著者
小川 功
出版者
滋賀大学経済学会
雑誌
彦根論叢 (ISSN:03875989)
巻号頁・発行日
no.404, pp.64-79, 2015-06

This paper aims to explore fictitiousness intourism and chooses the Nara Dream Landtheme park, which the author describes as a"copy" of the "original" U.S. Disneyland Resort,as the object of study. The author discussessuch matters as the relationship between theoriginal and the copy, whether there were anyconnections between the creator of the originaland the founders of the copy, and the chasm ofunderstanding that existed between the twoparties.Nara Dream Land was founded by KunizoMatsuo. Deeply inspired by what he saw at Disneylandin the United States, Matsuo set out tobuild its copy in Japan with the sheer desire toshare the same exciting experience with Japanesechildren. The park, however, has oftenbeen held in a negative light, with the dominantview being it was an unofficial imitation,one that hindered the efforts years later to openthe official Disneyland in Tokyo. The park wasalso criticized for having ruined the valuablehistorical sites featured in ancient manyo wakapoems.Matsuo's autobiography and statements ofpeople close to him indicate that he met WaltDisney in 1958 and secured Disney's commitmentto provide some kind of assistance inbuilding Nara Dream Land. Their accounts canbe confirmed in several newspaper articles ofthe time, but the facts are elusive. Around thesame time, the Yomiuri Shimbun Corporationwas also vying to win Disney's cooperation fora plan to build a large amusement park by leveragingbusiness contacts with the NipponTelevision Network.Of the 20 founders of original DreamlandCorporation, the company that erected NaraDream Land, the author takes a particular interestin Masaichi Nagata, president of theDaiei Motion Picture Company. Nagata acquiredDisney's film distribution rights duringhis 1949 visit to the United States and subsequentlyhis company launched a foreign filmdivision. He also engaged in Disney characterlicensing and later helped promote Tokyo Disneylandin accordance with the agreement withthe Walt Disney Company headquarters.While recruiting potential investors forDreamland Corporation, Nagata claimed thathe introduced Matsuo to his close friend 'Walt'at the time of Matsuo's trip to America and thatMatsuo acquired Disney's permission to open areproduction in Japan. Given that Nagata wasone of the few businessmen in Japan with astrong connection to Walt Disney, and onewho made regular visits to the U.S. Disneyland,it can be presumed that his name appearing onthe list of founders as well as his active supportfor the proposed park was enough to convincepeople that Nara Dream Land was not a copybut an official reproduction of the U.S. original.In other words, Nagata's role was akin to thatof an "apparent representative."078 THE HIKONE RONSO 2015 summer / No.404The majestic railway station building situatedat the Nara Dream Land entrance is said tohave been designed by a famous architect whenhe accompanied Matsuo on his U.S. trip. Therailroad encircling the park is a standard featurein all Disneyland parks around the world, exceptfor Tokyo Disneyland, and the park inNara also adhered to this style marked by thefounder's love of trains. The author speculatesthat Matsuo, a former boss of a traveling theatertroupe, flew to the U.S. with henchmen ina show of Japanese"Jingi", and perhaps assumedthat giving his park an entrance gateway identicalto the original was sufficient to make it aDisneyland reproduction.Nara Dream Land is a negative legacy and asymbol that Japan, in the years Nara DreamLand was being developed, had not yet reachedthe level of social maturity that ensured theprotection of intellectual property rights. Thepark nevertheless had a significant impact onnumerous aspects of Tokyo Disneyland, fromits planning and establishment to designs, andfor this reason, the author argues that the nowdesolate park, and in particular, the stationbuilding of the park-encircling railroad, nothaving undergone any kind of renovationssince first built, merits recognition as industrialheritage representative of the Japanese themepark industry.
著者
小川 功
出版者
滋賀大学経済学会
雑誌
彦根論叢 (ISSN:03875989)
巻号頁・発行日
no.第404号, pp.64-79, 2015-06

