2015 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
The potential of war heritage sites as educational and touristic attractions in Japan: comparative studies with five relevant countries
| Project/Area Number |
15H03149
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| Research Institution | Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University |
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Principal Investigator |
吉田 香織 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 教授 (00550386)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
リー ティモシー 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 教授 (20635495)
COOPER M・J・M 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 教授 (50369146)
BUI ThanhHuong 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 助教 (80711556)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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| Keywords | war and tourism / dark tourism / war and entertainment / war education / war heritage / war and memory |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The project members have accomplished mainly the followings in the year 2015:
(1) Kaori Yoshida and Huong Bui: a)Fieldwork in Auschwitz, Berlin, collecting materials and visiting war-related sites and museums; b)Fieldwork in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Con Dao, Vung Tau), collecting materials, visiting war-related sites (war heritage system in southern Vietnam (Underground tunnels in Vietnam War, Museum of Ho Chi Minh Campaign, Secret based of Vietnam Liberation Front; Con Dao Prison system); c)Stakeholder interviews with tourism-related government officers, former political prisoners, heritage management board, tourism planning officers, provincial officers in charge of war heritage conservation); d) Literature review, developing (sub)categories; e)Textual analyses of heritage sites and secondary resources; f) Analysis of brochures and guidebooks (Hiroshima and Nagasaki); g)Presentation of the results at international conferences.
(2) Malcolm Cooper: a)Literature review; b) Field work in Normandy (the D-Day landing sites, UK around Portsmouth, and Berlin to familiarize the records; c) Sample survey at each site (tourists and tour operators)
(3) Timothy Lee: a)Field work in Seoul and Hawaii, to war-related sites and museums; b)Stakeholder interviews with museum curators, site managers, tourism agencies.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
We evaluated our progress of the year 2015 as "satisfactory or reasonably well" for the following reasons:
(1) Building up a fairly good amount of literature review on dark tourism in general as well as expansion or derivation of (sub)categories on the field, in terms of destination sites and specific contents for further investigations (e.g. school trips to war heritage).
(2) Critical textual discourse analyses of heritage sites and secondary resources (literature and tourism brochures): As we planned initially, we have accomplished the primary analyses of each destination (Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Auschwitz, Berlin)
(3) Exploratory field trips: We have done a good amount of exploratory trips, as we planned, which include: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Auschwitz, Berlin, Ho Chi Minh, Normandy, Portsmouth, and Seoul
(4) Tourism stakeholder interviews: We conducted interviews with museum curators, site managers, tourism agencies and government agencies at the above-mentioned sites. They are still primary, but good as the first step for the further investigation.
(5) Tourist interviews: We have conducted interviews to tourists at the destinations in Nagasaki and Normandy in a small scale for testing. Due to the number of interviewees, we have not received good quality of results. We need to reconsider the questions for interviews for the upcoming year.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Based on the findings from the research in the previous year, our research this year will proceed on the following 3 main focuses, along with continuous updates in literature review.
(1) Stakeholder interviews (cont'd): We will continue stakeholder interviews on each site; (2) Survey for tourism at the target sites: Based on the results from a small scale in the previous year, we will seek approx 100-150 questionnaires at each destination as a supplementary set of data; (3) Interviews with tourism agencies and school teachers (Japan): The findings in the previous year identified a significant role of formal school trips to war-related sites in narrative construction of WWII as a part of dark tourism. Thus besides analyzing school trip guidebooks, we will conduct interviews with tourism agencies that design school trips to war-related site in Japan and school teachers who attend in the trips.
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