John Sargent · 1978
John Sargent reviews the English-language version of The National Atlas of Japan, compiled by the Geographical Survey Institute, Ministry of Construction, and published by the Japan Map Center in 1977 after years of preparation by government officials, academic specialists and cartographers. Intended chiefly for planners, businesspeople and officials concerned with national resources and land policy, it contains 216 maps, mostly using government data from the early 1970s. Economic themes occupy over two fifths of its content, alongside extensive physical, social and environmental coverage. Its 50 A1 and 166 A2 maps are supplemented by explanatory notes, auxiliary maps, graphs, diagrams and administrative-boundary overlays. Sargent praises the production quality, comprehensive coverage and notes summarizing Japan’s geography. He finds the use of colour shading, proportional symbols, dots and proportional lines generally successful, but criticizes overlapping symbols in concentrated activity zones, notably the Inland Sea shipping map, and information obscured by the centre folds of larger maps. He also notes that temporal change is mapped only for population and railway development. Despite these limitations, he regards the atlas as an exceptionally valuable reference work.
W. Albrecht · 1982
This review assesses the 1977 English edition of The National Atlas of Japan, the country’s first national atlas, produced by the Geographical Survey Institute after five years of preparation. It examines the atlas’s conception, cartographic methods, thematic organization, supporting texts, indexes, and practical value. The atlas covers physical geography, climate, environmental protection, population, primary industries, manufacturing, transport, trade, finance, social conditions, education, and culture. Its strengths include clear organization, generally effective cartography, administrative overlays, a useful place-name index, and distinctive maps of natural disasters, infrastructure, and recreation. Introductory pages containing diagrams and historical indicators effectively complement maps depicting mainly post-1970 conditions. However, prefecture-level aggregation often permits only broad economic interpretation, while inconsistent reference dates weaken comparability. Important topics—including commuting, industrial location by production value, and analytical settlement typologies—are missing. Supporting data are sometimes incomplete, and page space is inefficiently used. Despite these limitations and minor translation issues, the reviewer concludes that the atlas is a successful, diverse, and authoritative reference work that substantially surpasses earlier atlases of Japan and significantly enriches the information available to geographers.
陈逢珍 · 1983
Chen Fengzhen reviews the population series in the Japanese-language National Atlas of Japan, which the article identifies as edited and designed by the Geographical Survey Institute and published by the Japan Map Center in 1978. Its 25 main maps, nine supplementary maps, 114 statistical charts and seven explanatory texts cover population distribution, composition, natural change and migration. Chen praises its extensive coverage and detailed representation through multiple indicators, fine classifications and statistical units at different scales. The review explains the use of triangular diagrams to classify industrial population composition, statistical charts to compare demographic structures and historical changes, transparent administrative overlays to retrieve place names, and offshore placement of crowded statistical symbols. Chen also praises the printing quality and identifies the absence of an ethnic-composition map as a clear weakness, offering the series as a reference for map compilers.
