In this article, we quantitatively analyze changes in the size distribution of municipal jurisdictions in Japan by using their rank-size distribution to capture the change. In Japan, the central government sometimes enacts large-scale municipal mergers, aimed at the creating of municipalities of...

The failure at the national level to address foreign resident integration has highlighted the need for local governments to implement policies and provide social services to foreign residents to promote multicultural co-existence. How such policies impact the integration of foreign residents...