Suburbs

Diversifying Suburbs
—in Terms of the Generational Balance of Parental and Offspring Cohorts—
Takiko Fujii*
January 2008
The 21st Century Center of Excellence Program
“Policy Innovation Initiative: Human Security Research in Japan and Asia”
Graduate School of Media and Governance
Keio University, Japan
This working paper was prepared for a verbal report made at the symposium “PolicyInnovation
Initiatives and Practices in Japan and Asia” on January 26th, 2008 at Keio University, Tokyo. It is a
translation of a paper by Fujii and Oe (2005) “An Analysis of the Population Structure in the Tokyo
Metropolitan Area in Terms of Generational Balance” (Sedaikan baransu kara mita tokyo daitoshi
ken no jinko kozo bunseki) (Architectural Institute of Japan, Journal of architecture,planning and
environmental engineering, No.593, pp.123–130), with minor modifications.
* Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan (tarky@
sfc.keio.ac.jp)

Diversifying Suburbs
—in Terms of the Generational Balance of Parental and Offspring Cohorts—
Takiko Fujii
Abstract
This study analyzed the population structure in terms of generational balance andclassifying the municipalities in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. For this purpose, a newly
developed index, the Generation Balance Index, was employed to describe the balance of
the second generation in relation to the first generation who had first inhabited this area
after WWII. By comparing the generational balances of populations between 1980 and
2000, it becomes clear that the TokyoMetropolitan Area is not homogenous, not even in
the suburbs. From a micro-scale analysis, it became clear that extreme population imbalance
existed in the studied districts across detached-owned housing districts, apartment housing
developments, and business and commercial districts near stations; moreover, the farming
districts and suburbs exhibit mosaic diversity. This phenomenon was not apparentat the
macro level. This study indicates that community-based policies will have higher priorities
than now. The results of this study provide a base for making suburban policies for the aged
and for communities. And the methods used in this study offer analytical framework of
policy management; problem-finding, problem-analyzing, and policy-transference in suburbs
facing transition.
Keywords: Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Suburbs, Population Structure, Generational
Balance, Micro-scale Analysis

1. Introduction
1.1 Overview and Purpose of the Study
In Japan, metropolitan areas witnessed a large influx of a young population in the
1960s and 1970s. They chose or were forced to choose suburban areas as places for bringing
up their children, and these suburbs functioned as bedroomcommunities for nuclear
families. The purposes of developing Senri New Town in Osaka and Tama New Town in
the suburbs of Tokyo were to meet the residential needs of inhabitants who lived away from
their birthplaces. Therefore, such suburbs witnessed a new life-style that was different from
the former life-style, which was based on the traditional norms in agricultural societies.
Today, morethan a quarter century since the occurrence of the aforementioned
developments, the rapid aging of population and an increase in the number of empty-nest
households (children’s leaving their homes) constitute ongoing problems (Fukuhara 1998,
Shibata 2001). The increase in the number of households that comprise only the elderly has
created a residential need that is different as compared toearlier; moreover, it is supposed
that the housing and residential environment for young nuclear families cannot satisfy their
needs.
To understand the ongoing phenomenon in the suburbs and to compare it with
that in other areas, it is necessary to see whether the area under observation is a residential
area where the elderly live alone or an area inhabited by a generation of their children
as...