Based on five periodical questionnaire surveys on behavior and consciousness of university students toward culture and arts initiated by the late Prof. Sadanori Nagayama and the late Prof. Yoshiro Matsuda and conducted between 1985 and 2008, this paper gives an overview of scheme and main results of these surveys.

This study empirically analyzes the impacts of COVID-19 on cultural participation in Japan using the Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities, focusing on contribution to percentage changes and proportions of the contribution across demographic groups.

This article reviews the perspectives and selected features of Sadanori Nagayama’s book chapter, “Cultural Economics and Empirical Analysis,” and discusses his legacy for current and future empirical research in cultural economics.

The author and his joint researchers have been concerned with the Japanese population of those who are professional performing artists such as actors, dancers and musicians. Between 1986 and 2007 we have conducted the five series of ‘Japanese Artists Surveys’ almost every five years in terms of their income, household types, educational artistic training etc. Based on the results of our first survey we revised the questionnaire form for the rest of the four surveys. In the present paper we demonstrate the results of their annual income by the three genres, together with gender and type of household during the last four surveys.

As the vulnerability and precarious working conditions with intersectional inequalities in the cultural sector have been widely acknowledged, especially during the pandemic, there is a growing expectation for sector-specific peer associations in consolidating key issues and making policy recommendations. Through semi-structured interviews with 15 stakeholder groups, this paper identifies five key challenges: the self-management capacity of freelancers, the organisational fragility of professional associations and umbrella bodies, the lack of inter-organisational communication, overly high expectations placed on the Arts Council as a multi-purpose body, and the issues of terminology of peer organisations. Additionally, the paper proposes two measures to address these challenges.

Music streaming services have changed people’s music consumption from physical to digital. Here, we summarized the digital music trade in Asian countries and regions, including the flow of digital music exports and imports. We also calculated the volume of domestic music consumption and compared it with trade volume. Finally, we clarified the detailed flows and features of the music market in Asian countries and regions using aggregated data from trading partners.

In recent years, as global interest in Japanese culture has grown, the tea ceremony has seen increasing popularity among foreign tourists. Like other forms of traditional art, it has been shaped by numerous predecessors and passed down to the present day. Among these contributors were samurai, who, while fulfilling their responsibilities and overcoming economic adversity, preserved the diversity of tea culture according to their aesthetic values.

This paper focuses on two such samurai to reconsider the culture of hospitality they helped develop.