Abstract
The purpose of this article is to examine the potential of “new sports” and “lifestyle sports” as an emerging resource for development of sports tourism. “New sports” like surfing, skateboarding, rock climbing, BMX, and parkour for instance, reflect both a criticism and an alternative to mainstream modern sports. This paper was written in September 2019, when the Rugby World Cup was being held in Japan, which was estimated to bring nearly half a million overseas visitors to the country and billions of yen to the economy. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will also be held in Japan, and in 2021, the Kansai region will host the World Masters Games. Japan will be hosting a number of the world’s largest sporting events in a short span of time, and this is being celebrated as the “Golden Sports Years” (Mano: 2015). However, such international mega sports events are not held regularly in Japan. Therefore, there is a need to consider sports tourism beyond the “Post-Golden Sports Years” in Japan. To address this, it is necessary to examine the meaning of “sports” as a resource for sports tourism. In other words, sports that have been the base for sports tourism, whether conscious or unconscious, are a part of the culture that was born in modern times. Therefore, rethinking “sports” as a resource for sports tourism would invite new criticisms of modern sports and present alternative understandings of the relationship of sports with tourism.
