UrbanScope is a new, online, open access journal published by the Urban-Culture Research Center (UCRC) at Osaka City University (OCU). UCRC's research emphasizes a variety of issues related to historical, social, cultural, and international developments in urban settings. The journal aims not only at carrying out UCRC's research objectives, but also expanding them further to promote the publication of outstanding studies that have not yet made public to the world. Our strategies to fulfill such aims are to utilize the Internet for prompt and effective publication and to translate selected excellent studies on Japan into English. We also expect the journal to grow into an academic forum where not only senior but also junior researchers can publish their works and where new research frontiers can emerge from inter-generational and inter-disciplinary interactions. Based on UCRC's research objectives and the aims mentioned above, the themes UrbanScope include, but are not limited to:

• Translations of selected humanistic studies focusing on Japan
• Cutting-edge urban studies with international value
• Theoretical and applied studies on problems in globalizing cities
• Interdisciplinary area studies on Asian cultures and creativity

The online version of UrbanScope is published annually, and all articles are of free to access and download. For regular issues, we publish selected translations and original articles refereed by an international panel of peer reviewers.

Copyright for articles published in this journal is held jointly by the authors and UrbanScope and no reproduction of material is allowed without permission.