Many rural areas in Yunnan province, PR China, have become tourist resorts since the latter half of the 1990s. Spontaneous, autonomous management of tourist facilities by local residents has become an important priority because tourism development through the construction of facilities by external developers does not necessarily contribute directly to increasing local residents' income levels and the development of local communities. Therefore the early achievement of autonomous management of tourist facilities is required. We investigated the formation process and joint management of tourist areas around Lake Lashihai in northwest Yunnan province, where farmers of the Naxi tribe operate autonomous equestrian tourism facilities. The results clarified that they manage the horse riding facilities democratically by distributing the profits equally and selecting a leader through the electoral process, contributing to an increase in their income levels.

Until the 1970s the French school of geography exerted a tremendous influence on Portuguese geographers, many of whom made major contributions to studies on the relationship between nature and human beings. Since the Carnation Revolution in 1974, however, various strands of geographical thought have been introduced to the discipline of geography in Portugal, due to increasing academic exchanges with foreign scholars, which have led to a gradual diversification of themes in studies of geography. For instance, research on regional planning and urban planning has progressed since the 1980s, making applied geography one of the mainstreams of geographical studies in Portugal. Recently, research institutions in the major universities of Portugal have also been reorganized, obtaining corporate status to receive more research funds. They are expected to produce excellent research outputs soon after their establishment.

Field researches of geographic learning have been emphasized in the course of study in Japan. But in fact, activities have become a dead letter in primary schools, and only few teachers practice field researches in geographic lessons because of a lack of time for preparations of field researches in junior high schools and senior high schools. It is necessary for the vitalization of field research to clarify the significance of field research, to increase subjects which students can learn the significance and the method of field research in teaching training course of universities, and to improve the field research relating to other contents of geographic education.

In this paper, the author attemped to clarify the social characteristics of rural communities in Hokkaido by using the empirical data of ownership and utilization of common lands, which are important as the material basis of rural communities in Japan. The area selected for study was the settlement of Saruba in Biratori Town, Hokkaido, where common land (Saruba-kyodoyama) has been used effectively. As a result of investigation, it has been clarified that Saruba-kyodoyama has the same fundamental characteristics as common lands in Japanese traditional communities, such as formal equality of right in the community. However, there are some important differences. In case of traditional communities in Japan, the ownership of common land has been recognized as a certification of membership in the community. On the other hand, ownership is recognized only economically as money in Saruba-kyodoyama. Frequent movements of ownership shares in Saruba-kyodoyama resulted from those features of common land in Hokkaido. Differences in the ownership and utilization of common land in Hokkaido as compared to traditional communities in Japan illustrate the differences in social characteristics between rural communities in Hokkaido and those in the rest of Japan. Therefore the author considers that analyses of characteristics of rural communities in Hokkaido with the common lands used as indices has achieved a specific effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the change of rural community with the introduction of scuba diving in the settlement of Futo in Ito City in Shizuoka Prefecture as a typical case of a tourist area for divers. The results are as follows.<br>1. The inhabitants on Futo have depended upon coastal fishery and subsistence farming, forming a tight rural community. But the occupational structure of this region has been changed remarkably by its development as a tourist area since the 1960s.<br>2. After the opening of a diving spot of Izu-Kaiyo-Koen (Marine Park of Izu) in 1964, the number of divers has rapidly increased. The Futo fishermen's cooperative began to open more diving spots expanding a diving business in 1988. And now, there are about 94, 000 visits by divers per year.<br>3. In Futo, many diving service shops have been established after the 1990s and 35 shops are in business now. The scale of each shop is generally small. And the main business of many shops is diving guide service under the sea, because all diving shops except two shops are prohibited to filling tanks with air as a service for divers by the fishermen's cooperative.<br>4. The fishermen's cooperative has made a lot of profit by levying a charge on each diver and lending air tanks to divers. Fishermen also earn income by transporting many divers to diving points. But recently, the income of hotels and minsyuku (cheap lodging house in tourist resorts) is declining, because many diving service shops are offering lodging service for divers without permission.<br>5. Fishermen's cooperative of Futo was amalgamated by Ito City fishermen's cooperative in 1994. Members of the community of Futo feel an antipathy against the Ito City fishermen's cooperative since the fishermen's cooperative does not return profit from the diving business on Futo to the community. Therefore, the sutbor considers that the fishermen's cooperative should return profit to the community which accept many divers for the development of its community.

