Religious tourism and World Heritage Registration Movement in Nagasaki,

Japan

MATSUI Keisuke

(University of Tsukuba)

Purpose

Heritage tourism is one of the attractive types of urban tourism; in particular, registration as a World Cultural Heritage site has a powerful effect on the tourism market.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss various aspects of this type of tourism. By showing the process of creating new heritage tourism using Catholic churches, I will examine the cultural impact of heritage tourism and some problems associated with commodification of churches.

Background of the study (1/3)

Economic impact of tourism in Japan

travel expenditure: 200.9 billion € （≒ Toyota ）job creation ripple effect: 　 4.06 million people

• Revitalization of local economy in terms of tourism is a crucial issue.

• Competition among cities has been increasing.

　 City’s culture and history, often related to city’s identity has been used as a tourism resource.

Background of the study (2/3)- Urban and heritage tourism-

Big Buddha in the suburbs Tokyo Urban heritage tourism

Background of the study (3/3)-World Heritage as a tourism resource-

• World Heritage site boom

• Expectation for a positive impact on the local economy

• Case study: Nagasaki Pref.

⇒ 　 World Heritage

Tentative List in 2007

Registration for World Cultural Heritage is effective means to create city’s culture/history tourist attractions.

Japan has 11 Cultural and 3 natural in 2010

Study area (1/2) ： Geography of Nagasaki

• westernmost part of Kyusyu Isl.

• local capital : Nagasaki City (port city)

population :440 thousand

• window to foreign countries

(17c-19c)

• damage of atomic bomb

(09/08/1945)

・ History : 460 years

（ 4%of the population ）

・ Number of church:135 　

・ 67 thousand of Catholics

Distribution of Catholic Believers

Ratio of Catholic Believers

Study area (2/2) ： Characteristics of Nagasaki

Why and how were these churches in Nagasaki used as tourism resources?

Excellent?Magnificent?Long history?

Decrease of visitors Decrease of visitors’ expense

Dynamics of tourism in Nagasaki area (1/2)-decline of tourists and tourism consumption-

Dynamics of tourism in Nagasaki area (2/2)-change of the structure of tourism-

Rapid declining of school excursion

End of mass tourism

Nagasaki is obliged to create the attractive tourism resources

(especially, cultural heritage tourism for the elderly)　→ The conclusion is to create “Catholic tourism”.

thousand people

What is the value of Nagasaki Churches ?　

1) Historic and cultural value ：　　 history （ golden age/hardship/ revival ）　　　⇒　 especially, tradition of hidden Christian2) Aesthetic and artistic value ：　　 fusion of western culture and traditional Japanese techniques3) Cultural landscape value ：　　 location of the churches

Main actors of Catholic tourism creators

Local　government,Tourism　industries,Catholic,　Scholars,Media　 ・・・

Believers,Catholic,local　residents Tourists,

pilgrims

Producer: creation of pilgrimages: Christianity as a tourism resources

1 ） Local government: Department of Tourism & the board of Education

　 → Preserve as cultural heritage and also use as tourism resources

2 ） Nagasaki Tourism Association　　　 ： the commercial promotion of “Christian tours ”　 → the developments of high value-added

3) Nagasaki Catholic Archbishop 　　　 ： The creation of ‘Nagasaki Pilgrimage’ 　 → guide books ， Pilgrimage tourism centre ， model course

←The Nagasaki Christian tour pamphlet

→The official guide of Nagasaki pilgrimage

Existence of mediator and facilitator１） Activities of mediators ： finding value　　→ media ・ artists ・ photographer ・ scholars （ 1995 ～）

２）　 Activities of facilitators ： perceiving value and marking 　　 →local people, Association of World Heritage

３） Registration of tentative list （ Jan.2007 ）　　 　→ local government: separation of state and religion　　　 　　　 First beatification in Japan held （ Nov. 2008 ）

Creation of Nagasaki pilgrimage

What is the process of creating Nagasaki pilgrimage?

The concept :

both high-class-oriented and high-value-added

What is the concept of Nagasaki pilgrimage?

The central aim is to create a new pilgrimage route and contributes to the promotion of tourism in Nagasaki

Selecting pilgrimage sites, publicising pilgrimage styles,creating an official guidebook, publishing a pilgrim map

Concrete action;

‘Camino de Santiago’ model

What is created as Nagasaki pilgrimage ？

Story ： the value of pilgrimage

１） Construction of the story ： official guidebook　→ historical （ Christianity ）・ cultural value （ architecture ）　→ mythology ： story of martyrdom, tragedy and persecution

２）　 Construction of the form ： actual conditions of pilgrimage 　　→ logotype, official guide, pilgrimage style

３） Promotion ： commodification of pilgrimage　　→ publicity to travel agents

＊ However, tourism infrastructure?

１） Registration of cultural properties ： restoration and preservation 　　 →also physical damage

Impact of heritage tourism （ 1/5 ） Preservation 　

Impact of heritage tourism (2/5) 　-Adding　new　value- 　

２） Adding new values to the Nagasaki church group

　　→ 　 Gaze for Nagasaki Christian has changed

New values (artistic, architectural, cultural, historic, socio-economic… ） gain authority from being a World Heritage candidate.

The Church will become a social symbol that will

provide actual substance to ‘culture’ and ‘history’. 　

The landscape of churches recalls collective memories. 　

3) themeparkization or cataloguization of the places 　　　　 →many visitors are forced to understand ‘the right story’　 → placelessness　4) As Christian history has become public

memory, the local history of Nagasaki has been updated and restructured conveniently.

→inconvenient truth was concealed

　

Impact of heritage tourism （ 3/5,4/5 ）

5) Risk of instant creation of city identity → 　 different identities for the city have produced continuously and instantly.

media space, cyber space　　 Website of tourism association　 Sightseeing brochure 　 Official guidebooks　　　 → Continuous discovery of resources　　　→ No actual situation, but created later　　　→ No need to be afraid of failure →New ”identities” are being made one after another

Impact of heritage tourism （ 5/5 ）

Concluding remarks

• cultural impact of heritage tourism.

both decreasing visitors and income

find new tourism

• The characteristics of Catholic tourism in Nagasaki

World Heritage as marking

clarify City identity creating the story

• However, we must consider both positive and negative aspects of the impact of tourism.