This paper discusses tourism in Myanmar (Burma) from anthropological viewpoint, particularly during the 21st century. Myanmar has recently attracted much attention worldwide because of its political and economic dynamics. When President U Thein Sein began communicating directly and openly the Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader—Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—most foreign media welcomed his change of policy and are now watching whether the change will be continuous. In parallel, economic investments from abroad are rapidly increasing through competition and following Chinese currency. An analytical concept used in this paper is “political tourism,” which was previously applied by the author of this study in 1999. This term signifies that tourism in Myanmar seems to be mostly controlled by the military junta. Even after introducing the country, on a large scale, to foreign currency in the 1990s, political leaders who were also military soldiers continued manipulating the manner of presenting the political situation to tourists as well as foreign media. The junta expected that everyone would watch how safe Myanmar was so that they could cover up the country’s poor reputation. As long as governmental ministries or offices participate in tourism for financial and security reasons, tourism is generally influenced by the political authorities concerned. In the case of Myanmar, all key individuals were the same among all political, economic, and defense spheres. They did not want to exhibit any political insecurity and strictly limited the regions where foreign tourists could visit. One of the key reasons that the government participated in the tourism industry in the 1990s was to prove how Myanmar was clearly becoming democratic by showing only secure locations to foreign tourists. The goals of this paper are as follows: 1) to report the tourism situation in 2013, 2) to discuss tourism dynamics by comparing with the previous phase, and 3) to rethink “political tourism” in Myanmar.

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Taiwan indigenous people were subject to assimilation and colonization by the Kuomintang (KMT) government for several years. This brought the language and culture of each group to the verge of annihilation or extinction. In addition to their systems, costumes, farming and fishing methods, rituals, myths, legends, music, dancing, material culture, architecture, dresses and their ornaments, and craftsmanship, the natural landscape of the mountains and rivers in the homelands of indigenous people are their living embodiment. The Han people of mainstream Taiwanese society viewed themselves as having an exotic appeal; thus, they always served as objects of tourism for the Han Chinese. Although they disdained indigenous people and created a crisis within their culture, the mainstream Han people visited indigenous territories as tourists and took the position of hegemonic rulers, consuming the culture of indigenous people. The Han people created unequal power relations based on the hegemonic gazing of ruler, and the commodification and plundering of indigenous culture.
This paper involves a critical retrospective discourse of the political implications of indigenous people’s society and tourism, both of which have been at the mercy of the changes in Taiwanese politics since the KMT administration. In particular, it discusses, since the beginning of the 21st century, how the dramatic alternation of the governing administration between the KMT and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with their divergent political philosophies, has influenced indigenous people’s tourism, society, culture, and the natural environment that embodies indigenous people. Moreover, it also evaluates the influence on possible forms that indigenous people’s tourism should ideally take in the future.

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Bali has become Indonesia’s most famous international tourism destination. It is important to note that, however, local Balinese society could not enjoy the benefits of tourism because outside forces such as the Dutch colonial government and Indonesia’s central government controlled tourism development from the beginning. During Suharto’s authoritarian rule (1966–1998), when international tourism development increased significantly, social problems escalated, for example, the outflow of tourism revenue outside Bali, growing economic disparities among local Balinese societies, increasing crime, and environmental degradation. In the face of an increasing social problems in Bali, democratization and decentralization happened after the Suharto regime collapsed in 1998. These changes allowed local Balinese people to manage tourism development themselves. It is clear that this new tendency has profound effects on Balinese social problems inherited from the Suharto era. What is the impact of democratization and decentralization on Bali’s local political economy? What are the current conditions of social problems? This paper attempts to explore these questions by analyzing current tourism development and social problems in Bali. In summary, it argues that after democratization and decentralization, Bali has entered an era of competition among local players, and their escalating disputes have ironically negatively impacted social problems, and thus undermining the virtue of local autonomy and democracy.

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This article investigates the changes in onsen, especially IKAHO onsen in the Meiji era, by studying historical visual materials such as, the onsen ranking chart, colored woodblock prints, and the written medicinal benefits of onsen. It is understood that Dr. Balz, who was invited to Japan by the Meiji government, had a strong influence on onsen modernization. The flashy IKAHO advertisement informed everyone that people utilized ingredient analysis and the medicinal benefits of onsen were studied by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which was followed by Balz’s study. The medicinal benefits of onsen did not westernize, though the new age had begun. The combination of studies by the Ministry of Home Affairs was based on both Western and Chinese medicine, which people had known since the Edo period. The Meiji Era did not involve any decade during the “30s.” It is reasonable that IKAHO used both Western and Chinese medicine, to classify diseases and symptoms and inform those people about the goodness of onsen who opted, for onsen cures and knew nothing about Western medicine.

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