Regional urban systems in Japan have a close relationship with prefectural territories. The population of prefectural capitals has gradually been controlled by the population scale of the prefecture. Analyzing the migration flows among 649 cities
in 1980, a city usually has a close connection to other cities within its own prefecture and forms a regional urban system with the hierarchical structure in which a prefectural capital is set up at the top. The hierarchical structure of the regional urban
system in each prefecture mostly reflects features of its starting point, although regional differences between core and periphery areas have appeared in the process of urban growth.
The relationship between wider-area municipal spheres and regional urban systems in Japan
(Morikawa, 1990), a municipality qualifies as a central city if the workers of at least 3,000 persons are engaged in sales and service job of the city. The writer examined the spatial relationships between WAMSs (wider-area municipal spheres) and urban
In this paper the writer tries to analyze urban tributary areas and daily city regions of central cities according to the analysis of connectivity between central cities and their surrounding municipalities by using commuting data among
municipalities (1985 Census). Instead of the concept of a city region the writer uses the concepts of a daily city region corresponding to the commuting areas of a central city and an urban tributary area consisting of a wider area. As shown in another paper