Takahiro Miyao's Radio Institute of Global Communications: No. 4, February 1, 2004

Takahiro MIYAO (Professor, GLOCOM)

Partial transcript and translation from Prof. Miyao's Radio Program, posted here with permission of Radio Tampa/Radio Nikkei

Takahiro Miyao's Radio Institute of Global Communications: No. 4
Radio Tampa (Short Wave 501); SKY Perfect TV (501 Channel)
Broadcast time:	February 1 (Sunday) 18:10-18:40
Recording place:	Recorded in Radio Tampa's Studio
Program:	1. Introduction 2. Virtual Discussion 3. Trend Research
Audio:	Radio Program  (Windows Media Player) (Mainly in Japanese but some parts in English) Asia Station Web site (in Japanese)

Introduction

Hello everyone. Today we will focus on the issue of making Japan a nation of tourism in the Trend Research corner and have a telephone interview with Mr. Michio Katsumata of Nikkei Shimbun, who is currently interested in how to attract foreign tourists to Japan in order for Japan to become a nation of tourism.

Virtual Discussion

Tanaka paper: "Global War Against Terror and East Asia"

First I would like to take up Tokyo University Professor Akihiko Tanaka's opinion paper, which is currently posted on our GLOCOM Platform, where Professor Tanaka talks about what might be called the "global war against terrorism" and the current situation in East Asia. He asks why East Asia seems somewhat stable and detached from the global war against terror. His own answer is that it is all due to the fact that the U.S. is busy fighting terrorism in Iraq and does not want to have another war front against terror. Therefore, the U.S. is currently adopting a policy of containment rather than confrontation in East Asia, leading to relative stability in this region compared to other parts of the world, according to Professor Tanaka. However, you might argue that some of the Asian countries, especially Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, are very much affected by terrorism and actively involved in the global war against terror.

Trend Research

In this corner, we will take up Japan's soft power or Japan's attractiveness with special focus on the movement and policy for Japan to become a nation of tourism. Today we will have a telephone interview with Mr. Michio Katsumata, Senior Staff Writer, Nikkei Shimbun. The following is a summary of what Mr. Katsumata has emphasized in the interview:

While Prime Minister Koizumi's ambitious program to encourage tourism for foreign visitors is much appreciated, how to make Japan a more attractive place is a big challenge. So far, procedural and technical improvements have been made for tourists' convenience such as posting of signs in various languages in tourist spots, but more fundamental efforts are needed to develop or preserve a certain area or region as a whole rather than highlighting few separate spots as tourist attractions. In fact, Japan is full of tourist resources such as snow in the north attracting tourists from Southeast Asia and Okinawa's warm weather appealing to tourist from Northeast Asia. In addition, there are a number of attractive cities and localities that are well developed and preserved for international tourism such as Matsue and Hida Takayama. One can be optimistic about the future of Japan as a nation of tourism if effective strategies are adopted at the national level and individual efforts are made to make local regions more attractive to residents as well as tourists.

Closing Remarks

As we have heard in our telephone interview, Mr. Katsumata appreciated the idea of Japan as a nation of tourism, but expressed his concern about the implementation and realization of such an idea in Japan. Let us hope that Japan will move in the desirable direction in the near future.

Now you can listen to our past programs in the "on-demand" section of our homepage for this program. The URL is as follows:
http://www.radionikkei.jp/joho
I hope you enjoyed today's program. Our next program will be on the first Sunday in March, that is, March 7. I will see you then.