They were, effectively, the minor outlying satellites of the business clusters called kei retsu, and their fortunes very much depended on the kaisha's patronage.
That analogy has also been used by critics of the wage hike, who argue that Los Angeles will become a "wage island," that pushes business into the outlying communities.
On a recent trip to Tokyo I ventured out into one of the outlying neighborhoods not far from the busy business district.
All over the region -- and throughout the country -- suburban communities are struggling to reverse a decline that began decades ago as shoppers fled the central business districts for the outlying malls, leaving behind deserted commercial streets that cast a pall on the surrounding residential neighborhoods.
In the interests of preserving a unitary patent system in the traditional pharmaceutical model, it makes sense to lop off any outlying troublemakers, such as software and business methods.
But after 30 years of wanting to revitalize a downtown drained of businesses, shopping and housing by outlying neighborhoods, he said, "we've established a relationship of trust with Street-Works".
Spatially, just as the traditional metropolis is made up of a central city and its suburbs, the aerotropolis consists of an airport city at its core and outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses and their associated residential developments.
In recent years, some business travelers have been using smaller outlying airports — like Manchester International in New Hampshire, 50 miles from Boston, and Ontario International, 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles — with "point-to-point" routes that avoid frantic connections.
He worked for it through high school and college, and he and his two younger brothers delivered their cards to stores in outlying districts and small towns to make the business grow.
By the end of the year, the computer software maker Compuware plans to begin moving 3,000 employees from an outlying suburb to new headquarters in the central business district, while General Motors expects to finish relocating 10,000 employees to the landmark Renaissance Center by next year.
