amazing that 600-700 Oshi were responsible for 4.19 million families. Therefore, although the calculation is only a rough one, because unlike today's nucleic family structure, a family comprised quite many members in those days, we could imagine that in the mid 18th century 70% of the whole nation awaited their chance to travel to Ise, hoping for a once in a lifetime trip. From this I could say that Japan was a kingdom of travel.
Although Japan had experienced a long history of domestic travel arranging, when it came to modern travel characterized by overseas journeying, the industry had a hard time meeting the travelers' needs, due to the diversified nature of their trips. It was not until Japan opened its doors and encountered foreigners that this area of the travel industry emerged. The Kihinkai was the first such industry. As I have said, their main activities were limited to diplomacy with foreign VIPs. Only with the advent of the former JTB, was profitability first taken into account, but it was originally only a national company and it was only in the 1930s that a profit-oriented travel industry came into existence.
Considering travel, or tourism as it is called in Japan, it has always been conducted not openly but rather secretly. It was very difficult for people, especially for women, to leave their homes, without a particular reason such as making a pilgrim-age to Ise or for worship. Having such a background, we Japanese have reservations even now about going sightseeing or touring, feeling a sense of guilt. It is clear, however, from the number of Oshi and of those who expected to make a pilgrimage to Ise that the Japanese people took a great interest in travel and tourism.
3. Products of travel and tourism
Now I would like to change my topic to what is brought about by travel and tourism. Not all are desirable consequences, but may be expressed as a revitalization and mobilization of society. As I mentioned in the preface of my book, the demolition of the Berlin Wall is attributed to a declaration of the freedom of movement misworded by the Communist Party of East Germany. The announcement contained a sentence which reads "People of East and West Germany can pass the national boarder freely from now on." No one anticipated how much influence this sentence would have and in the chaos of the day the General Secretary had overlooked it and signed the declaration. It is likely that arguments took place at first between border guards and people insisting they could freely pass due to the announcement. The result, however, is that people are now able to pass the wall freely.
This demonstrates to us that the liberalization of travel was the primary factor in the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and therefore had a considerable social impact. Although this case is a very unusual one, it is undeniable that travel and tourism can have a great impact on energizing and mobilizing society.
Another noted example is Singapore. Our impression of the country, though others' impressions may differ, is a very active one. The number of foreign tourists to Singapore is more than twice Japan's 3 million visitors. Comparing populations, that of Singapore is equivalent only to that of a large city in Japan. From this we can see that travel in Singapore contributes considerably to energizing, mobilizing and revitalizing the nation.
Mobilization of society can be seen in the history of countries other than Japan. As you might know, there is a good example in Britain called the grand tour. It was typical for sons of English gentlemen, or future successors of a distinguished family to travel for the purpose of learning. Their destination was Italy, the birth place of the Renaissance and classical culture. However, mid-journey, their carriages were often waylaid at Paris, the travelers being fascinated by its brilliant and spectacular atmosphere. They often remained there for a long time. Not only English, but also German people took the grand tour, and French people from high society went to Italy to learn, a considerable number of whom stayed on in Paris. The urban vitality of Paris was accentuated by the
