CONSIDERATIONS FOR REDUCING PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE TO AINU CULTURAL TOURISM

Abstract

In 2020, Upopoy (a symbolic space for ethnic coexistence), also called the “National Ainu Museum”, opened to the public, and the promotion of Ainu culture and tourism was included in the measures of Japan’s tourism policy. However, cultural tourism in Japan is still in its early stages. Hence, this study focused on the psychological distance to the Ainu people and related cultural tourism, and aimed to find out key factors and measures to reduce its distance. Therefore, we proposed a conceptual model defining the psychological distance to Ainu cultural tourism, and verified the hypothesis by structural equation modeling based on web survey data collected from residents of the Tokyo metropolitan area and Hokkaido. The result shows that individual experiences of Ainu culture are most effective in reducing the psychological distance to Ainu cultural tourism. In particular, participation in Ainu cultural events, visits to permanent exhibition museums, and cultural experiences at such exhibitions, in that order, increase people’s interest in Ainu culture.