features of their hometowns, because I realized that any revitalization plan must be based on residents' rediscovery and reconfirmation of the attractiveness of their hometown.
The outdoor musical play is one such attempt by residents to reconfirm local history. As I have stated, local people, not professional actors/actresses, perform the play. By performing the play, local people learn their local history, learn to love their hometown and to have pride in it. This is essential. If residents begin to love their hometown, tourists will begin to visit the town. If tourists tell residents that they like the town, residents will become even more confident that their hometown is wonderful. By this synergetic effect, the town becomes even more lively, attracting more and more people.
To attract tourists, residents have to know about their own community and learn to love it. Next, they have to preserve their cultural assets and make full use of them. Without such efforts on the part of residents, local communities can never attract tourists.
Takada: Thank you very much. Mr. Kanzaki mentioned earlier that visitors should think how they can benefit local communities they visit; in other words, how guests can benefit hosts. At that time Mr. Kanzaki said that his favorite singer is Sayuri Ishikawa. Well, my favorite singer is Harumi Miyako. In her album, there is a song of love and longing; her lover, a traveler from Tokyo, promised to come back to her hometown, but he never did. To explain the background of this song, during Japan's high-economic-growth period, local people were longing for Tokyo. A country woman met a man from Tokyo, and fell in love. Although he promised to come back, he never returned.
During the high-economic-growth period, this type of traveler was typical; travelers sought fun and exciting experiences during their trips, but thought little of the people in host communities. Whereas Mr. Kanzaki emphasized that guests should do something for the benefit of hosts, Mr. Hirono's speech concerned what hosts should do to attract guests. Now, Mr. Kanzaki, will you please say something about what hosts should do?
Kanzaki: In terms of mutual benefits between hosts and guests, I referred earlier to the guest perspective. Mr. Hirano's comment was based on the host perspective, and compensated for what I did not mention. Before answering your question, may I discuss the definition of culture.
I am a folklorist; I study the continuity of social customs. To put it more simply, I study the "habits" of social groups. In my definition, a local culture comprises a series of habits common to the local group: the pattern in which they talk with each other; play music; compose their thoughts; lead daily lives; build houses; use tools and so on. These patterns are essential components of a local culture.
Now, the largest social group is an ethnic group, and a series of habits common to a certain ethnic group is called an "ethnic culture "in our case Japanese culture. I would now like to discuss how we Japanese value our own culture. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, Japanese people abandoned cultivating pride in Japanese culture, praising Western civilization and social models. Along with development of the so-called "bubble economy, " many Japanese people began to go on overseas journeys, which promoted understanding of foreign cultures. On the other hand, in my view, the Japanese became unable to understand or appreciate their own culture. Although Japanese are eager and enthusiastic to go abroad and learn overseas cultures, they are less eager to receive foreign tourists, because they lack understanding and appreciation of their own culture. I believe this trend underlies the current imbalance between outbound and inbound tourists. Professor Takada said that this imbalance is attributable to the lack of attractiveness in Japan and its cultural resources, but I believe that it is attributable to the lack of human resources. I mean the Japanese are not attractive.
It seems to me that the Japanese highly value other Japanese who have assimilated Western cultures; many are misled into regarding those who use many words of foreign origin in their conversation as being "intellectuals." At the same time, Japanese people seem to have lost their pride in Japanese culture; they even underestimate Japanese culture, partially because of the overreaction to a biased historic view of the pre-war period, which misled the people into believing that Japan is the country of the gods.
Recently, many local communities began home-stay programs to receive overseas people from various countries, especially the U.S.A., UK, and some Asian countries. In my hometown, Bisei-cho,Okayama Prefecture, we also have such programs. A typical house in my hometown has a Japanese-style guestroom, usually equipped with a Buddhist altar and a Shintoist altar, although in my house we have only a Shintoist altar. Asked by a foreign guest why there are two altars of different religions in the same house, most Japanese people are unable to offer a satisfactory explanation. "It is our tradition" is unlikely to satisfy curious overseas guests. They may ask you further questions, "Are you Shintoist or Buddhist? Why do you worship both Buddha and Shinto deities? Japanese people take babies to a Shinto shrine to pray for their sound development, have wedding ceremonies at a Christian church, and funeral ceremonies at a Buddhist temple. Which is your real religion?" For some overseas peoples, religion is a matter of vital importance; there are even religious wars. If we fail to give satisfactory answers to these fundamental questions; we cannot develop good human relations with our overseas guests. Accordingly, in addition to understanding foreign cultures, we must remember that we have to understand our own culture, and endeavor to promote mutual understanding. In my view, understanding our own culture is the first step in regional
