Urban Pilgrimage on the Roofs: Analysing the Tourism Potential of Rooftop Shrines in Ginza
The purpose of this research is to contribute to the relaunch of inbound tourism in Tokyo in a sustainable way focusing on rooftop shrines. The centre of this research is the shopping district, Ginza that is full of hidden shrines nestled among and on top of the high-rise buildings. The research aim...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
The international journal of religious tourism and pilgrimage
Year: 2024, Volume: 12, Issue: 2, Pages: 81-89 |
| Further subjects: | B
Spirituality
B Sustainable tourism B urban tourism B urban shrines B Religious Tourism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The purpose of this research is to contribute to the relaunch of inbound tourism in Tokyo in a sustainable way focusing on rooftop shrines. The centre of this research is the shopping district, Ginza that is full of hidden shrines nestled among and on top of the high-rise buildings. The research aims to find out to what extent tourists in Tokyo are aware of these shrines and whether the ‘Luxurious Ginza’ brand constitutes a barrier to view it as a spiritual space. The mixed methodology used is of qualitative nature, including content analysis of sites, ethnography as well as a corpus analysis of foreign tourists’ opinions on Ginza and its shrines. Based on the findings the conclusions point out that while tourists are keen to visit spiritual attractions in Tokyo, when it comes to Ginza they do not engage in any aspects of religious tourism. Ginza is seen as a shopping paradise; therefore, foreign visitors completely overlook the spiritual side of the district, even though these shrines are an integral part of the city’s history. Drawing conclusions from the ethnographic research, recommendation would be to offer more accessible information, better signage and orientation, and more engaging narratives to entice the interest of tourists, thus they can have a more varied experience in Ginza. The research does not explore the reasons why these shrines are not promoted, and this could be a future direction for researchers to take. |
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| ISSN: | 2009-7379 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The international journal of religious tourism and pilgrimage
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.21427/xmzb-dh57 |
