Research Paper:

A more focused paper on some aspect of Japanese society or culture as reflected in the landscape, as found through data gathered in the field in Yatsushiro. The topics are wide open and should be in an area that you already know something about. Finding some information before departure will help your organization of your subject.

Guidelines:

• You must gather data in the field. This means that your paper will have its primary information from data that you have observed first hand around the Yatsushiro area. If you use statistics from a source such as Japan Agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, or the City Hall, you must make further field observations. These observations can be gathered during your free time and on field trips.
  
  
• The research must be mapable. This means that any information you have must be able to be placed on a map. This can be either raw data or data that has been classified into categories. An easy way to determine if a topic is geographic is if you can put it on a map. Exceptions must be approved by the instructor as there are cases where a map is not necessary.
  
  
• Besides the finished paper with a map, the student will turn in both the statistics from the secondary source (if used) and the data gathered first hand.
  
  
• The first step is to formulate a question, or define a problem to solve. It's best if you have something in mind before you leave the states for this trip. If not, you should be thinking about and looking for something as we travel from Hokkaido to Kyushu. This will give you at least an extra 2 weeks to think about topics and get ideas from the field. The travel portion of this seminar used to be from Kyushu to Hokkaido, but to give the extra time, it was reversed for the 2000 and subsequent trips. Even though you're looking around other parts of Japan, your topic will be focused on Yatsushiro, and not Japan as a whole to facilitate your gathering primary data from the field.
  
  
• The second step is to define your geographic area of study. If you choose the entire city of Yatsushiro, be sure you can get all the data needed in just a few days, otherwise the selection of 2 or 3 "towns" (cho or machi) in the city usually suffice for a topic.

Former topics:

• Demise of old downtown and rise of peripheral businesses.
• Rise of Western-influenced home architecture in the Yatsushiro area.
• Change of school enrollments as a function of population growth in the Yatsushiro area.
• Water quality from streams and rivers around Yatsushiro (required bringing samples back to the US for testing)
• Land Reclamation projects on the eastern shores of the Yatsushiro Sea
• Land Use around Sacred and Historical sites in Yatsushiro
• The rise of western-type services around Yatsushiro (convenience stores, supermarkets, malls, fast food chains)
• Structural changes of Yatsushiro to cater to the needs of the automobile
• Population changes in Yatsushiro-gun (the entire area under the City of Yatsushiro's political control)
• Changes in agricultural patterns around Yatsushiro (comparing an old map to what's being grown now)
• Changes in shipping by analyzing goods flowing through the Port of Yatsushiro.

In most cases, once the question or goal and geographic area are identified, field data can be gathered in a few days of exploring by bicycle. In some cases, the host family has helped out by driving the student around or walking with the student to explain and identify things that are not obvious to someone who doesn't read kanji. If you need this kind of help, don't put it off until the last minute as most host families are very busy with their own lives and businesses.

Your paper should be written up with field research and background research integrated fully into a single paper. Use a major word processor, such as Word, Word Pro, or Word Perfect and if you can burn it into a CD or DVD to turn in. If you don't have access to a CD burner, then printing out is OK.

Be sure to turn in all raw data, both secondary and primary, along with your papers.