This paper aims to explore fictitiousness intourism and chooses the Nara Dream Landtheme park, which the author describes as a“copy” of the “original” U.S. Disneyland Resort,as the object of study. The author discussessuch matters as the relationship between theoriginal and the copy, whether there were anyconnections between the creator of the originaland the founders of the copy, and the chasm ofunderstanding that existed between the twoparties.Nara Dream Land was founded by KunizoMatsuo. Deeply inspired by what he saw at Disneylandin the United States, Matsuo set out tobuild its copy in Japan with the sheer desire toshare the same exciting experience with Japanesechildren. The park, however, has oftenbeen held in a negative light, with the dominantview being it was an unofficial imitation,one that hindered the efforts years later to openthe official Disneyland in Tokyo. The park wasalso criticized for having ruined the valuablehistorical sites featured in ancient manyo wakapoems.Matsuo’s autobiography and statements ofpeople close to him indicate that he met WaltDisney in 1958 and secured Disney’s commitmentto provide some kind of assistance inbuilding Nara Dream Land. Their accounts canbe confirmed in several newspaper articles ofthe time, but the facts are elusive. Around thesame time, the Yomiuri Shimbun Corporationwas also vying to win Disney’s cooperation fora plan to build a large amusement park by leveragingbusiness contacts with the NipponTelevision Network.Of the 20 founders of original DreamlandCorporation, the company that erected NaraDream Land, the author takes a particular interestin Masaichi Nagata, president of theDaiei Motion Picture Company. Nagata acquiredDisney’s film distribution rights duringhis 1949 visit to the United States and subsequentlyhis company launched a foreign filmdivision. He also engaged in Disney characterlicensing and later helped promote Tokyo Disneylandin accordance with the agreement withthe Walt Disney Company headquarters.While recruiting potential investors forDreamland Corporation, Nagata claimed thathe introduced Matsuo to his close friend ‘Walt’at the time of Matsuo’s trip to America and thatMatsuo acquired Disney’s permission to open areproduction in Japan. Given that Nagata wasone of the few businessmen in Japan with astrong connection to Walt Disney, and onewho made regular visits to the U.S. Disneyland,it can be presumed that his name appearing onthe list of founders as well as his active supportfor the proposed park was enough to convincepeople that Nara Dream Land was not a copybut an official reproduction of the U.S. original.In other words, Nagata’s role was akin to thatof an “apparent representative.”078 THE HIKONE RONSO 2015 summer / No.404The majestic railway station building situatedat the Nara Dream Land entrance is said tohave been designed by a famous architect whenhe accompanied Matsuo on his U.S. trip. Therailroad encircling the park is a standard featurein all Disneyland parks around the world, exceptfor Tokyo Disneyland, and the park inNara also adhered to this style marked by thefounder’s love of trains. The author speculatesthat Matsuo, a former boss of a traveling theatertroupe, flew to the U.S. with henchmen ina show of Japanese“Jingi”, and perhaps assumedthat giving his park an entrance gateway identicalto the original was sufficient to make it aDisneyland reproduction.Nara Dream Land is a negative legacy and asymbol that Japan, in the years Nara DreamLand was being developed, had not yet reachedthe level of social maturity that ensured theprotection of intellectual property rights. Thepark nevertheless had a significant impact onnumerous aspects of Tokyo Disneyland, fromits planning and establishment to designs, andfor this reason, the author argues that the nowdesolate park, and in particular, the stationbuilding of the park-encircling railroad, nothaving undergone any kind of renovationssince first built, merits recognition as industrialheritage representative of the Japanese themepark industry.
著者
小川 功
出版者
滋賀大学経済学会
雑誌
彦根論叢 (ISSN:03875989)
巻号頁・発行日
no.第407号, pp.108-121, 2016-03

When one thinks of unordinary trips, anaround-the-world cruise on a luxurious shipand a transcontinental trip on a deluxe sleepertrain come to mind. Yet this paper will discussthe opposite of these types of travel: namely,low-class trips by what the author calls “fictitiousrailways.”The mysterious and fictitious railways run bya private logging train company existed brieflybefore the Second World War on the southernedge of Shikoku Island, and vanished withoutbeing noticed. People used the service to enjoya scenic view of a valley with a famous waterfallfrom a train that did not have a roof or evenseats.Trolley trains on Yakushima Island - a WorldHeritage Site - and the Kurobe Gorge havebeen serving the same function for tourists. Butthe Shikoku one is unique in that a car withseveral adult passengers was pulled by a westerndog up a several-kilometer slope to the waterfall.The train service was sold to tourists by theSightseeing Railways, which was founded andrun by a cooperative association of the ownersof a local mountain and forest. Even thoughthe association was approved by the Ministryof Agriculture and Forestry, it did not have a licenseissued by the Railway Supervision Bureauto operate a commercial train service. Thus, itwas an unlicensed, fake railway company.So why was it able to provide the service?The answer can be found through examinationof similar unlicensed railways operating inHokkaido at the time of its original developmentin the 1930’s. Remote mountain areaswhere regular railways were unlikely to be developedwere considered special districts, andthe bureau was lenient concerning train servicesin those areas and did not apply strictregulations there.
著者
大和 毅彦
出版者
滋賀大学経済学会
雑誌
彦根論叢 (ISSN:03875989)
巻号頁・発行日
no.357, pp.47-65, 2006-01
著者
阿部 安成
出版者
滋賀大学
雑誌
彦根論叢 (ISSN:03875989)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.373, pp.21-42, 2008-06
著者
清宮 政宏
出版者
滋賀大学経済学会
雑誌
彦根論叢 (ISSN:03875989)
巻号頁・発行日
no.407, pp.36-54, 2016

