A GOURMET TRIP: ONE DIRECTION OF DOMESTIC TOURISM IN JAPAN

Tourism Review International, Vol. 9, pp. 281–291
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A GOURMET TRIP: ONE DIRECTION OF DOMESTIC TOURISM IN JAPAN

IIS P. TUSSYADIAH
Regional and Urban Planning Laboratory, Tohoku University, Japan

Abstract: In addition to the tradition of visiting onsen (hot springs), one of the major purposes of
travel for leisure in Japan concerns the enjoyment of different cuisines. Such culinary tourism also
involves the exploration and enjoyment of the variety found in food in relation to regional cultural
variations in Japan, especially where visitors from the large cities travel to rural areas. Indeed, culinary tourism has been a major factor in the development of some regions. In this article, the pattern of
and trends in culinary tourism are described and explained.
Key words: Onsen; Regional cultural variations; Cuisine; Culinary tourism; Japan

Introduction

food, while many of them are mixtures of onsen and
gourmet trips offered by hotels or ryokans (Japanese-style inns). In response to this trend, many destinations implement different strategies in relation
to their provision of food programs. Some cities offer a tour route guide for different types of local
cuisine, some offer dinner cruise trips, and some
build food theme parks where various types of food
are cooked and served in front of the traveler’s eyes.
Similar to the onsen trips, many travelers on gourmet packages originate from big cities and visit rural areas, exploring wide varieties of local food. This
trend suggests that culinary tourism can promote development in tourism in many regions. Unlike the
onsen trips, culinary travel in Japan has not been
subject to much academic research. This article attempts to make a descriptive analysis of the pattern

of culinary tourism in Japan and to present facts
about the culture of dining out and food-motivated

In addition to the tradition of visiting onsen (hot
springs), the most recent trend in tourism is traveling to eat out. In their research on the behavioral
attributes of Japanese travelers, Mok and Lam (2000)
found that type of dining facility is one of the main
factors—besides natural scenery, historical spots,
modern culture, and good shopping—influencing
Japanese leisure travelers’ choice of destination. The
promotional campaigns of many gourmet spots and
travel packages in the media reflect the fact that regional variations in cuisine strongly affect the direction of domestic tourism in Japan. There are many
food-related programs shown on television, as well
as dining and food trip guides on the Internet and in
travel magazines. Tour operators and travel agencies offer various packages of gurume tabi (gourmet trips). Some of the packages are trips purely for

Address correspondence to Iis P. Tussyadiah, Regional and Urban Planning Laboratory, Graduate School of Information Sciences,
Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. Tel: +81-22-795-7499; Fax: +81-22-795-7500; E-mail:

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travel. A detailed analysis of the trends in culinary
tourism will be a valuable resource for organizers
of tourism destinations to apply appropriate strategies to cater to the trend. The first major section provides an overview of theories of food and tourism,
recent leisure trends in Japan, as well as a discussion on various factors that have had an effect on

Japanese food culture. The subsequent section focuses on the determinants of the culinary tourism
format in Japan, and is followed by an analysis of
the Japanese dining out pattern and culinary travel.
Data includes numerous secondary sources as well
as primary data collected by the author. Destination
management and marketing strategies are the final
topic of discussion.
Food and Tourism
Food culture is affected by, among other factors,
the natural geography, climate, religion, ethos, social groupings, and social status of a region. A regional or national cuisine and eating habits can be
viewed as a form of regional culture and as forming
a part of regional identity. Thus, food is one of the
pull factors for tourists to visit particular destinations (Au & Law, 2002). Travel to search for and
enjoy the consumption of food at different geographical locations is regarded as culinary tourism.
People socially construct the world into the known
and the unknown, and self and other. The choice of
traveling to distant places implies openness to what
is new (Long, 2004). Through tourism, people satisfy their curiosity about otherness and expect to find
pleasure in exploring the unknown. Away from
home, tourists experience food that is different from
that in their normal routine. Mitchell and Hall (2003)
argue that food is usually treated as a functional product when one is dining at home, but it has a deeper
symbolic meaning when dining out. Within the context of culinary tourism, tourists consume food at a
destination not merely to satisfy their physical hunger. Rather, tourists derive satisfaction from the enjoyment of experiencing different kinds of food in
different modes and, further, possibly from the wish
to become more intimate with the local culture. Furthermore, Long (2004) argues that tourists explore
food new to them as an entry point to explore new
cultures and ways of being. The definition of what,
how, and when to eat, how the food is cooked and

