China has emerged as a “major destination country for tourism” in the 21st century, with particularly rapid growth in the area of urban tourism. Qingdao now occupies the top position in a competitive ranking of urban tourism destinations in China. This paper explores the significance of modern historical heritage and the policy for its utilization in the development of urban tourism in China through an analysis of the Qingdao example. The rapid increase in tourism in Qingdao comes from a unique brand of urban tourism created by the city, which combines its natural sightseeing resources with the sensible preservation and use of structures of high historical value from a period of German colonial rule in the 19th century. This paper looks beyond natural resources to focus on the use of human resources, especially the resources of historical heritage, for tourism.
Qingdao serves as a successful example in China of the preservation and use of modern historical heritage for tourism. The norm in China is for modern cultural heritage from 1840 and beyond to be viewed as “negative heritage” from a period of colonial rule. This has led to the continued destruction of sites connected to this heritage in cities such as Dalian. Qingdao has taken a very different route. Modern historical heritage sites, such as the Governor’s Official Residence, the Badaguna Villa (in an area admired as “the World’s Architecture Museum”), and the Qingdao Beer Museum make up the core of the city’s urban landscape known as “Blue Sky, Blue Sea, Red Tile,” and have led to the development of urban tourism.

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This paper examines the relationship between the movement of people and objects, specifically Russian handicraft souvenirs, with the Matryoshka doll as the focus. In previous studies, souvenirs have been discussed from a process point of view, in which tourists take home objects. However, most of the souvenirs sold around the world are goods that arrive at a destination via various transnational movements in time and space, and existing research has overlooked the plurality of movement of souvenirs. There has not been sufficient research examining the logic that prescribes objects produced for tourism, despite ongoing discussions on the comparison of souvenirs with their “originals.” In this study, instead of exploring the roots of Matryoshka dolls before they become souvenirs, we attempt to analyze the route of a series of world-scale relocations of Matryoshka in the past 100 years, including Japan in the Edo period, Russia in the early nineteenth century, France, modern China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and modern Japan. The research demonstrates that souvenirs are not objects that deviate from their “original appearance” because of tourism, but that the objects are “on the move” in a global network of people, things, and images. Souvenirs are objects that exist with a form and meaning that are continuously reconstructed.

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This paper focuses on one aspect of souvenirs intended for “inbound tourists,” or visitors from outside Japan, as they were perceived in Japan in 1930. Specifically, it focuses on initiatives undertaken in that year by the Imperial Applied Arts Association of Japan and investigates how souvenirs were leveraged in connection with the national policy for attracting inbound tourists. One central consideration is the September 1930 Japanese Souvenir Exhibition, sponsored by the Imperial Applied Arts Association of Japan and involving the Japanese Government Railways, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Nippon Yusen and Osaka Shosen Kaisha shipping companies, the Japan Tourist Bureau, and the Jiji Shimpo newspaper company. This paper first summarizes the characteristics of the year 1930 and the Imperial Applied Arts Association of Japan, which are the focus of this paper. It then examines the details of a study carried out when the Japanese Souvenir Exhibition was held and during the time leading up to it, reviewing the value of particular items exhibited and of the exhibition itself. Finally, the arguments are reevaluated from the point of view of the history of tourism.

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This paper discusses the mobility of ingredients for the purpose of souvenir production through the case of “Tochi rice cakes” in Kutsuki, a mountainous area in Shiga, Japan. In addition, it will consider the regional problems related to souvenir production. In the 1980s, some households in Kutsuki began to make Tochi rice cakes, which they then sold as souvenirs. Today, Tochi rice cakes are famous souvenirs from Kutsuki. Currently, however, the availability of Tochi nuts and ash, which are the most important ingredients in making Tochi rice cakes, has decreased for several reasons. Consequently, the producers are purchasing nuts and ash from other regions. This case study shows that the network they have created with other regions by making Tochi rice cakes is significant for today’s rural areas. However, the dependency on others for materials also results in certain weak points in souvenir production.

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This report examines changes in the market for handmade goods produced in the area hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake in order to analyze the market status of handmade goods as souvenirs and as general commodities in areas affected by disaster.
The study focuses on Miyagi Prefecture after the Great East Japan Earthquake and uses the “Handmade Product Catalogue Series” published by the Miyagi Consumers’ Cooperative Society, the nonprofit organization Ouenoshippo, and the “Tohoku Manufacture Story” website produced by the Tumugiya general foundation. According to the data, 88 businesses have been involved in handmade goods in Miyagi Prefecture. As concrete examples, I analyze the sock-monkey made in Higashi-Matsushima, the accessories made of antlers in Ishinomaki, and the drawstring bag made of old kimonos in Watari. For purposes of comparison, I examine the handmade goods business in areas affected by the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. According to the results, handmade goods seem to aid in the restoration of areas affected by disasters; these products initially serve as souvenirs connected with the revival of tourism and subsequently enter the general commodity domain. However, some of the handmade goods originate in the general commodity domain. In any event, the restoration support and souvenir domains decrease over time, and goods that originate in these domains are eventually forced to move to the general commodity domain.

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