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ITM Master 1. Sem. |
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1. Nation-building ‘Ambitious Japan’, as it calls itself in English on the new Shinkansen 700 trains, today appears as an insular, industrial society stranded in a globalised postindustrial world, trying to retain (mainly imagined) pre-industrial values. Whereas many societies are in a process of changing from "World as a theater" to "World as a workshop", the japanese society sticks to bolted-on masks. ‘Inventing Japan’ (Buruma 2003) after 1853 meant the double and contradictory task of ’restoring’ the rule of the Emperor, the Shinto religion and ‘national’ pride through attempts of catching up with 'modernity' to become a leading member of modern nations. Three major attempts to achieve this failed in 1921, 1945 and 1990.
In the development of Japanese domestic tourism this is reflected in the successful decade-long marketing campaigns of “Discover Japan” in the 1970s and “Exotic Japan” in the 1980s. ‘Discover’, starting after the EXPO in Osaka,
appealed to young (mainly female) Japanese not to visit
meishos (noted places) but rather to find the spirit of
the ‘old’ Japan in encounters with it and therefore to find
themselves. “Although this Japan was billed as native and original, it was a Japan in many ways unknown to its young urban travellers. .. Japan beckoned as something strangely familiar: the native remote.” (Ivy 1995, 47)
‘Exotic’ took the nostalgic longing one step further: Stylish and arty in appearance, it enticed to travel within Japan not to rediscover ‘old’ Japan, but the nostalgia for it, the lost feeling of the feeling of loss.
Furusato (old hometown) tourism is another important part of domestic tourism of inventing the nation and "reconstructing selected images of the Japanese people’s traditional way of life." (Moon 1997, 185)
2. Leisure and Tourism in the Japanese society
Long absence from work by making full use of granted paid holiday is still frowned upon. Unlike western positive images of otium as 'recharging the battery' and ‘getting new ideas’, i.e. self-actualisation through leisure, leisure activities and the necessary absence connected to it are seen as ‘letting down the collegues’, only partly redeemed by buying omiyage (souvenirs) for the left-behind. “A feeling of guilt in seeking mere pleasure dies hard within a culture of hard work. .. And this axiom is fortified by people’s concern for, and attention to, others in close proximity, such as family, relatives, neighbours, and fellow workers.” (Kajiwara 1997, 169)
Paid holidays are granted to employees (app. 20 days/year). It is however socially impossible to use the full amout. A report from 2008: According to a survey conducted in Japan as well as in eight countries in Europe and North America, the Japanese only took an annual average of eight paid holidays — smaller than any other country questioned. France topped the list with 34 days, followed by Italy and Spain with 27 paid days off annually. Among the reasons why Japanese employees can’t take paid holidays were, “Too busy with work” and “Their bosses and colleagues have yet to take their paid leave,” the survey found.
Japanese travel less
and much shorter than the inhabitants of other OECD countries,
travel motive is often an event: 3,9 nights p.P. p.y., compared to
17,1 (Germany) and 16 (France, GB). Japanese overnight stays per
year decreased year-by-year since 1991 (OECD 2002).
© Arlt 2005 after (TIJ 2004)
App. 13% of the Japanese travel across the border once a year.
© Whitebook on Japans Tourism 2008 |
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Contact:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt FRGS |
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