Research Trends in the Geography of Tourism in Japan

This study attempts to examine the problems and prospects of geographical research on tourism in Japan by reviewing the trends of previous studies on this topic. Geographical research on tourism has been developing in Japan since the 1920s. Most initial studies aimed to clarify the relationship between regional characteristics and tourism-related phenomena. Since the 1960s, however, researchers have analyzed tourism from various viewpoints, parallel to the development of mass tourism and the subsequent diversification of tourism in Japan. This research is classified into the following four major fields. First, most tourism research has been conducted in the context of regional geography in Japan or in foreign countries. Research in this field investigates tourism as an important factor of regional change in certain districts and discusses the changing image of tourist resorts and tourist destinations. Other research in this field examines the regional characteristics of tourism on the national scale, namely the locations of tourist destinations, tourist-related facilities, and the tourist industry. Second, researchers have analyzed the regional dimension of tourist activities to evaluate the spatial extent of leisure behavior, tourist movements, etc. Some researchers have applied imported models to Japanese tourist behavior. Third, there are an increasing number of studies on new forms of tourism or alternative tourism, such as rural tourism, ecotourism, urban tourism, and so on. Fourth, research on international tourism has been expanding since around 2000, when the promotion of inbound tourism began in Japan. Most geographical research on tourism is analyzed within the framework of case studies. The other serious problem concerns the definitions of tourism-related terms. A clear differentiation is required for the following terms: Tourism, recreation, leisure activity, and sightseeing. This problem relates to Japanese tourist activities, which used to be characterized as sightseeing rather than tourism.