A Comparative Analysis of Changes in the Characteristics of Urban Residents in Tokyo and Osaka, 1995-2005

DOI IR

Search this article

Abstract

This study aims to grasp the trends in the characteristics of the residents of Japan's two major cities –Tokyo and Osaka – using the approach of geodemographics, which is expected to play a key role in future urban research. In addition, based on the relative situations of the two cities from 1995 to 2005, this paper examines how the characteristics of the residents have changed in conjunction with the population recovery in urban areas, and, from a comparative viewpoint, the direction of changes in the two cities and the disparities between them will be considered. The findings are summarized as follows: 1) The characteristics of foreigners were not uniform, and changes took place in response to the surrounding social circumstances. 2) Child-rearing households became a new feature of urban residents, and the lopsided tendency of child-rearing generations in Osaka weakened. 3) Regarding the housing characteristics of urban residents, in 2005 the owned housing indicator appeared along with public housing. 4) White-collar occupational characteristics became more pronounced. 5) While on one hand Tokyo gave added traction to the continuously strengthening tendency towards white-collarization, no particular classification was predominant in Osaka where the proportional makeup remained mixed. Since the latter half of the 1990s, the internal areas of the cities changed drastically, the nature of urban residents became diversified as populations recovered, and the situation has become more complicated. White-collarization rapidly advanced in Tokyo, which employed deregulation in order to rely on the principles of the real estate market. In comparison, the movements for urban renewal in Osaka have not been sufficient to change the characteristics of the residents across the city as a whole, and the disparities between the two cities have been proceeding in an ever-widening direction.

Journal

Related Projects

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top