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Qualitative differences in tourism
behaviour: Example
Japan
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Background
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In 2004-2005 Research Fellow der
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to study
Sustainable Tourism in
Japan |
Four major factors shaping Japans
Tourism Development
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“Tourism Encourages Nation-building that
Provides a Good Living Habitat and a Good Place to
Visit
The basic concept for a country built on tourism is
the realization of 'nation-building’
that provides a good living habitat and a good place to visit’
whereby the people living in the region can have a stronger
recognition of its ‘highlights’ and the
people visiting the region can also feel the ‘highlights’ even
more strongly.”
(Japan Tourism Advisory Council
2003) |
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“Now that we are able to benefit from
material prosperity, we need to abandon our traditional
attitude of putting the
economy above all else. We
need to step out of our
workplaces and enjoy
nature and culture with our family and friends. We need to
regain our emotional wealth and spiritual
prosperity.
Tourism provides us with opportunities to look
at our land, our history, our culture, and our way of life
from new perspectives and to build a nation that is truly rich
and filled with creative energy. If this ’faceless’ Japan is
to gain the trust and understanding of the international
community, we must first look inward and learn to understand
ourselves.” (KEIDANREN
2000) |
Tourism in Japan is surprisingly underdeveloped.
As the two quotes from the Japanese government and the national
employers association demonstrate, tourism is laden with concepts
quite different from other industrialized countries.
Four important factors can help to understand the
framework under which tourism, sustainable or otherwise, exists in
Japan:
- the unique circumstances of the ongoing
‘nation-building’ process of the imagined community
‘Japan’
- the position of leisure and tourism in the
Japanese society
- the strong influence of ‘big business’
interests in tourism development
- the forms of nature appreciation in
Japan.
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