Rural space in Japan is currently characterized by the increased role of consumption rather than the traditional activity of production, such as growing rice or other crops. This situation is often described as the “commodification of rural space”. Although the commodification of rural space can occur in various forms, recreation and tourism are the most visually appealing to people. The objective of this study is to examine how regional differences in central Japan affect the commodification of rural space for recreation and tourism activities. The study area ranged from the Tokyo metropolitan area (which contains the prefecture of Tokyo and three immediate prefectures) to 11 additional prefectures located in the central part of Japan. We visited the one main governmental office in each of the 15 prefectures to interview the officials in charge of tourism and agriculture, and asked them to identify important types of recreation and tourism activities owing to the commodification of rural space in their prefectures. We also asked them to show us typical rural recreation or tourism activities, in an effort to better characterize and divide the prefectural areas based on their experiential and subjective images of rural recreation and tourism. In addition to the experiential decisions of the officials, we examined the regional differences in recreation and tourism activities owing to the commodification of rural space based on our landscape observations and the analysis of statistics, previous studies, and tourist brochures. As a result, we chose 10 common types of rural recreation and tourism activities and examined their distribution and regional differences. Walking spaces were found in every prefecture but it was the most important and basic recreation activity in urban areas. While this provision of walking is typical of urban areas, allotment gardens were found to be dominant in suburban areas, and farm produce shops and farmers’ restaurants were typical in main plains where farming is thriving. In the same respect, “you-pick” farms were commonly found in fruit-growing basins, as was hiking in hills and low mountains, the availability of rural experiences in remote basins between mountains, and escaping the summer heat in highland resort areas. Mountainous areas offered downhill skiing in snowy areas and climbing in the higher mountains, while marine leisure activities were common in coastal and islands areas. These patterns formed concentric rings around the Tokyo metropolis. The differences in natural conditions, characteristics of farming, existence of current tourist sites, and proximity to metropolitan areas affect the commodification of rural space for recreation and tourism activities in central Japan.

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This study examines the continuous development of ski resorts in the Austrian Alps, through an analysis of their regional characteristics based on statistical data. In the Austrian Alps, continuous development is undertaken by those ski resorts that are located in higher altitudes and have large ski areas. During winter, the number of tourist nights is increasing every year, especially in luxury hotels (four and five stars hotels). The increase corresponds to the growth in the number of beds in these luxuary hotels. Therefore, with facilities such as après ski, ski resorts tend to have distinctive options for skiers to enjoy a long holiday. However, some resorts show stagnation, especially traditional luxury resorts such as Kitzbühel and Lech. Location of the Austrian Alps plays an important role in continuous development of their ski resorts. This factor, in the last decade, has attracted many new skiers from neighboring countries such as Switzerland and the Czech Republic. In addition, there are a steady and sizeable number of skiers from Germany and the Netherlands. It is also a fact that skiers from specific locations prefer to stay at specific ski resorts. For example, many British skiers enjoy their winter holidays at St. Anton am Arlberg, in Tyrol. Inexpensive stay is one more factor that affects continuous development in the Austrian Alps, when compared with the Swiss or French Alps.

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This paper focuses on environmental preservation and tourism in the Aletsch area of the Swiss Alps, including the Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site, and the current condition of winter tourism diversity in Saint Moritz. In the Aletsch area, the cultural landscape, ecosystem, and diversity of nature are preserved by government officials and local citizens. Bettmeralp, which is close to Aletsch and offers a view of the Aletsch glacier, effectively uses its natural environment, including livestock pasturing during the summer, residents' traditional culture, and various annual sports and cultural events, as a tourist attraction throughout the year. On the other hand, St. Moritz, which is known as the birthplace of winter sports, held an international convention for winter sports, which led to an improvement in residents’ quality of life. Winter tourism developed from visitors watching winter sports games and other various events. As mentioned above, environmental tourism is developed in both areas.

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The present study aims to clarify the relationship between randonneuring and tourism in the Massif Central in France using tourist referencing of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes as a case study. Route maintenance by the Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre was an opportunity for the establishment of the Stevenson Trail, which was realized by the association Sur le Chemin de R. L. Stevenson. As a form of alternative tourism, the main purpose of the Stevenson Trail was not to generate profit for the Association but to local development. For its part, the Association achieved financial stability through subsidies from the EU, French, and local governments. Meanwhile, randonneuring tourists were motivated by the opportunity for self-discovery amid cultural exposure and images. Tourists were mostly driven to join a randonneuring of the Cévennes by a desire to explore unseen land and take in the terroir of mountain villages. The Stevenson Trail is considered as a type of tourism activity that enables randonneuring tourists to interact with culture, nature, and terroir.

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[in Japanese]

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The tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, devastated the Sanriku’s coastal areas of northeastern Japan. Since then, local governments and residents have engaged in reconstruction. In order to prevent and reduce possible future tsunami damage, it is important to raise the ground in the once area damaged by tsunami and to relocate to higher ground. This study attempts to analyze the changes occurring in affected urban spaces during the process of reconstruction. Taking up the example of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, the characteristics of location tendency of the housing reconstruction urban spaces are analyzed in the pre-earthquake period, the reconstruction period immediately after the earthquake, and the post-reconstruction period. In the pre-earthquake period, Central Business District (CBD) was located in the coastal lowland, which was protected by the black-pine forest on the coast and the tide embankment that was constructed after the Chilean Tsunami of 1960. In the reconstruction period, the city offices, public facilities, and stores were all temporarily relocated to hastily-constructed buildings located on higher ground that was unaffected by the tsunami disaster. The residents who lost houses chose to settle in temporary shelters or to rebuild their houses independently on high ground. Consequently, new urban areas became dispersed outside the area damaged by tsunami in contrast to the compact urban area developed in the coastal lowland prior to the great earthquake. The official reconstruction plan of Rikuzentakata aims to recreate a compact city by rebuilding CBD on the raised ground once flooded by the tsunami. On the other hand, independendently-reconstructed houses, public housing to be built by the city and prefecture governments, as well as collective, high-ground relocation projects are all scattered in the municipal area. It is predicted that the future urban space of Rikuzentakata will be constituted by dispersed housing.

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