Conflict of Interest between Tourism and Nature Conservation of the Early National Park Ideas in Japan

Abstract

Nowadays, the problems of pollution and destruction of nature, caused as a result of the extensive development in tourism, have become very severe. The aim of this paper is to clarify that there was a conflict of interest between tourism and the nature conservation of the early National Park ideas in the Meiji Era. Two petitions were presented to The 27th Imperial Parliament in 1911; one of which was to make Nikko area a National Park; another was to make Fujisan and its surrounding area as a National Park. Although the Meiji Government refused to establish the National Parks, they understood the aim of such proposals, and confined in themselves to carrying out researches into the National Parks in the near future. The arguments for the National Parks did not clearly justify the ideas of the National Parks for the purpose of preserving nature, but there was already an artless objection to the tourism development and an opinion of nature conservation relating to the National Parks. Therefore it seems that the ideas of National Parks in Japan had a weak point from the very beginning.