Chapter 3 Promoting Yokosuka through videogame tourism : The Shenmue Sacred Spot Guide Map
Regional and local governments have long recognised the potential for films, television shows, novels and other media texts that are set in their city or country to attract tourists. Although there is a wealth of scholarship on how real-world locales...
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Regional and local governments have long recognised the potential for films, television shows, novels and other media texts that are set in their city or country to attract tourists. Although there is a wealth of scholarship on how real-world locales are represented in digital games, to date scholars have largely overlooked the potential for videogames to likewise attract fans and ‘pilgrims’ to the locations in which they are set. This chapter addresses this gap through the case study of Yokosuka City in Japan, which has recognised the cult classic videogame Shenmue (Sega AM2, 1999) as a drawcard for tourists and fans outside the city. Through its ‘Sacred Spot Guide Map’, Yokosuka City officials provide a guide for tourists seeking to visit locations depicted in the game that contrasts their fictional and real-world counterparts and invites visitors to explore its spaces through affiliated promotion campaigns. Drawing on an analysis of the Guide Map, an interview with its creators and field observation in Yokosuka itself, we examine the potential for the Guide Map and other forms of city-funded videogame tourism to put cities overwise overlooked in travel guides and reviews ‘on the map’ and boost their local economy.
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War as Entertainment and Contents Tourism in Japan
This book examines the phenomenon of war-related contents tourism throughout Japanese history, from conflicts described in ancient Japanese myth through to contemporary depictions of fantasy and futuristic warfare. It tackles two crucial questions:...
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This book examines the phenomenon of war-related contents tourism throughout Japanese history, from conflicts described in ancient Japanese myth through to contemporary depictions of fantasy and futuristic warfare. It tackles two crucial questions: first, how does war transition from being traumatic to entertaining in the public imagination and works of popular culture; and second, how does visitation to war-related sites transition from being an act of mourning or commemorative pilgrimage into an act of devotion or fan pilgrimage? Representing the collaboration of ten expert researchers of Japanese popular culture and travel, it develops a theoretical framework for understanding war-related contents tourism and demonstrates the framework in practice via numerous short case studies across a millennium of warfare in Japan including: the tales of heroic deities in the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, AD 712), the Edo poetry of Matsuo Basho, and the Pacific war through lens of popular media such as the animated film the Grave of the Fireflies. This book will be of interest to researchers and students in tourism studies and cultural studies, as well as more general issues of war and peace in Japan, East Asia and beyond.
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