Geographical study on communication spaces in Japan

本研究的目的在于厘清日本农村与城市人口交往的空间结构。我们试图通过考察人们在日常生活中所依赖的不同区域来澄清交流空间的结构。农村地区的传播空间主要有两种类型：功能性传播、产业界传播、社会-教育传播，娱乐传播属于前者。这种以个人或家庭为基本单位的交流空间在村内分层，同时在村域之外的更大的交流空间中构建。生产者贸易组织、社会教育组织和娱乐组织都是最近才成立的，它们具有明确的职能，个人自愿加入这些组织。传统上，持续的交流空间主要用于宗教目的，如佛教、节日和各种民间信仰。以家庭为基本联系单位的每一种交流都有有限的影响范围。随着生活方式和日常生活行为的多样化，这些交流空间的完整性和凝聚力正在逐渐降低。

The aim of this study is to make clear the spatial structure of communication by the people in rural and urban regions in Japan. We attempted to clarify the structure of communication space by examining various regions on which people depend in their daily life. There are two types of communication space in rural region: functional communication, producers' trade communication, social-educational communication, and recreational communication belong to the former. Such communication space, to which either individuals or households belong as basic units, are stratified within the village, while being structured within larger communication spaces beyond the village domain. Producers' trade organiztions, social-educational organizations, and recreational organizations are fairly recently established, having clearly defined functions to which individuals are affiliated by their own free will. Traditionally sustained communication spaces are mainly for religions purposes, such as Buddhism, festivals, and various folk beliefs. Each communication, where a household is the basic unit of affiliation, has a limited sphere of influence. These communication spaces are gradually reducing their integrity and cohesiveness with diversifying modes of living and daily life behaviour.