Abstract
European castles are important and common components in the tour itineraries of Japanese tourists. There is, however, limited understanding of the way Japanese tourists view these heritage sites. The first aim of the study is to document the Japanese tourists’ views. Secondly, the researchers seek to explain the Japanese perspectives, while the third aim attempts to draw out the implications of the findings for our conceptual understanding of key, largely western-derived, perspectives on authenticity. Three representative European castles were selected as case study sites. Japanese remarks on TripAdvisor were collected as rich sources of data. The text-mining software Leximancer was used to analyse the broad themes. Manual content analysis was then employed for identifying the unique Japanese views. The interpretation of the Japanese perspectives was built on an understanding of the cultural capital they bring to the site - especially the legacy of anime (the Japanese entertainment format), natsukashii (nostalgia), meisho (famous places), mujou (the beauty of the transitory), and “power spots”. The study identified the value of internationalising the concepts of authenticity. Practical implications for marketing European castles to the Japanese are noted.
Highlights
Japanese tourists have been important contributors to European tourism businesses for some time
In keeping with the idea that contemporary studies in tourism need to go beyond descriptions of tourist–setting encounters, the third aim of the work is to comment on ways in which the study of the concepts and mental frameworks driving Japanese tourists might add to our conceptual treatment of the ideas of authenticity and place making
For the aims of this study, the results reported in the Leximancer analysis, and expanded upon in the findings from the manual coding, serve to catalogue in detail the Japanese tourists’ responses to select European castles
Summary
Japanese tourists have been important contributors to European tourism businesses for some time. They were one of the first Asian tourist groups to visit Europe and remain an important market across the continent (Ahmed & Krohn, 1993; Pearce & Wu, 2017). Germany, Spain and England, among others, are popular countries for outbound Japanese tourists. Conte-Helm (2013) summarised the style and continuing importance of the Japanese: “(they) fleetingly and collectively pass through Europe, their picture postcard expectations generally realised in the assemblage of people and places that the package tours provide. Each country has its own distinctive mystique and allure...the tourists’ experience tends to reinforce the fantasy image which distance and unfamiliarity have bred.” (2013:49).
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