Sports business attracts customers by players`skill, speed, and the favorite teams `victory.But in BC League, customers have been attractedby the relationships built between BCLeague and customers, and the relationshipsexpand the circle of customers.In this paper, the relationships built with customersin BC League would be promoted by"Shikake" and "Ba no Settei".And finally, the Author is proposing that"Shikake" and "Ba no Settei" would be necessaryin order to breed the strong relationshipswith customers and also breed Customer Ownership.("Shikake" which means a device topromote the relationships, and "Ba no Settei"which means the setting of the opportunityand the place to promote the relationships.)
著者
小川 功
出版者
滋賀大学経済学会
雑誌
彦根論叢 (ISSN:03875989)
巻号頁・発行日
no.405, pp.76-90, 2015-09

For fundamentalists who believe that tourism is a religious act in pursuit of authenticity, and that tourist destinations should be limited only to authentic places, all imitations with no hint of authenticity should be cast aside. They view most tourism resources as valueless copies of others, cross out one spot after another, and conclude that the only places in the world worth visiting are sites associated with the cradle of civilization. Judging from analyses of tourism in Japan from the early to late modern periods, however, I feel that narrowing down the purpose of tourism to authenticity alone is unrealistic. Amusement parks that emerged in and after the Meiji period of modernization (1868–1912), for instance, were in fact evolved versions of freak show huts from the early modern period, gathering a variety of imitations that offered visitors the fun, simulated experience of going on a real trip. Another typical example is Nara Dreamland, which was built for people who could not afford to travel far across the sea to the United States. With demand lasting into the late modern period for cheap "false" destinations closer to home as a substitute for "true" ones far away, this paper sheds light on examples of imitations that borrow names from famous scenic sites and are received favorably by the public. In some instances, the copying of tourist destination names begins when residents and travelers recognize similarities between a familiar place and a famous scenic site. The image grows until the copied name is written in a travel journal or used as a station name, and in the end the name takes root. In other instances, copying occurs when a scholar, landscape architect, writer, or journalist's impressions of a place are printed and circulated. In this day and age, these conventional scenarios are overshadowed by channels ranging from the mass media to the Internet giving rise to the emulation of overseas place names. The motivation for copying is a strong admiration for the original and the originator. But whereas up to the early modern period this motivation was based on pure faith, beyond the late modern period it changed to the pursuit of commercial profit, and eventually to following successful business models. How well a copied place name is received varies by region. Sometimes, one case of copying can provoke a chain reaction. The names of many beaches around the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture, for example, are copies of other place names. Imitation entails some sense of guilt, and copiers often end up making excuses to justify the act. Some examples of excuse are proximity to and closeness with the original place, similarity between landscapes, permission from the originator, use of the same material as the original, friendly relations with the originator, and naming by a third party of authority. There are also different levels of copying, starting with a simple appellative or a nickname, going on to the common name of a facility, company, station, or neighborhood, then to official place name, and culminating in the formal name of a municipality. The relationship between copier and community varies as well. Imitation can be agreed upon by all, or endorsed and established; met with silent approval, disagreement, or objection; or face requests for renaming or a return to the former name. Cheap copies that belittle the area's history and culture or are based on poor reasoning tend to be unsuccessful at gaining understanding from the residents and fail to take root. Some station names are soon restored to their original place names because of opposition, and other names disappear from the residents' memory altogether. On the contrary, imitations that are to some degree rational or win the residents' approval tend to endure. One example is Maihama, the home of Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu City, Chiba, which derives from Miami Beach, Florida, home to Disneyworld. Thanks to the absence of a previous name – Maihama is built on reclaimed land – and the presence of an American amusement park, very few opposed to the imitation of a foreign place name. Evaluating emulation is difficult, since a thing cannot be disregarded simply because it is "false." The Hiraizumi culture that took root and blossomed in the Tohoku region, for example, is looked down on by quite a number of scholars who see it as a mere transplant of the aristocratic culture of Kyoto. And even Kyoto, which we Japanese regard as the origin of Hiraizumi, is an imitation of China in terms of city planning. Tokyo is the originator of a great number of place names copied everywhere today, such as Ginza. But in the early premodern Edo period (1603–1868), this Tokyo was yet another copier that admired and imitated originals from the Kyoto-Ohmi area, like Mt. Hiei and Lake Biwa. Kyoto itself, although home to an ample number of authentic temples and shrines, has its share of imitation: the Omuro Pilgrimage of 88 Temples, a miniature version of the Shikoku Pilgrimage of 88 Temples. This was created by the religious leader of Ninnaji Temple in the Edo period, when traveling to the remote island of Shikoku was difficult. He brought sand from all 88 temples in Shikoku, buried it in the mountain in Kyoto, built 88 halls, and completed a "theme park" where people could make a pilgrimage in just two hours. Since the route in Kyoto served to ease the homesickness of immigrants from Shikoku, there were virtually no protests from originator about the imitation. Even today, people who visit Ninnaji every morning know the place is "false," but they enjoy the remarkable mini course and feel as refreshed as if they undertook a "true" journey in Shikoku. The Omuro site may be an imitation, but it is not the work of commercial developers. It was built openly by an authentic religious figure in temple grounds now designated a World Heritage site, calling out for worshippers to come. This represents "true" and "false" coexisting without conflict, where both "original" and "imitation" continue to play a significant role in their own right.