Growth trends of metropolitan areas in Japan: application of the concept of P-M curve.

"The aim of this paper is to illuminate basic characteristics of metropolitan areas in Japan. [The authors] first delineate the boundaries of ninety-eight Japanese metropolitan areas based on the concept of cut-off point on the P-M curve the idea of which was originally developed by Ogawa in 1957. Secondly, [they] carry out empirical analyses on spatial structure and growth patterns of those metropolitan areas by use of 1960 and 1975 data." The results indicate that the population share of central cities declined from 1960 to 1975.