-area units, and the importance of a politico–economic perspective in future research. Taken as a whole, this anthology offers the following two significant contributions. First, the excellent achievements obtained in Japan, which is experiencing serious demographic trends, reflect key developments within the context of the world's population geography. The second contribution is that the publication brings the latest insights and important policy implications to countries that are facing various issues associated with decreasing fertility, aging population, and declining population.