Heritage Tourism Management In Japan

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.

Increasingly, the tourism industry is looking towards sustainability, responding to public demand and local environmental policy. This monograph explores the concept of sustainability in the context of heritage and tourism studies, as well as examining the practices adopted to realize or enhance the sustainability of these industries. Beginning with a broad overview, outlining the theory and scholarly landscape, this book then focuses on cases of sustainable tourism in Japan, exploring the concept of ‘mottainai’. Mottainai is a traditional Japanese term and means an ethical attitude towards the use of a range of resources needed for human life. This Japanese word can be understood as ‘what a waste’, and can promote the environmentally-friendly way of life, encouraging reduce, reuse and recycle. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of heritage, tourism, and sustainability management; both those interested in Japan specifically, and those who are interested in new approaches for sustainability in tourism management.

The changing patterns of Japanese tourism and the views of the Japanese tourist since the Meiji Restoration, in 1868, are given an in-depth historical, geographical, economic and social analysis in this book. As well as providing a case study for the purpose of investigating the changing face of global tourism from the 19th to the 21st Century, this account of Japanese tourism explores both domestic social relations and international geographical, political and economic relations, especially in the northeast Asian context. Socio-cultural and geographical analysis form the research framework for the book, in three ways: first, there is an emphasis on scale as tourism phenomena and their implications are discussed both in a global context and at the national, regional and local levels; second, the discussion is informed by primary data sources such as censuses and surveys; and third, the incorporation of fieldwork and case studies adds concreteness to the overall picture of Japanese tourism. This book is a significant addition to an area of study currently under-represented in the literature.

This significant and timely volume focuses on the unique trajectory of tourism development in Japan, which has been characterized by an historical emphasis on promoting both domestic and international tourism to Japanese tourists, followed by the more recent policy of competing aggressively in the international incoming tourist market. Initial chapters present an overview of past and present tourism, including policy and research perspectives. Thematic perspectives on tourism and specific contexts and places in which tourism occurs are then examined. Strains of Japanese tourism such as sport, surf, forest, mountain, urban, tea, pilgrimage and even whaling heritage tourism are among those analyzed. The book also explores tourism’s role in confronting difficult pasts and presents, and the challenges facing the development of tourism in contemporary Japan. A short postscript outlines some of the challenges and possible future directions tourism in Japan may take in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Written by a team of well-known editors and contributors, including academics from Japan, this volume will be of great interest to upper-students and researchers and academics in development studies, cultural studies, geography and tourism.

Heritage is a growing area of both tourism and study, with World Heritage Site designations increasing year-on-year. This book reviews the important interrelations between the industry, local communities and conservation work, bringing together the various opportunities and challenges for different destinations. World Heritage status is a strong marketing brand, and proper heritage management and effective conservation are vital, but this tourism must also be developed and managed appropriately if it is to benefit a site. As many sites are located in residential areas, their interaction with the local community must also be carefully considered. This book: - Reviews new areas of development such as Historic Urban Landscapes, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Memory of the World and Global Geoparks. - Includes global case studies to relate theory to practice. - Covers a worldwide industry of over 1,000 cultural and natural heritage sites. An important read for academics, researchers and students of heritage studies, cultural studies and tourism, this book is also a useful resource for professionals working in conservation, cultural and natural heritage management.

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.