Abstract
Traditional and popular tourist areas such as hot spring resorts have stagnated since the collapse of the bubble economy around 1990 in Japan. However, as the tourism for practical experiences and educational purposes attracts many people, it may be necessary to discover and exploit new tourist resources. One of the important and promising means is the commodification of rural spaces for tourism, leisure and recreations. At present one of the most important elements of rural changes in the developed countries including Japan is the transition from an economy based on production to an economy based on consumption. The most visible component of the consumption-based rural economy is tourism (Woods, 2005). This paper depicts the possibilities of developing tourist industries based on the commodification of rural spaces by presenting a case study of the Nasu Region in Tochigi Prefecture in Central Japan. In the Nasu Region attractive hot springs played an important role in forming famous tourist areas such as the Shiobara Hot Spring resort and the Nasu Highland resort. However, they are now attempting to revitalize their tourist industries by building hiking routes, introducing farm experiences, establishing farmers’ markets, and opening restaurants to serve dishes using local agricultural products. This strategy of redeveloping tourist industries firmly depends on the commodification of the rural spaces. In addition, a huge alluvial fan extending between the Shiobara Hot Spring resort and the Nasu Highland resort has many rural resources such as beautiful rural landscapes, historical sits of settlement, museums, repaired and improved irrigation canals, country roads, and monuments, that could be all used for the tourism for practical experiences and educational purposes. If the new types of tourist industries develop successfully, the Nasu Fan will integrate the two traditional tourist areas. In other words, the commodification of the rural space of the Nasu Fan will contribute to develop a vast and compound tourist region of Nasu extending from the Shiobara Hot Spring resort through the Nasu Fan to the Nasu Highland resort.
