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Changing the Region through Border Tourism
Nemuro, Soya, Okhotsk
The Boundary Research Unit (UBRJ) established at the Center in 2013 is a unique organization in Japan that leads border studies in Japan and abroad. It is composed of faculty members from the humanities and social sciences and museums at Hokkaido University. Recently, we have been working on the promotion of tourism in border regions.
Research
The 12th International Scientific Meeting on Border Regions in Transition was held in Fukuoka and Busan in November 2012. We took a jetfoil from Hakata to Izuhara (Tsushima), and after a bus tour of the famous sites, we headed north to Hitakatsu and from there to Busan. The success of this project attracted attention both at home and abroad, and we started a border tourism project with a regional think tank and related local governments based on the belief that “borders can also be a tourism resource in Japan.” Cross-border tourism between Tsushima and Busan, Wakkanai and Sakhalin, and “border tourism without crossing borders,” involving traveling overland from Nemuro to Wakkanai, have been widely covered by the media. For more information, please visit the following URL: http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/ubrj2/projects/border-tourism/
Akihiro Iwashita Professor -
Research on the Conservation and Utilization of Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Planning and implementation of international cooperation projects on cultural heritage in Southeast Asia
We are conducting research on the relationship between the conservation and utilization of cultural heritage and tourism in Southeast Asia, with special focus onmonuments. Based on the results of our research, we collaborate with other organizations to implement international cooperation on cultural heritage.
Research
In Southeast Asia, there are many archaeological sites such as the Angkor complex (Cambodia) and Borobudur (Indonesia). Faced with political turmoil and crises caused by natural disasters such as the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami (2004), each country has been working to preserve and utilize these sites. Tourism used to be considered dangerous as it would have a negative impact on the sites, but since the adoption of the International Charter on Culture and Tourism in 1999, it has come to be seen as an essential part of cultural heritage preservation. For example, in the Angkor Complex, which attracts more than 2 million tourists a year, the tourism industry has become an important means of earning foreign currency at the national level, and the revenue from tourists is used for the conservation of the vast ruins. On the other hand, the balance between the ever-increasing number of tourists and the preservation of the monuments has become increasingly complicated due to the local environment, economy and other issues.
Akiko Tashiro Associate Professor
