To consider what local museums should be, let me take local liquor as an example. Local liquor often plays an important role in local people's daily life. If local liquor has a history, or has helped improve communications among local people since ancient times, what is wrong with the idea of the local museum's distilling and serving the liquor, like the Folklore Village in Korea, the Formosan Aborigine Cultural Village in Taiwan, and the Sarawak Village in Malaysia. This example may afford the key to an understanding of what Japan should do to attract visitors.
Japan has as many as 3,800 museums and museum-like facilities; 618 museums are registered with the Ministry of Education. There are 3,200 museums and museum-like facilities including theme parks, that do not have the storehouses and curators required for registration with the Ministry. Many museums have collections of quality art objects, which need to be displayed in glass cases. They also collect objects illustrating the folklore of Japan, most of which objects are also exhibited in glass cases. These museums are probably based on the idea that protection should be the first consideration. However, presentation is just as important as protection. I expect that by directing greater effort toward presentation, museums will attract more visitors, and hence play a more important role in handing down folk culture to coming generations
I am sorry my talk overran the allotted time by about three minutes
Takada: Thank you very much.
Mr. Kanzaki's comments may also involve questions concerning the Cultural Properties Protection Law, enacted in 1950, before the high-growth period.
We are really running out of time. Please speak briefly, Dr. Inose.
Inose: All right. I will just say a few words, including my impressions on today's symposium.
Though I specialize in modern British history, I feel that a growing number of people have recently begun to question whether to continue following the Western model that values growth and progress above all else. What model should Japan follow? My attention is now focused on East Asian countries, where different cultures coexist in harmony. Those countries have long been practicing the principle of "Be lenient toward cultures different from your own." From experience, I would say that Japan should now shift its attention from Western countries to East Asian countries, and learn from those countries to have a vision of its own future.
For all that. Japan should learn from England, as well. As I mentioned earlier, British people today thank their ancestors for what they did a hundred years ago. Over the past years, England has developed each region based on a "long-range" vision of that region, to use Dr. Choi's words. What Japan needs most in addressing issues concerning tourism and culture is a clear and long-range vision of its own future, rather than promotional gimmicks to attract visitors. Only after Japan has a clear vision of its own future will it be able to identify its charms, and hence attract more visitors. From today's symposium, as well as from years of study. I conclude that though it is difficult to read the future in a time of change, Japan must have a clear vision of the regions it is going to develop.
Takada: Thank you, Ms. Inose.
I would like now to have comments from the last speaker. Mr. Hirono, please.
Hirono: All right.
I spoke of a pageant in Le Puy-du-Fou, earlier. Since World War II , most local communities in Japan have lost their unique cultural characteristics. To such communities, the pageant may provide a good example of how to rediscover those characteristics.
In considering how to attract visitors, Japan should also keep in mind the fact that the needs of tourists are always changing. What impressed me most during my recent trip to Bali. Indonesia was the landscape of paddy fields with the setting sun in the background; a boy on a water buffalo was plowing the fields, followed by quacking ducks. I can still see the scene in my mind.
I was attracted by the peaceful rural scenery in Bali, because the scenery is difficult to find in Japan today. Many tourists have an image of Bali as a coast resort featuring blue sea and deluxe hotels. However, blue sea and deluxe hotels may not appeal to every tourist today. Scenes familiar to local people may impress some tourists. For example, the landscape of paddy fields may set at ease visitors from busy cities like Osaka. To meet the ever-changing needs of tourists, we should try to find and develop those charms that most local people are hardly aware of.
Takada: Local people are often unaware of the "cultural properties" that help make a local community more attractive. At the beginning of this symposium, I suggested that Japan should utilize these ignored properties. In discovering these properties, interaction between local people and visitors may play an important role. Local people warmly receive visitors so as to make them feel at ease. Visitors in turn help make local people aware of the unknown charms of the community. This interaction between "hosts" and "guests" may attain greater significance than ever in discovering the unknown charms of a local community, and hence in promoting the economic development of the community, with an emphasis on tourism.
People often know little of what is in their own "back yard." The rural scenery of Bali appealed to Mr. Hirono, probably because he is from Osaka, one of the busiest cities in the world. To find those charms that are too familiar for local people to notice, but that may attract visitors, local people should look at their communities from the viewpoint of "guests," not of "hosts."
It is now about 30 seconds to six thirty. Though there are still many subjects I would like the panelists to talk about, let me bring the symposium to a close, as we are passing the time limit.
Thank you very much.
