Takamitsu Jimura

Musashi University · Faculty of Humanities

The paper examines economic, socio-cultural, physical and attitudinal changes in/around World Heritage Site (WHS) Ogimachi since WHS designation from the local communities' standpoint and explores the background of these changes and views. Both positive and negative changes for local communities in/around WHS Ogimachi after WHS listing are identifi...

This research examines three themes: heritage management and conservation activities, local communities and tourism development in Kii World Heritage Site (WHS) after WHS designation. Kii is a cultural WHS having links with Japanese religions and consisting of shrines, temples and pilgrimage routes. This study inductively and qualitatively examines...

Main Description 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 sta...

How is ethnography practiced in the context of tourism? As a multi- and interdisciplinary area of academic enquiry, the use of ethnography to study tourism is found in an increasingly diverse number of settings. This book is a collection of essays that discuss the practice of ethnography in tourism settings. Scholars from different countries shar...

On my monograph, "Cultural Heritage and Tourism in Japan" (published from CABI in 2019)

Once, Japan was well-known as a tourist-generating country; however, the country has enjoyed inbound tourism boom since around 2013-2014 partly thanks to its Visit Japan Campaign. Nowadays, consequently, Japan is also seen as major tourist-destination country. Since 2023, after various travel restrictions were lifted, international tourists have qu...

This study examines the afternoon tea culture in Japan and the rise of Japanised afternoon tea. As Jimura (2021) states, Japanese society is good at accepting foreign cultures without causing serious conflicts with its native cultures. For instance, a wide variety of international dishes are available across Japan, especially in metropolises. Some...

This article aims to explore similarities and differences in the relationship between nuclear accident sites and tourism through a comparative study of two culturally different exclusion zones, namely Chernobyl (Ukraine) and Fukushima (Japan). Although the causes of the nuclear catastrophe were different, today it is possible to confirm some simila...

This chapter discusses the sustainability and its management in the accommodation sector in Japan. The sector consists of diverse types of accommodation, namely Western-style hotels, Japanised Western-style hotels, Japanese-style inns, budget accommodation, outdoor accommodation and holiday rentals (minpaku). Overall, all of them are aware of the s...

This concluding chapter consists of three sections. The first section revisits the sustainability management in Japan’s heritage and tourism industries, referring to key themes for this book presented in Chap. 1. The core of discussions in this section is the spirit of mottainai that emerged in Japan and has been inherited from generation to genera...

This chapter discusses sustainability of Japan’s intangible cultural heritage, including performing arts and conservation techniques. The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists three categories of intangible cultural properties and the value of some important ones are also recognised internationally by UNESCO. Economic sustainability of intangible cultu...

Foods and drinks can satisfy the most basic need of human beings, hunger and thirst. Consuming foods and drinks can also be an enjoyment for people and can give them socialising opportunities. Regarding these points, the food and drink sector plays a significant role in tourism activities as well as people’s daily lives. This chapter examines eater...

Visitor attractions and events/festivals are often a key element that has a power to allure day trippers and tourists to a certain locality. Generally, visitor attractions are understood as tangible tourism resources, whilst events/festivals are seen as intangible tourism resources. However, it is common to visitor attractions and events/festivals...

This opening chapter forms Part I of this monograph and presents its aim and scope in Sect. 1. Section 2 of this chapter introduces three key concepts for this book, namely ‘sustainability’, ‘sustainability management’ and ‘mottainai’. Mottainai is a Japanese word and concept that represents Japan’s traditional view towards sustainability. In Sect....

This chapter examines sustainability of Japan’s tangible cultural heritage such as historic buildings and valuable monuments. The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists seven categories of tangible cultural properties and Act on Protection of Cultural Properties is the main law for the conservation and utilisation of tangible cultural heritage. Economic...

The transport sector is an integral part of tourism industry and also essential for people’s everyday lives. There are three major means of transport namely by air, by land and by sea. Of these, transport by land can be categorised into transport by rail and that by road. Across the world, railways are generally seen as the most eco-friendly transp...

The concept of heritage can include not only cultural heritage but also natural heritage. In contrast to Chaps. 2 and 3, Chap. 4 examines the sustainability of natural heritage in Japan. Japan’s natural heritage is conserved and utilised mainly through three different schemes, namely natural parks, Monuments (Kinenbutsu) and geoparks. Natural parks...

This chapter looks at Japan’s tourism intermediaries that work as the agent between service providers and service consumers in the tourism market. Usually, tourism intermediaries can be divided into tour operators and travel agents. A main difference between these two is that the former create tourism products, typically package holidays, and also...

Fireworks are invaluable intangible cultural heritage of Japan, which have entertained Japanese people for more than 400 years. Summer is the season for fireworks displays and many events are held across Japan. Fireworks for such events are made by craftsmen called hanabishi who have special knowledge and skills. The fireworks displays originally s...

Firstly, this opening chapter presents the scope and aim of this monograph. Many studies have examined Japan's tourism, culture, heritage and society. Indeed, these studies have made great contributions to knowledge in relevant study fields but do not always fully comprehend the meanings of certain concepts or phenomena in the context of Japanese c...

Six kinds of Japanese popular culture namely films, television dramas, manga, anime, music and computer games are examined as Japan's cultural heritage and tourism resources. Traditionally, these types of Japanese culture have been interrelated through media mix, which is a multimedia franchise strategy and has been generating many derivatives (e.g...

