The Study on Relationships between Tourism and Media in Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Osaka

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Many of us travel more than ever before. Tourism is becoming an increasingly prominent feature of contemporary life, and is deeply related to many aspects of modern society. In particular, most tourist spots are constructed by means of their image, which are constantly reproduced through media such as brochures, television, magazines, and movies.This research project studied the relationship between tourism and image in Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Osaka. Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Osaka are famous tourist spots in Kansai Area of Japan. By doing so, we showed that tourism cannot be analyzed without considering the power of image, and that the media play an essential role for reproducing the image of tourist spots. As Daniel J. Boorstin has discussed in his book "The Image- A Guide to Pseudo-events in America", the relationships between tourism and media are very important theme in the sociology of tourism. According to Boorstin, tourists do no more than see media-created images. He argues that tourists' experiences are only the "pseudo-events" that media create, and therefore these experiences are superficial and contrived in nature.In 2004, we analyzed texts and images in tourist guidebooks and brochures, and interviewed several persons working for tourism industries, NPO, tourism sections in local government and so on. In 2005, we continued to analyze texts and images in tourist guidebooks and brochures, and interview persons working for tourism industries, NPO, tourism sections in local government. After doing so, we implemented questionnaire survey of tourists. In 2006, we wrote reports on the relationships between tourism and media in Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Osaka, using data of 2004 and 2005.