Abstract
This article aims to explore the nature and performance of Japanese-participated orphanage volunteer tours in Cambodia. Orphanage volunteer tours are conducted so that tour participants gaze into the darkness of the orphanage, which is perceived as poor and miserable. During volunteering in the orphanage, the participants feel that the orphans always rely on them, and which leads them comfortable. This “feel good factor” is a vital for them to recover and fulfill their sense of reality that has been lost in their mundane daily lives. While orphanages are inherently welfare facilities and not connected with tourism phenomena, orphanages that accept volunteer tours and individual tourists have been organized in the tourism business system. A variety of performances were identified by participant observation research at the orphanage that conducts volunteer tours from Japan. First, tour operators and managers of the orphanages design the space of the orphanage, which enables tour participants to maximize their motivation to recover their sense of reality and to regain their sense of existence. Managers of this orphanage force orphans to entertain volunteer tour participants in order to satisfy them. Moreover, tour participants also perform themselves to adapt to the atmosphere of the orphanage, which is portrayed as altruistic and philosophical.
