COVER STORY • Japanese Economy After the Olympic & Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 • 10Film Tourism: Somethingfor Everyone
Author Barry Natusch

By Barry Natusch

People travel to escape from daily life, for the excitement of thejourney and the surprises it brings. They may go to discover food,entertainment, friends, and culture. Part of cultural sightseeing isfilm tourism.
As a film enthusiast, I often drop by a film attraction whentravelling. After I saw the recent film Your Name (Kimi no Na Wa), I
heard there were several of the film’s locations around Shinjuku,Yotsuya and Roppongi so I decided to become a Your Name fan for aday. When I visited one of the locations, the steps leading up to SugaShrine, a Japanese mother came by with her son and took picturesof him. I chatted with them about the film. Then a German couple
came up the steps and we talked about the film too (Photo 1). I took
their picture on the steps as they re-enacted the poses of the main
characters in the film, Taki and Mitsuha, passing by each other intheir parallel universes. I had joined a community of travelling filmtourists.
Let’s examine this film tourism or “media-induced tourism” inJapan describing its specific types and examples, and look at thedifferent kinds of people and businesses that are involved.

Numbers of Tourists & Popular Films
Popular Japanese films, ones that earn a lot of money, might beexpected to draw fans as tourists. For example, Godzilla earned $528
million, Your Name earned $281 million, and Lost in Translation, an
Photo 1: Author

American film shot in Japan, earned $119 million. In terms ofprofitability, these were popular films. So some tourists might
include a film destination in their day or overnight trips.
Japan is a popular tourist destination both for Japanese andforeigners. The total number of Japanese domestic travelers in 2017
was 640 million (day trips and overnight trips are split roughly
50-50). Overseas visitors to Japan numbered 31 million tourists in2018, with most staying between one to two weeks. Some of these
tourists might be somewhat familiar with films made in Japan, andbe interested in them enough to visit film locations as fans. Evenfilms which didn’t make a lot of money such as Jiro Dreams of Sushi($2 million) also help in publicizing Japan and attracting tourists.

Tourists Come in Many Flavors
A film tourist is a person who travels to seek out something to dowith films or TV programs in their own country, or when visiting aforeign country. From the perspective of the tourist industry, film
tourism can be a strategy to draw dedicated film fans or casual
tourists to a place because of attractions such as Hollywood’s
Universal Studios or Disneyland to have a photo taken with MickeyMouse.
For the individual traveler, film tourism is like a combination of a
fantastic journey of surprises, but with a pleasurable familiarity. You
are out of your everyday routine, you give control to someone else totell their story, around every corner there is a sight to open youreyes.
Film tourists range between two extremes. The serious film fan is
one who might visit multiple locations of historical dramas, fiction oranimation movies to understand more deeply about those films. The
casual film tourist, on the other hand, could be typified as a sightseer
who might visit something like a movie theme park as anentertainment stop on their tour.
Among the more dedicated film tourists, some are on pilgrimages
to sites where films were shot, others want to visit film museums orfilm-related theme parks, and yet others might come to attend a film
festival or to shoot amateur or professional films. The Table lists
some main types of film tourism in Japan.

Pilgrimages to Film Locations
Suga Shrine steps

42 Japan SPOTLIGHT • January / February 2020

Among visitors travelling in Japan, some people recall Tokyo
https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/

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TABLE

Types & examples of film tourism
Type of Film Tourism

Categories and Examples

Locations of films or TV shows
made by Japanese companies(1) Actual location of story: (Himeji Castle: Kagemusha, 1980)(2) Actual location of documentary: (Tokyo Gymnastic Stadium: Tokyo Olympiad, 1965)(3) Inspiration for location (Yotsuya: Your Name, 2014)(4) Replica of location (Satsuki and Mei’s house: My Neighbor Totoro, 1986)

Locations of films or TV shows
made by non-Japanesecompanies(1) Actual location of story (Tokyo Park Hyatt: Lost in Translation, 2003)(2) Actual location of documentary (Wakayama: The Cove, 2009)

Film Festivals(1) International: Tokyo International Film Festival (October-November annually)(2) Local: Tokyo: Short Shorts (May-June annually), Hokkaido, Yubari (March annually)

Film Studio Theme Parks(1) Tokyo: Disneyland(2) Kansai: Universal Studios(3) Nikko: Edo Wonderland Edomura

Film Museums or Archives(1) National: Tokyo: National Film Archive of Japan(2) Specialized: Mitaka: Ghibli MuseumFilmmaking(1) Japanese film locations: Throughout Japan: most Japanese films, Asadora, Taiga(2) Foreign film locations often in less expensive locations: Hokkaido, Kyushu

Tours(1) Big companies: JTB, railway companies(2) Small companies: private guides and interpreters

Shopping(1) Films: Tsutaya: DVDs
(2) Film-related memorabilia: museum and theme park shops

Studying film

(1) Public: Tokyo National University of the Arts
(2) Private: Nihon Daigaku Film School(3) Animation Schools: Kyoto Seika University, Yoyogi Animation School(4) Private film schools offered by Japanese and expatriate filmmakers

