Commodification of Experience and Interpersonal Exchange within Japanese Craft Tourism

―The Case of Takaoka Craft Tourism, an Experiential Tourism―

Abstract

Japanese traditional crafts culture has long been built on a continuous cycle of production and consumption of crafts. This has been changing recently due to the emergence of experience-based consumption that does not necessarily require the sale of goods. The purpose of this study is to investigate how commodification processes of experience and interpersonal exchange within a craft production site affect the industry. By using the theoretical framework of “re-enchantment” in the theories of consumption, this article will argue that in the case of Takaoka Craft Tourism, the site of production, handcraft techniques, and craftsmen are re-enchanted as tourism attractions. This study concludes with a warning that while the consumers (the tourists) are satisfied with their consumption of experience and interpersonal exchange, the livelihoods of craft producers are still bound up with the sales of crafts.