where their stand provides informative leaflets, until the country learns the practice of dealing with business at such conventions, all this is to no avail. Advertising methods need to be more carefully considered.
Secondly, there are few agents and organizations readily accepting foreign tourists. I often hear the complaint that faxes sent to cheap Japanese inns have been met with no response. Another complaint is that people wish to organize package tours with Japanese travel agencies but these are not feasible as prices are so high. These are the hurdles which foreign tourists and travel agencies battle to overcome. I would like to point out that firstly, Japan is fundamentally lacking in conditions conducive to attracting tourists, and that secondly, I think it of utmost importance that we make suggestions in order to minimize these disadvantages and present the country in a more favorable light.
I would like to mention a few more points which need consideration. As Mr. Huchison stated before, there is no overall strategy in Japan. For instance, it is presumed that Japanese people themselves have a great interest in Asian countries, but on a national scale, Asian countries seem to be considered all the same in Japan, whereas of course in fact, Korea is distinguishable from Taiwan, and Taiwan is different from Singapore, just as it goes without saying that Japan and Korea are different countries. Although the term "marketing" may sound a difficult business, it is, in short, to think from the viewpoint of the other person or to understand the other. However, in this sense I will not compare Japan too much with the case study of Australia. I only regard the case of Australia, of which the strategy was very specific and technical, as the next step for Japan to take. What Japan has to consider now among other things are the preferences, image of the country and traveling style favored by a certain people of a certain class of a certain country. We should study types of tourism and available promotion media, or in other words the presentation style of information and holidays already in existence, to invent attractive package tours which meet the needs of potential clients.
Let me explain some more about this. American people have different ideas from Europeans and most European people distinguish replicas and rebuilt things from cultural assets. For example, they do not regard Ise-jingu Shrine as a cultural asset for it is a restored building. With this in mind, package tours to Nara may sell better to Europeans than those to Kyoto. On the contrary, in my opinion, anything old is all the same to American people. Accordingly, it makes no difference to them from when a specimen dates. Although American people greatly appreciate history, to them it should be something which assumes a shape, a building for example. I once took a group to the remains of Heijo-kyo Palace and I had secretly wanted to show off how amazing it is that Japanese people have preserved an asset like that for such a long time. However, my expectations were shattered by their response of "It's nothing." When I took them to the ancient tomb in the Asuka district known as Ishibutai-kofun, or stone stage tomb, they asked "Why do we have to pay admission fees when it is surrounded by stones and can be seen from the outside?" I said "Entering or coming closer enables you to see it better," but they insisted that it should have walls and buildings to charge an admission fee.
Some times we are intrigued by rumors. We have heard that European people do not care for octopus. Therefore, we often test this idea when we have foreign tourists. We take them to eat takoyaki, a popular Japanese snack made with octopus, at a takoyaki shop in Dotonbori. This notion however, has been to be untrue. Of nine European people, six responded with "very good" and one with "good", while of seven American people, five responded with "very good" and one with "good" and of two Australian people one with "very good" and the other with "good."
We hesitated to show Ise-jingu Shrine or Osaka-jo Castle to Korean people as we thought that something reminding them of past misfortune