Source: Compiled by the author

Tower being destroyed by Godzilla, some visit Shibamata to see thestatue of Tora-san of Otoko wa Tsurai yo, and visitors to Himeji
Castle can visualize it as the backdrop to Kurosawa’s 1980 filmKagemusha.
If You Are The One (2008), a Chinese romantic comedy, wasfilmed partly in the eastern part of Hokkaido. A popular film in China,
now Chinese tourists flock to eastern Hokkaido. A destination
popular among Thai visitors is Saga’s Yutoku Inari Shrine because aThai film Timeline and a television drama series Kol Kimono werefilmed there. Shrine staff welcome visitors and there are signs inseveral languages. Furthermore, the Saga government is supportiveof film companies shooting films at Saga locations.

to see films not shown at big cinemas.
• The National Film Archives of Japan has a useful library andcurates impressive exhibitions.
• Being a fan of great architecture I have visited the Olympic
Photo 2: Author

Selection of My Favorite Japanese FilmExperiences• The Ghibli Museum at Mitaka is an endearing destination andyou feel close to the artists who contributed to the astoundingly
successful run of director Hayao Miyazaki (Photo 2).
• I am a film festival enthusiast not just because of the chance to
see unique films from other countries but to attend Q&A
sessions with directors, cast and staff who made those films.
The Tokyo International Film Festival is an annual fixture on mycalendar. Film festivals are about films as an art form and you get

At the Ghibli Museum

Japan SPOTLIGHT • January / February 2020

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Gymnasium at Yoyogi many times and each time I recall scenes
from Kon Ichikawa’s 1964 film Tokyo Olympiad.
• I am also interested in movie theater architecture. So visiting big
ones and small ones, I check them off against a list of criteriasuch as facilities, vision, sound, seating, access, andatmosphere.
An actual film location becomes a point of view for looking at thefilm, and the film scenes become the point of view of looking at thelocations. In this way, real life and film become intertwined in mymind.

Conclusion
So film tourism is like filmmaking; there are companies,superstars, bit players, technical people, and there is a big audienceof avid followers. There’s something for everyone.
If I were a film tourist already in Japan, I would plan to visit
museums, and locations of favorite films, if possible timing the visit
to coincide with a festival, like the Tokyo International Film Festival.
Perhaps also shopping for Japanese films to add to my personal filmarchive, and throwing in visits to a couple of studios and themeparks. I’d try to visit a selection of the 3,525 cinemas in Japan. I’dseek out the biggest cinemas like the EX Theater in Roppongi, andthe smallest intimate and unique theater architecture like Asagaya’s
Laputa Theater (Photo 3).
If I were in a film-related Japanese business, I would investigate
potential numbers and groups of film tourists and then highlight
services or goods that appealed to them by crafting a website
offering a combination of free information and tailor-made guidance,
tours or special product deals.
If I were in business in a local area in Japan, perhaps in a
Photo 3: Author

The Laputa Theater

44 Japan SPOTLIGHT • January / February 2020

community facing an increasingly aging population, but with local
attractions such as scenery, nature, or hot springs, I could
encourage filmmakers to come and use the area for film locations.
Financial inducements such as discounts for movie crews at local
inns and restaurants, offers of volunteers, and assistance with visa
applications could be attractive. Film scouts could be informed ofthese advantages. Since the present Japanese government favors
short-term foreign visitors, film crews could be ideal. The Sagashrine linked to the Thai movie Timeline is an example of local
entrepreneurial initiative. Local sites connected to NHK’s programs
such as Taiga dramas (notable figures in Japanese history dramas)
and Asadora (morning serialized novel dramas) benefit throughNHK’s promotion of cultural identity.
If I were a local politician seeking to attract tourists to revitalize
the local community, I would encourage initiatives to promote theculture and stimulate the economy. I would also take a look at theJapan Film Commission’s useful manual Guide to Filming in Japan.
This may even foster local film and video enterprises.
If I were a national policymaker, I would encourage sub-genres oftourism such as film tourism. Yet it is also important not to go too
far in publicizing and overmarketing. This could result in stretching
local resources to cope with an influx of tourists. Two-thirds ofJapanese have reservations about the tourist boom, so winning thesupport of local communities is key to tourism being a sustainableindustry.
If I were a filmmaker, I would research local areas which offeredattractions and scenery which could be worked into a film. Also, I
would look into sources of funding in Japan. The Japan Foundation
has in the past funded foreign films set in Japan. I would also study
the rules governing filming in local areas because the regulations,labor laws and immigration criteria might cause obstacles.
If I were interested in studying animation, Japanese film or
Japanese filmmaking, I would visit some of the universities andprivate film study programs before making a commitment to enteringa program.
If I were going to visit Japan as a visitor I would watch someJapanese films pre-departure to get a sense of the culture – old films
such as those directed by Yasujiro Ozu or Akira Kurosawa, and more
contemporary ones by Hirokazu Koreeda or Juzo Itami. If attending
the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and even if I couldn’t get a seat for someevents, I might look around the sports venues, and places wherevisitors go, to try to capture on film a collection of impressions
about this momentous event.
Film tourism offers an escape for the individual as well as a new
direction for revitalizing local communities.

After a career in academia, Barry Natusch now specializes in writing and film
production as a media consultant.