tsuge takahiro

This paper aims to clarify the status and issues of risk management in the Oirase Stream Area (OSA). First of all, a visitor questionnaire was carried out in the OSA in October 2009. The respondents were asked to answer questions such as notion of self-responsibility for accidents. The survey showed that respondents could be divided into 4 groups with regard to risk preferences. While around 90% of respondents hoped more recreation facilities should be built for safety, a small portion of respondents agreed to the notion of self-responsibility even in case of the OSA. Furthermore, risk management practices in the OSA were investigated by taking interviews to public authorities. After an accident happened in the OSA in 2003, the public authorities more frequently conducted inspections of fallen trees and fallen branches in advance. Also the Aomori Prefecture signed the facility liability insurance. There, however, still exits potential risks such as inadequate infrastructure and ambiguous borders among stakeholders. More collaborative actions such as establishing a liaison council could be needed.

The aims of this study were to analyze the data of accidents during 1989-2008 in the climbing at Mt. Fuji which extends over both prefecture of Yamanashi and Shizuoka in Japan and to clarify the characteristics of the accidents according to four main routes. In addition to those, authors tried to grasp the regional activities and management system to promote safe climbing in Yoshida route as a case study and considered risk management and planning of climbing. Analysis of a data set of accidents collected by prefectural police and interview with relevant people were employed. As a result, it was found that many accidents occurred at 7th and 8th steps at the mountain on the whole. With distinction of routes, there were more fall accidents in Yoshida and Fujinomiya routes and more lost climbers in Subashiri and Gotenba routes than the others respectively. In view of the results, it was suggested that it is necessary to organize information based on the characteristics of places and causes of accidents before providing it to climbers.

Understanding a site-choice behavior of park visitor has been a major focus of research in management of national parks and protected areas. This paper addresses a site-choice behavior of general public using choice experiment for six national parks in Hokkaido, Japan : Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu, Shiretoko, Daisetsuzan, Akan, Kusiro-Shitsugen, and Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The result shows that visiting each national park is valued by respondents. The highest willingness to pay is JPY 80,767 for visiting Shiretoko National Park, and the lowest is JPY 16,476 for Shikotsu-Toya National Park, for example. In addition, a short travel time is positively valued as expected. A willingness to pay for additional one hour is JPY-2,289. On the basis of the results and rates of past visitation for these national parks, recreation opportunities expected by visitors are all different respectively, therefore; role-sharing and characteristic park plans to meet various taste of recreation or tourism in Hokkaido need to be prepared.