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This paper postulates that a willingness to interact with strangers and consider dubious information, rather than relying on trusted information sources and certain knowledge, is perhaps the most important prerequisite for innovation and breakthrough knowledge generation within a society or group. This idea builds upon the observation that creative ideas are "often the result of the assemblage of different perspectives and approaches people are exposed to via social interactions." (Baer, 2010, p 592) When the suspicions and doubts inherent in these different perspectives are prematurely pruned, known facts and low-risk understanding replace innovation and breakthrough KM activity. This is a problem that plagues Japan today. An aversion to interactions with people outside of a small in-group impedes knowledge sharing in Japan, and now manifests itself through "KM anxieties" as an obstacle to innovation, economic competitiveness, and understanding of the outside world. KM anxieties are not unique to the Japanese, but they are perhaps more prevalent due to Japanese reluctance to establish or explore what Granovetter (1973) called "weak ties." This situation largely exists due to confidence issues involved in dealing with strangers and unverified knowledge, and could be rectified if software agents were used to establish acceptable trust situations with previously unknown actors and information. With these ideas in mind, this paper considers three main themes. The first theme, addressed in section two of this paper, explores the importance of weak ties for knowledge sharing. In section three we examine the reasons for the pervasive condition of limited trust situations in Japanese society. We then probe the need and role for software agents in mitigating the trust problem in section four. It is expected that these discussions will contribute to the extant literature on and our understanding of the importance of weak ties in KM, the future role of software agents in facilitating communications and interaction between strangers, and the means by which Japan may once again engage the world in KM activities and regain its innovative edge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on how Japanese industrial clusters can adjust their business systems to adapt to changes in the business environment. Indeed, industrial clusters have many advantages such as Marshall's externality. However, they seem to have an inertia that encourages the clusters to stay in their current business. The metal polishing industry in Tsubame is an example of how the industrial cluster has been able to shift its business system to adapt to the turbulence of the current business environment. In Japan's industrial clusters, companies develop or have their own specialty. In Japan, under the Keiretsu system the industrial cluster has been shaped. One parent company often constructs the long term relationship of the SMEs. Then these SMEs found their factories in the narrow area. Afterward other parent companies and suppliers join the cluster. However, if many companies with their own specialties join a cluster, they can work together to obtain various types of orders from multiple industries. As one company takes charge of a particular process based on its specialty, other companies can take charge of other processes, increasing the cluster's capabilities and allowing the companies to manufacture high-quality products. Piore and Sabel (1984) refer to this network effect as "flexible specialization." This paper aims to determine why this network has the flexibility to shift business systems. Due to the inertia, companies must hesitate to break the present network of present business. In addition, they must make effort to deal with new products. Companies in a cluster must create valuable partnerships to gain many new orders, and develop their skills and knowledge. Thus, how can these companies utilize their close partnerships with other companies in the cluster and develop their knowledge? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan's aging society and shrinking population are leading to serious problems, including a declining level of community vitality in most of Japan's secondary cities. Structural changes in Japan's population are expected to continue for the near future, making sustainable urban design and renovation more important than ever. Proper urban design must seek and evaluate the relevant social information. This research presents a typical case study using a new information evaluation method, the Geographic Information System (GIS), against the background of an aging and shrinking society. It is carried out in Yahatahigasi-ku, a ward in the city of Kitakyusyu, Japan. The ward's land is characterized by steep slopes, which are inconvenient for aged people and reduce their outdoor mobility. Moreover, most of the ward's houses are over 30 years old, the average lifespan for houses in Japan. The quality of the houses is inadequate to the demands of modern life, perhaps explaining the area's inability to retain its youth. As a result, the shopping districts of Yahatahigasi-ku, prosperous in the 1950s and 1960s, are declining in proportion to the number of deserted houses This research explores GIS design approaches as configured for an aging society. It discusses the important factors that flow into an urban design meant to address a declining population, such as the plot ratio, the mixing of commercial and residential spaces, and the placement of public facilities for the aged. The city planner must find the most suitable area for planning. Sustainable urban design requires that new elements be introduced into the traditional configuration; the constructional style of buildings in a mixed-use area will reflect the character of the district. This study considers the GIS urban planning method as a development of the GIS application. We see here the importance of geographic information to urban planning. This paper will exemplify the importance of sharing informational evaluations to the urban planning process. In this paper, a case study of Japan was investigated. It makes contribution on urban regeneration for aging society that also appropriate for cities outside Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of the sites upon which they are working is crucial to city planners at every stage of the urban design process. Usually, the information (such as population, landform, building conditions, and economic data) is too complex to be processed and reported for analysis through the ordinary statistical approaches. The GIS (Geographic Information System) offers software that can collect related databases for different fields onto one map, allowing both the individual analysis diagram and the compound analysis to be easily achieved. Thus, GIS provides planners a more comprehensive understanding of the site upon which they are working. Our research is an actual urban design project in Japan, an example of the utilization of GIS in urban planning. It is a typical case, with an intricate landform and typical population composition. First, GIS analyzes the basic data, covering landform, construction age, and population. These analyses occur in two stages: first, a comparative study of the population structure over the last 10 years in different landform areas, then the forecasting of its evolution. Using these analyses, the proposal plan tries to improve the residential environment and prevent decline by retaining the local population and attracting outsiders. The introduction of GIS allows digital data to be composited with draft data, resulting in clearer and more precise analyses. This method produced accurate dates for Yahatahigasi-ku, therefore assisting the evaluation of data reflecting the current situation and orienting the next step of the urban design. It has thus been demonstrated that GIS enhances the efficiency of site analysis. We consider this study of GIS in urban planning to be a development of GIS application. This paper presents a new information evaluation method for urban planning that provides more social information on the target area than previous methods and shares the results of information evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]