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Land use can influence walking (measured by the number of steps) and so the health of people. This paper presents the result of empirical research on the impact of regional population densities (inhabitants per inhabitable area) on the number of steps (all steps, outdoors and indoors). We collected data of almost 11,000 respondents in 148 Japanese regions and estimate polynomial regression models, the total number of steps being the dependent variable and densities being the main independent variable. Regional population density significantly affects the number of steps after controlling for individual and household attributes. The estimated population density that maximizes the number of steps is around 11,000 persons/km2. Increasing densities, up to levels of around 11,000 inhabitants/km2 will increase walking and consequently the health of inhabitants. The population density elasticity of the number of steps is 0.046-0.049 in a simple log linear regression model without a peak.

Expressways provide road users with reduced travel time and safer driving conditions for a toll. The toll charge has been one of the most important issues in expressway planning. The user's willingness to pay for saving travel time by using an expressway service is one of the most important factors in examining toll charges for expressways. A large Japanese database was used to empirically estimate road users' value of travel time savings (VTTS). The results showed that the estimated VTTS of business travel was nearly equal to or a little lower than the average wage rate in Japan, whereas the estimated VTTS of home-to-workplace and private travels was lower than the estimated VTTS of business travel. VTTS increased with the trip length. The estimated VTTS from 07:00 to 09:59 was higher than during other periods. The estimated VTTS of individuals in their 20s and in their 60s was lower than that of individuals in other age groups. The estimated VTTS of men was a little higher than that of women. The estimated VTTS per vehicle when a person was driving alone was higher than the estimated VTTS per vehicle when a driver has passengers. The estimated VTTS of production and transport workers was lower than the estimated VTTS of people in other jobs. A toll charge should reflect the VTTS of road users, so policy implications for the charge were examined.

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Many papers estimate the price elasticity of water demand. However, heterogeneity and temporal variation of price elasticity of residential water use are still unclear. We analyze these issues by applying the latent class analysis and t-test using disaggregated data of approximately 30,000 households recorded over five years: Two years before and three years after a tariff revision. As a result, the households are divided into three (heterogeneous) groups: About 5% of them responded to the price change sensitively, 40–60% slightly, and 35–55% not at all. Households with high water use prior to the revision had higher price elasticity. In addition, the price elasticity in the first and third years after the revision was the same.