This research focused on the expanding geothermal power generation project on Hachijo Island, Japan. Placing importance on local residents’ viewpoints, this research aims to 1) clarify why residents are anxious about expanding geothermal power generation and 2) record experiences of odor emitted by the geothermal power plant. Interviews were conducted with 60 local residents and project stakeholders.

Interview results show 1) residents’ recognition of the odor is diverse, 2) most residents expressed expectations about the project’s positive effects on the local economy and tourism, and 3) a small number of local residents felt that the odor caused health problems and that the problem has not yet been solved. The main reasons for passive attitudes were assumed to be that residents suspect that the new geothermal power plant might cause a worse odor problem and that responsibility for dealing with it might be shirked. The geothermal power project has achieved innovative practices and has been praised. However, understanding the odor’s effects on residents’ daily lives before starting and sustaining the new plant is necessary.

This study focuses on the Russian-speaking community in Japan, aiming to establish how these migrants find and organize their homes in the host country. This, in turn, helps shed light on circumstances surrounding common housing for the large foreign population in Japan. The study draws on data (comprising cyber-ethnography, online questionnaires, and interviews) gathered in Japan during research funded as a Lifology Project by the Japan Society of Lifology (October 2015–March 2016). The survey allowed researchers to obtain and analyze a considerable amount of demographic data about migrant community members, types of dwellings in which they lived prior to migration, experiences pertaining to renting apartments in Japan, housing purchase history, types of buildings and layouts of apartments and houses they currently inhabit. Data also includes likes and dislikes about Japanese housing, along with routes, measures, and objects they employ to make these dwellings more livable and authentic. Study results revealed that to feel comfortable in their Japanese homes, Russian-speaking migrants must undergo a lengthy transformative process of trial and error to adjust and readjust their expectations, which are often rooted in customs and beliefs of their country of origin and influenced by housing methods established in post-Soviet countries.

Since the 1980s, a significant reduction has been witnessed in Zhoushan’s fishery resources. To tackle this problem, relevant government departments have adopted a number of policies. However, these policies’ effectiveness has been unsatisfactory.

Against this background, we analyzed results of a questionnaire survey of fishermen, which we conducted in 2014. Based on this analysis, in 2015, we then performed a field survey in Zhoushan, interviewing both fishermen and the fishery bureau. By analyzing the results, we concluded that from the fishermen’s standpoint, the fishery resource management’s policy is too incomprehensible to obey, while from the government’s standpoint, the difficulty of managing fishermen’s actions demotivates management work. In other words, the present management system of fishery resources has serious limitations.

Furthermore, we presume that to solve this problem, adopting a “protection and incentives” mode instead of the traditional “punishment” mode would be more effective. Thus, we specifically study the importance, rationality, and feasibility of the protection and incentives mode.