The collapse of the ‘myth of longevity’ and the construction of alternatives

The case of the Okinawan health food industry

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to undertake an in-depth examination of the building and collapse, as well as the subsequent rebuilding of a place brand using the case of Okinawa Prefecture and its health food industry. 　We review place brand studies, clarify their characteristics, and explain their special nature. Furthermore, we described the activities for justifiably acquiring a place brand and the loss of that justification, and rebuilding the brand by implementing various policies as alternatives. We use the discourse analysis (Grand et al., 2004) to analyse the brand evolution using industry annual reports, various data from the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG) and interviews with representatives of the OPG. This paper shows that we must examine the place brand, where place dependence is high and possibility for relocation is low, from a new perspective. Simultaneously, we have shown that maintaining and repairing a place brand, in the face of collapse, can have practical implications as well.