Australia-Japan Joint Symposium on Tourism and Disaster Resilience(2023/6/21-22)
Theme: Disaster risk reduction, tourism, recovery, preparedness
Venue: IRIDeS and Higashi-Matsushima

Following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, various tourism development policies havebeen enacted in order to promote the growth of the tourism industry which could facilitate
economic recovery of affected regions. Since then and until the 2020 pandemic, tourism
numbers had grown exponentially, as more communities grow increasingly more reliant on thetourism industries. Although the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic saw tourism numbers
drop from 2020-2022, it is expected to rebound in 2023 as Japan re-opened for international
tourism. The growth of the tourism industry in Japan brings about two challenges. First in
regards the host communities that have become tourism destinations, how can tourism
contribute to livelihood sustainability in the region, and how could community stakeholders
strengthen their resiliency in the face of inherent vulnerabilities tourism may bring due to its
risk of external shocks? Secondly, for the tourists, how can the tourism sector prepare fordisaster and assist tourists who may be unfamiliar with local hazard risks?
In order to address these issues, this symposium invited academic, industry and government
experts from Australia, where much research has been done on tourism and disaster resiliency
research due to the country’s booming tourism sector and significant exposure to multiple
hazards. Joining these experts were academic, industry and government representatives fromJapan. This two-day workshop, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs andTrade’s Australian-Japan Foundation Grant, consisted of a field trip to Higashi-Matsushima on
June 21st, followed by a symposium held on June 22nd.
During the field trip, participants were greeted by the Mayor of Higashi-Matsushima, Mr.
ATSUMI Iwao. The city of Higashi-Matsushima provided transportation and interpretation
services for our participants as the meeting was followed by a field trip to multiple areas
affected by the 2011 disasters. Participants had the opportunity to interact with local
businesses to discuss their experiences in the recovery process, which was followed by a field
trip to the Nobiru museum to learn about the disaster. Participants also enjoyed the local seaweed udon.
On the second day, a symposium was held at Tohoku University at the IRIDeS multi-purpose
hall. In addition to the twelve speakers from Japan and Australia, were guests from over 22
countries that joined in-person and online. Guests also included representatives from theUNWTO, UNDP, Sendai Airport, among others. The symposium was split into three parts, withthe morning session focusing on presentations on Japan, the afternoon session onpresentations on Australia, and the final session which focused on the discussion of the twochallenges aforementioned challenges.
At the end of the symposium, after two days of knowledge exchange, participants became
increasingly interested in continuing collaboration between Australia and Japan and haveidentified several areas for future research activities.
Report: David N. Nguyen (Tsunami Engineering Lab and Earthquake Induced Tsunami Risk
Evaluation Lab (Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance) )(continues to the next page)

Australian and Japanese participants
visiting a disaster memorial in HigashiMatsushima City.

Australian and Japanese participants during
a lunch meeting, discussing recovery efforts
in Higashi-Matsushima, while enjoying thelocal seaweed udon dish.

Group photo of the participants whoattended the symposium in-person atIRIDeS. In addition, there were also
participants who joined online.

Associate Professor (Specially Appointed)
David N. Nguyen provides an explanation ofthe Tohoku region’s history to participants.