Numerous studies have been made of the specific characteristics of rural communities in Hokkaido, northern Japan, since the 1950s. While relationships between farm households in communities are generally close in Japan, those in communities in Hokkaido are loose, as has been pointed out previously. Only few attempts have so far been made to explain such characteristics through investigations on the micro scale.<br> In Japan, irrigation systems and common lands have played an important part in rural areas as a basis for connections in communities. In this paper, the author attempted to discover the social characteristics of rural communities in Hokkaido with investigations of rural settlement, especially by detailed investigations of land use and ownership of common land. The area selected for study was Saruba in the town of Biratori, Hokkaido, where common land has been used effectively. The results are as follows.<br> 1. In Saruba, large-scale reclamation of agricultural lands was started in 1893 by immigrants from Awaji Island, western Japan. Many immigrants who mainly came from western Japan colonized the area from the 1910s to the 1920s. After the construction of the main irrigation systems in 1915, many paddy fields were rapidly created, and certain connections between farm househols were formed as a rural community by the 1940s.<br> 2. Saruba-kyodoyama is common land that was created by the disposal of state forests in 1910, and was owned jointly by the 65 residents of Nina-mura at that time. The common land has mainly been used for the felling of firewood and lumber, the pasturage of horses, etc. Saruba-kyodoyama obtained a large income by selling larch trees. Because of the instability of agricultural production due to damage by floods and cold weather, that income was used to supplement residents' livelihood by giving a share of the profits from periodical disposal of firewood and lumber at low prices.<br> 3. Saruba-kyodoyama was owned jointly by 65 residents, and each member's ownership was recognized as 1/65. Ownership shares have been bought and sold after 1921. Because the member who left the rural settlement must sell the ownership share to other residents under the rules of Sarubakyodoyama, there were many movements of ownership shares in the period before many residents had settled there (from the 1910s to the 1930s). On the other hand, there were also many movements of ownership shares in 1955-65, when many shares in profits were disbursed to members of Sarubakyodoyama.<br> 4. Saruba-kyodoyama has the same fundamental characteristics as common land in Japanese traditional communities. But there are some important differences. For example, in case of traditional communities in Japan, the ownership of common land was recognized as a certification of membership in the community. On the other hand, ownership is recognized economically as money in Sarubakyodoyama. Frequent movements of ownership shares in Saruba-kyodoyama resulted from the economic features of common land in Hokkaido.<br> 5. Differences in the use of common land in Hokkaido compared to traditional communities in Japan illustrate the differences in social characteristics between rural communities in Hokkaido and those in the rest of Japan. Therefore the author considers that the characteristics of rural communities in Hokkaido with respect to common land are significant.

A hundred years ago, almost all Japanese rural communities had common lands, which played an important part in rural activities. The area of these common lands has been reduced since the Meiji era when the Japanese Government carried out a policy which attempted to transfer the right of common to municipalities. But we can find many rural communities which have common properties identical with common lands. Zaisan-ku, a kind of the management organization for public estates, was established to maintain common lands substantially under the loose control of municipalities which contain the rural communities.<br> These common lands, most of which are forest-lands, are not used effectively now, because of the spread of chemical fertilizer and because of decreasing demand for charcoal and firewood by energy revolution. Some rural communities, however, use effectively their common lands and make certain profits. In this paper the author examines and explains the land uses of common lands of two rural communities, Kashiwabara and Yugawa, as typical cases of modern type of land use of common lands.<br> Kashiwabara and Yugawa, located at the foot of Mt. Tateshina, Nagano Prefecture, Central Japan, have vast common lands of grass managed by each community. In Kashiwabara and Yugawa, each common land has been maintained as the property of Zaisan-ku, and has provided spaces for the activities of tourist industries. This is a distinctive characteristic of the common lands of these communities.<br> Kashiwabara Zaisan-ku gains big returns by renting its land to resort hotels and managing rental boats on Lake Shirakaba. On the other hand, although Yugawa Zaisan-ku once kept resort hotels and managed the rental land to individual resort villas, it sold an important part of its lands in 1960. Now, it keeps only rental lands to some tourist enterprises. One object of this paper is to explain the process of land use change in the common lands of the two communities, which include highly developed land by tourist industries. And another object is to consider problems relating to the system of Zaisan-ku. The results are as follows;<br> 1. Most of the common lands of Kashiwabara and Yugawa were forest-lands, and the farmers depended heavily on them as the source of green mature, charcoal, and firewood for domestic use until the 1950 s. The people began to make aff orestation of larch trees on these common lands in the 1950 s. The expense of the aff orestation was payed by the income from the management of tourism.<br> 2. The occupational structure of this region has been changed remarkablly since the 1960 s. About a half of farmers are engaged in tourism. This was caused by the fact that the area surrounding Lake Shirakaba and Tateshina Highland turned into a famous resort zone.<br> 3. A part of the common lands of Yugawa was sold to an tour enterprise in 1960, and that part is a main active resort area now. And other parts of the common lands were divided among residents who had come from Yugawa Settlement, and resided in Tateshina Highland.<br> 4. On the other hand, the people of Kashiwabara maintains their common lands as the form of Zaisan-ku, and gain a periodical income by the management of rental lands and rental boats. This income is used for raising the standard of living of the community.<br> 5. The Kashiwabara Zaisan-ku has following problems. One is that workers are in short supply as office work increases. Second is that Chino City, the municipal authority, is likely to control the management of Zaisan-ku more strongly because the Kashiwabara Zaisan-ku which have some public characters gains enormous income.