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In Japan, a well-established, widespread system of local timber market auctions, featuring the exchange of privately owned logs, is increasingly threatened by imports organized according to mass production principles. This article assesses the evolution, rationale, and functions of Japan's timber auctions that were primarily created in post-war Japan to provide key roles linking small-scale (private) forest owners to flexibly specialized value chains that are consummated in Japanese homes. The conceptual point of departure for the analysis is flexible specialization theory's interpretation of industrialization as a contest between mass production and small-scale production. We extend this discussion by giving analytical priority to markets as an institution distinct from firms and by interpreting markets from the perspectives of transaction costs and embeddedness, concepts normally deemed antagonistic to one another. Empirically, four case studies of timber auctions located in central and southern Japan are analyzed based on personal interviews with auction managers and participants within the context of broader trends in forestry. Three auctions feature 'silent' bidding and one involves open bidding. While the auctions exhibit varying characteristics, they continue to be the fulcrum of localized forestry systems, even as they are threatened by declining prices driven by imported wood and by restructurings within the Japanese solid wood sector. The continued resiliency of the flexible specialization model, and the auctions that are at its core, has important implications for forestry throughout Japan. Le systeme local de ventes aux encheres du bois est bien implante et omnipresent au Japon. Il est toutefois menace par le marche des produits importes qui se structure autour des principes de la production de masse. Cet article propose une evaluation du developpement, des fondements et des modes de fonctionnement des ventes aux encheres du bois qui avaient ete concues avant tout pour assurer dans le Japon de l'apres-guerre des roles de premier plan qui permettent d'assurer un lien entre les petits proprietaires (prives) forestiers et les chaines de valeur a la fois souples et specialisees qui sont consommees par les menages japonais. Au niveau conceptuel, le point de depart de l'analyse est l'interpretation de la theorie de la specialisation souple sur l'industrialisation en tant que concours entre la production de masse et la production a petite echelle. Cette discussion se poursuit par une reflexion axee principalement sur les marches consideres comme une institution distincte des entreprises, et par un examen des marches sous l'angle des concepts normalement opposes de couts de transaction et d'enchassement. Quatre etudes de cas sont menees sur des ventes aux encheres du bois situees dans les regions du centre et du sud du Japon. Des donnees empiriques, recueillies au moyen d'entrevues aupres de responsables des ventes aux encheres et de participants, sont etudiees dans le contexte des tendances plus generales en matiere de sylviculture. Dans trois des cas, il s'agit d'une vente aux encheres << sliencieuse >>, alors que le quatrieme est une vente par soumission publique. Si les ventes presentent des caracteristiques qui les distinguent, elles persistent a etre un instrument des systemes locaux de sylviculture, bien que ceux-ci soient menaces par la baisse des prix entrainee par l'importation de bois et en raison des restructurations au sein de l'industrie japonaise des produits en bois massif. La force de resistance du modele de la specialisation souple et des ventes aux encheres au coeur meme du modele a des incidences majeures pour la sylviculture partout au Japon., Introduction Markets for industrial logs in Canada and Japan have evolved along different paths. The Canadian and particularly British Columbian model of industrial log allocation emphasizes a monopolistic government allocation [...]

Recent research in economic geography has emphasized tacit knowledge as the basis of industrial learning. In contrast, codification and the practices of industrial writing have received little attention for the roles they play in mobilizing knowledge across space. This paper offers insight into the geographies of codification through an examination of technology transfer in the electronic musical instrument industry between 1965 and 1995. The research draws on a variety of primary and secondary data that include interviews with inventors, biographical accounts and patent analysis. These sources offer perspective on the career trajectories of three U.S. inventors who transferred knowledge from various contexts in California's high-tech industry to the Japanese firm, Yamaha. Conceptually, the paper draws on the actor-network theory and Latour's idea of translation to highlight the detours inventors must take to register novelty. The analysis reveals the problematic nature of codified knowledge and its transfer; in this case codified knowledge was mobile internationally but not locally, at least until it reached Japan. The paper argues for the need to understand how texts such as patents are produced--the context of their authorship, the geographies of their circulation and their efficacy for shaping further innovative practice. Les recherches actuelles en geographie mettent l'accent sur les connaissances tacites comme fondement de l'apprentissage industriel. Cependant, la codification et les pratiques relatives a la composition industrielle ont ete peu etudiees du point de vue de leurs roles dans la mobilisation des connaissances dans l'espace. Cet article donne un apercu des geographies de la codification suite a une analyse du transfert technologique dans l'industrie des instruments de musique electronique entre 1965 et 1995. Fondee sur un ensemble de donnees primaires et secondaires, cette etude presente une serie d'entrevues realisees aupres d'inventeurs, des comptes-rendus biographiques et des analyses de brevets. Ces donnees permettent de considerer avec recul le cheminement professionnel de trois inventeurs americains responsables du transfert des connaissances depuis differents secteurs de l'industrie de haute technologie californienne vers la societe japonaise Yamaha. Sur un plan conceptuel, l'article reprend la theorie acteur-reseau et aborde la notion de traduction developpee par Latour afin de mettre en relief les principaux detours qu'empruntent les inventeurs pour obtenir un brevet d'innovation. L'analyse fait ressortir le caractere problematique des connaissances codifiees et de leur transfert; dans ce cas, les connaissances codifiees etaient mobiles a l'echelle internationale et non a l'echelle locale avant qu'elles n'arrivent au Japon. Cet article plaide en faveur de la necessite de comprendre comment les textes tels que les brevets sont elaboresle contexte entourant la redaction du document, les geographies de leur diffusion et les repercutions sur les pratiques novatrices., Introduction Economic geographers have long recognized industrial learning as a situated process that is territorially and socially embedded. The vast literature on industrial districts, clusters and learning regions that accumulated [...]

Ramen noodle shops are Japan's most popular category of restaurant. Yet within this ubiquitous, diverse, and highly competitive segment of the dining sector, particular clusters of restaurants stand out. These agglomerations are known as ramen gekisenku-ramen restaurant fierce battle zones. Through an examination of ramen-specific media and maps (magazines, comics, food blogs, university student handbooks, etc.) the paper classifies these clusters into three types: i) regional ramen-style agglomerations typical of small cities; ii) metropolitan neighbourhoods with concentrated diverse clusters of restaurants; and iii) purposely planned ramen theme parks. Each type has different morphological characteristics with divergent potentials for variation, innovation, and evolution. The paper argues that ramen's variety is a product of its geography, while suggesting that the circulation of place-based vernacular ramen knowledge, in the form of lore, stories, and other geographic cues sustains its capacity for innovation, most noticeably in the crucible of metropolitan ramen clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines changing gravestone design in Prince Edward Island (PEI) (1820–2005) and relates these changes to changing modes of production in the monument industry. Information from field surveys, newspaper advertisements and business correspondence reveals how supply-side factors helped shape the morphogenesis of the island's cemetery landscapes. Among these, different sources of raw materials and manufacturing innovations over time resulted in the use of harder, more durable types of stone. With these changes, gravestone production and design moved increasingly away from local monument works towards off-island producers in Vermont, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Since the early 20thcentury, PEI's gravestone suppliers vertically integrated along Fordist mass-production lines and increased choices available to local monument sellers and their consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Analyzes the concept of trade featuring the export of houses from British Columbia for consumption in Japan. Implications for local development in British Columbia; Connection of exporting market intelligence with production intelligence; Benefits of the house exports.