Cultural Heritage In Japan And Italy

This edited book represents one of the first scholarly research through an international collaboration project between Japan and Italy to address economic and social values of cultural heritage beyond its inherent—historic, archaeological, or aesthetic—values. Cultural policies in the world have over the decades expanded to include non-cultural purposes such as economic development and social inclusion. Japanese cultural policy for heritage is catching up on this trend: we have seen major shifts of emphasis from preservation for its sake to the utilisation of cultural heritage for the purposes of tourism, place branding, local vitalization and community-building, whilst Italy has long thrived on the economy of heritage tourism and more cases are being seen for urban and regional development with the use of cultural assets. The recent outbreak of Covid-19 and the problem of over-tourism that preceded it have challenged tourism policy and practice in the two countries. This book identifies emerging trends, issues, and problems in such policy shifts. The book breaks a new ground in the bourgeoning studies of tourism, heritage, and cultural policy by adopting an international, inter-disciplinary approach. The chapters on Japan in particular make an original contribution to these fields in the English literature in which discussion of Japan despite its economic and cultural presence on the globe has hitherto been less available.

This book pursues the specific case of Italian travel narratives in the Far East, through a focus on the experience of Japan in works by writers who visited the Land of the Rising Sun beginning in the Meiji period (1868-1912) and during the concomitant opening of Japan's relations with the West. Drawing from the fields of Postcolonial and Transnational Studies, analysis of these texts explores one central question: what does it mean to imagine Japanese culture as contributing to Italian culture? Each author shares in common an attempt to disrupt ideas about dichotomies and unbalanced power relationships between East and West. Proposing the notion of 'relational Orientalism, ' this book suggests that Italian travelogues to Japan, in many cases, pursued the goal of building imaginary transnational communities, predicated on commonalities and integration, by claiming what they perceived as 'Oriental' as their own. In contrast with a long history of Western representations of Japan as inferior and irrational, Searching for Japan identifies a positive overarching attitude toward the Far East country in modern Italian culture. Expanding the horizon of Italian transnational networks, normally situated within the Southern European region, this book reinstates the existence of an alternative Euro-Asian axis, operating across Italian history.

Managing Cultural Heritage explores managerial and governance issues within the cultural heritage sector, with particular regard to the ecomuseum. Moreover, a social accountability model is supplied to ecomuseums in order to be accountable towards its shareholder, the local community.

This book offers a comprehensive understanding of cultural heritage in Japan and its relationship with both domestic and international tourism. Japan has witnessed an increase in tourism, with rising visitor numbers to both established destinations and lesser known sites. This has generated greater attention towards various aspects of Japanese culture, heritage and society. This book explores these diverse aspects of everyday life in Japan and their interconnections with tourism. It begins with a conceptual framework of key theories related to heritage and tourism, serving as a useful apparatus for further discussions in the following chapters. Each chapter studies a specific aspect of Japan’s cultural heritage, from the history of Japan, the development of war sites, such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to tourist destinations, indigenous communities and their places of residence, festivals such as matsuri, to popular culture and media. Each chapter discusses a certain type of cultural heritage first in a global context and then examines it in a Japanese context, aiming to demonstrate the relation between these two different contexts. In each chapter, furthermore, how a particular kind of Japan’s cultural heritage is utilised as tourism resources and how it is perceived and consumed by international and domestic tourists are discussed. Finally, the book revisits the conceptual framework to suggest future directions for cultural heritage and tourism in Japan. Written in an informative and accessible style, this book will be of interest to scholars, students and practitioners in the fields of tourism, cultural studies and heritage studies.

Providing an overview of seven Conventions with the two Protocols adopted by UNESCO and UNIDROIT, this book offers comparative analysis of legal schemes for the protection or safeguarding of cultural heritage in 15 countries.

Cultural Tourism remains the only book to bridge the gap between cultural tourism and cultural and heritage management. The first edition illustrated how heritage and tourism goals can be integrated in a management and marketing framework to produce sustainable cultural tourism. The current edition takes this further to base the discussion of cultural tourism in the theory and practice of cultural and heritage management (CM and CHM), under the understanding that for tourism to thrive, a balanced approach to the resource base it uses must be maintained. An ‘umbrella approach’ to cultural tourism represents a unique feature of the book, proposing solutions to achieve an optimal outcome for all sectors. Reflecting the many important developments in the field this new edition has been completely revised and updated in the following ways: • New sections on tangible and intangible cultural heritage and world heritage sites. • Expanded material on cultural tourism product development, the cultural tourism market and consumer behaviour, planning and delivery of exceptional experiences • New case studies throughout drawn from cultural attractions in developing countries such as Southeast Asia, China, South Africa and the Pacific as well as from the developed world, particularly the United States, Britain, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Canada. Written by experts in both tourism and cultural heritage management, this book will enable professionals and students to gain a better understanding of their own and each other’s roles in achieving sustainable cultural tourism. It provides a blueprint for producing top-quality, long-term cultural tourism products.