This article demonstrates how a local community succeeded in forming favourable relationships with fans and copyright holders in Washimiya, a town in which the anime television series Lucky star was set. Washimiya is now visited by fans from all across Japan as a so-called anime sacred site. Through interviews with fans, local people and the anime production company, participant observation and analysis of primary documents, the article outlines how the local community, fans and copyright holders formed relationships based on mutual consideration to the benefit of all. Mutual understanding and common goals emerged from their shared respect for the contents (Lucky star), a phenomenon that has received little attention in discussions about 'contents tourism'. By viewing contents tourism not only as a licensing business or business between the host and the guest, but instead as communication between people in an actual space and time with contents at the centre of interactions, many important insights are gained into the potential for contents tourism.
Tourism has positive as well as negative effects on the sustainable utilization of traditional vernacular buildings, especially in cultural heritage cities that have become important tourism destinations. Many of these cities improve the accommodation facilities by utilizing traditional vernacular buildings, while consequently meaning that these cultural heritages are in danger of losing their authenticity. On the other hand, tourism development also has positive effects in that it brings in funds that help restore and renovate the buildings which would otherwise face gradual deterioration. This is a dilemma that many historical cities face under tourism development, especially in developing countries. The authors categorize the development approach of cultural heritage tourism into two patterns. One is the "outside-in" approach, which means to dominantly satisfy the tourists' needs while sacrificing the local cultural character. The other approach is the "inside-out" approach, which means that the local community follows its own growth principle, and tourists come in mostly to enjoy and to learn from the local wisdom. We examine the two approaches by taking the current status of protected buildings in Lijiang city as a case study. In this famous Chinese world heritage city, some 140 important vernacular buildings face serious pressure of tourism oriented transformation both in form and in usage. We investigate the buildings and find they have changed their usage dramatically, accompanied with relevant changes in form, layout, and decoration styles. We further review the policy system and find that these changes in vernacular buildings are due to lack of proper standing in conservation policy system, lack of sufficient financial aid, and lack of full technical support.
The objective of this paper is to clarify the spatial and social impact on a city caused by its being registered as a World Heritage Site and its transformation into a tourist destination. As part of an investigation of the problems related to rapid development of tourism and its pressures on World Heritage Sites, this study attempted to clarify the issues facing the tourist industry at the Old Town of Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China, a World Heritage Site, by focusing on the tourist shops there and comparing these data as of 2004 with previous data as of 2000. The ways in which both the existing indigenous society (a minority known as the Naxis) and the majority peoples, temporary residents, engage in commercial tourism-related activities were examined. As a result, it was found that, in recent years, the usage of historic buildings has drastically changed. At present, over 90% of shops are tourist-oriented souvenir shops and restaurants. Furthermore, over 50% of shopkeepers are temporary residents, mainly Han Chinese, with a large majority renting rooms from indigenous owners. These findings suggest that the location of the residences of the indigenous minority and its culture are rapidly changing as tourism develops.
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