Shopping is a key visitor activity available in Japan and could also be understood as Japan's cultural heritage. Japan's places for shopping are diverse. Some places are comprehended as ‘cathedrals of consumption’, which comprises various service suppliers. Shoten-gai is Japan's most traditional shopping area full of independent local stores. Howev...

Japanese people have been utilising onsen for treatment, relaxation and recreation. This evidences the value of onsen as Japan's cultural heritage and tourism resources. Interpretation is useful for overseas visitors to understand onsen etiquette. Onsen users must be naked and share a communal bath with others. This practice is called ‘hadaka-no-ts...

There are three types of war heritage namely intangible war heritage, tangible war heritage affected by war and tangible war heritage generated by war. War heritage is used as tourism resources and often studied in relation to dark tourism. Hiroshima City and Nagasaki City experienced atomic bombings in 1945. Many people lost their lives and the ci...

Industrial heritage is a relatively new type of cultural heritage in heritage and tourism markets. Overall, Japan's movements for conservation of industrial heritage were delayed compared to those for conservation of traditional cultural heritage such as historic houses. Nevertheless, today Japan has two schemes for industrial heritage conservation...

Nowadays, urban areas serve as popular tourist destinations with historic and contemporary cultural heritage. In Japan's urban spaces, these two types of cultural heritage often coexist adjacently. Some people see this situation as a lack of integrity and unity and/or an absence of harmony between historic and contemporary cultural heritage, whilst...

Japan has two dominant religions, Shintoism and Japanese Buddhism. Most Japanese people are followers of neither, but are ‘sympathisers’ of both. People also regard these religions as ‘spiritual anchorages’. The notions of yaoyorozu-no-kami in Shintoism and syogyo-mujo in Japanese Buddhism signify Japanese approaches to our world, including cultura...

The cuisines available in Japan consist of ‘Japanese cuisine’ and ‘international cuisines’. The former is sub-categorised into ‘washoku’, ‘gotochi gurume’ and ‘b-kyu gurume’; whilst, the latter is sub-classified into ‘non/little-modified international cuisines’ and ‘Japanised international cuisines’. The value of Japan's foods and drinks as cultura...

The first section revisits the key theoretical themes, referring to Japan's cultural heritage and tourism resources and practices explored in Chapters 2–12. The second section explains further thoughts emerged. Firstly, mutual relationships between cultural heritage and tourism are confirmed. Cultural heritage serves as tourism resources, whilst to...

Ainu and Uchinanchu peoples are Japan's indigenous peoples. Historically, their relationships with the Japanese Government and Yamato people have negatively affected Ainu people and their culture. For example, once the Ainu were forced to alter their traditional way of living and engage in agriculture. Recently, the Japanese Government formally adm...

In the author's view, festivals are classified into 11 categories by their theme(s) and/or purpose(s), although most festivals have two or more themes and/or purposes. The term, matsuri, means a festival in Japan. Basically, matsuri indicate only the festivals that hold traditional relationships with a specific locality, tradition, history and/or r...

Theme parks aim to provide people with entertainment and leisure. A certain theme governs all elements of a theme park. This creates extraordinary environment for visitors. American-origin Disney's theme parks and Universal Studios run their businesses in Japan as Tokyo Disney Resort (TDR) and Universal Studios Japan (USJ). TDR comprises Tokyo Disn...

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 cul...

This paper examines the impact of the use of photographs in on-line marketing for tourism through a case study based in Japanese-style inns. Nowadays, most Japanese-style inns present photographs of what they think are their key appealing elements on their own social networking and/or video/photo-sharing websites, while guests upload their photogra...

Urban regeneration is often regarded as the process of renewal or redevelopment of spaces and places. Investments in tourism, especially in post-industrial cities/wider regions, are part of nascent regeneration strategies linked to transitioning economic bases. But there is a need to look at tourism and urban regeneration with a particular focus on...

This concluding chapter considers some research directions and expanding perspectives for researchers who are looking to align research in the areas of tourism, cultural heritage and urban regeneration. Each of the themes outlined in this chapter is closely associated with multiple aspects of tourism, cultural heritage and urban regeneration such a...

Urban regeneration is often regarded as the process of renewal or redevelopment of spaces and places. There is a need to look at tourism and urban regeneration with a particular focus on cultural heritage. Cultural heritage consists of tangible heritage (such as historic buildings) and intangible heritage (such as events). The wider need and impact...

Tokyo has been Japan’s capital since the beginning of the Meiji period (1868). Since then, the first incident to completely change Tokyo’s cityscape was the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923. Soon after recovering from the 1923 earthquake, Tokyo was destroyed again by WWII. Tokyo 1964 Olympics was a great opportunity to showcase its recovery from the...

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of an Importance-Performance Analysis approach to assess destination image. It focuses on the image of the UK for Chinese students studying in the country. That is because the destination image of a certain country for a homogenous group, such as Chinese students, has not been studied enough and this spe...

Keynote speech - The relationship between World Heritage Site inscription And its effects on local identities, responsibilities & attitudes towards the heritage

Invited speech at the 5th Organisation of World Heritage Cities Asia - Pacific Regional Secretariat (OWHC-AP) Experts’ Workshop (2-5 June 2019 in Krakow, Poland).

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the experience of undertaking ethnography within the subject field of tourism. It explores the issues in trying to achieve university ethical approval for research relating to suicide tourism, currently an illegal activity...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...

This book addresses diverse themes surrounding World Heritage sites (WHSs), including tourism development, tourism marketing, heritage management, conservation activities, local communities, as well as economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts. Also covered are contemporary developments in and around the concept of WHSs. The book has 10 cha...