New Directions in Cultural Geography in Japan

Abstract

Cultural geography has never been included in the mainstream in geography in Japan, although it has pursued various subjects and new approaches. The population of cultural geographers itself is relatively small, especially compared to economic geographers, for example. Cultural geography, however, continues to inspire a number of geography students in Japan to enter this field. Cultural geography scholars in Japan have completed excellent work, especially in realms relevant to cultural ecology, which have the longest tradition in Japan's entire cultural geography. Since most such works as well as studies in other realms of cultural geography have been published in Japanese, they have not been recognized outside Japan. In this special English edition of Jimbun Chiri, or The Japanese Journal of Human Geography, we intend to share the recent developments and achievements of Japan's cultural geography with non-Japanese speaking colleagues.