displayed, and under what social circumstances the
food is to be eaten reflect a complex set of cultural,
social, economic, and aesthetic factors. Tourists’
satisfaction derived from food and eating at a destination point might come from satisfying their sensibilities of taste, proportion, and appearance, as well
as satisfying their curiosity of what the local food
and eating habits represent.
Tourist Dining Behavior
The demographic, psychographic, and social characteristics of tourists highly influence the overall
pattern of culinary tourism and of dining behavior.
Some studies, as mentioned by Au and Law (2002),
show that gender, age, marital status, the existence
of children in the family, race, annual income, level
of education, and geographical locations partly determine dining out expenditure and frequency. Tourists differ characteristically in their concepts of value
for money, in their cognitions of satisfaction, and in
their evaluation frameworks, including in all cases
in relation to food and dining (Nield, Kozak, &
LeGrys, 2000). A tourist dining pattern is shown in
Figure 1. Tourists’ dining can be divided into dining
at home (dining in), dining out at a restaurant nearby,
and dining during vacation. People dine out at a restaurant near their home and/or afar in search of more
variation in their dining styles and experience. Dining out as a tourist is different from dining out for
other reasons. Tourists also have a propensity to
spend more than other restaurant consumers and it
might be suggested that this is due to the experiential differences between tourist dining and other dining (Mitchell & Hall, 2003).
The dining variety of the “home” region, a tourist’s
motivation, and their perceived risk influence all
impact the level of involvement in the destination
area. The level of involvement in food and dining
during vacation may vary from simply eating to preparing, cooking, and buying ingredients to take home
to try to consume at home, etc. In turn, the level of

involvement at the destination may enrich a tourist’s
overall dining experience and influence dining habits.
Japanese Food Culture
Ashkenazi and Jacob (2000) argue that major factors affecting Japanese food culture are geography,


GOURMET DOMESTIC TOURISM IN JAPAN





283

 


 







 




















 











 









Figure 1. Tourists’ dining patterns.

history, climate, religion, and external influences.
The geography of Japan is directly related to the
history of Japanese food culture, as is influence from
other countries. Geographically Japan comprises
four major islands (Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido, and
Shikoku) and thousands of smaller ones. Its easy
access by sea historically has been open to the facilitation of the foreign exchange of crops and knowledge of different ways of living, enhanced in the
present age by the reality factors of progress towards
a global community evidenced in the ready transmission of news and information, technological innovations such as the Internet, and the expanding
physical presence of worldwide chains of major
companies, including the catering and hospitality
sphere. The climate in Japan varies from a subtropical one in the south to a subpolar one in the northernmost part of the country. The volcanic and mountainous terrain hosts forests and heavy rainfall, much
of it from monsoons. The abundance of flowing
water makes the hillsides and coastal agricultural
areas of Japan suitable especially for growing rice.
Rice growing techniques were introduced to the
Japanese from China and Korea, and rice has become the mainstay of the Japanese diet since. Furthermore, rice is now used more than just for human
food, but also for paper production, in brewing, for
fuel, building materials, and as animal feed.

The influence of religion on Japanese food culture came from Shintô and Buddhism. Shintô belief
involves naturalism and purity, and it emphasizes

that offerings (including food offerings) to God
(Kamisama) be gathered from nature. This emphasis has created a style of Japanese cuisine in food
type and presentation. Buddhism, which came from
India via China and Korea to Japan, became the official religion in the 6th century. In Buddhism the
preference is on vegetarian produce, and meat was
officially forbidden to Japanese people for the next
1200 years. This is the main reason that Japan has
developed one of the most complex and elaborate
vegetarian cuisines in the world. Buddhism requires
that meals feature five types of flavors: they should
be sweet, spicy, salty, bitter and sour; and the food
should feature in five colors: yellow, black, white,
green, and red.
The most pervasive influence on Japanese culture has been from China (Ashkenazi & Jacob,
2000). Japanese food culture that originated in China
includes the foodstuffs, condiments (shoyu/soy
sauce, miso/bean paste, etc.), and eating utensils
(chopsticks and bowl). Other influences came from
Korea and Western countries. The Portuguese introduced fried foods, such as those involved in tempura
(deep batter frying). The Spanish introduced baked
cakes known as kasutera. Western traders also
brought tobacco, sugar, sweet potatoes, and corn.
After the Edo period, when Japan opened to the
rest of the world, the Japanese started to make many
changes in their food habits and tried to assimilate
some Western styles and types of food. It was in the
New Year feast of 1872 staged by the New Emperor

284

TUSSYADIAH

of Meiji that, for the first time in over 1,000 years,
people publicly ate meat. Some meat dishes, as well
as karê-raisu (from a southern Indian vegetarian stew
called curry) and tonkatsu, were introduced and
adopted from the West at that time. In the post-war
era, the influence continued with the introduction of
different Western foodstuffs, ways of cooking, ways
of preparing, ways of eating and, most recently, with
the presence of Western fast-food corporations. Another important factor shaping Japanese food culture
nowadays is the fact that there is a clear shift in Japanese food consumption and preferences. The dining
culture shifts from hôshoku to hôshoku, both pronounced the same but written with different characters. The former literally means gluttony or satiation,
reflecting the consumption of food as a means to survive, while the latter, which literally means service,
associates the consumption of food with ease and often luxury. The long-term boom in the Japanese
economy has resulted in bringing prosperity to most
of its population. Japanese people are purchasers of
many luxuries, including in the sphere of food. People
go out to eat at Western, Chinese, Japanese, or other
ethnic restaurants, there being a demand for more
variety and authenticity in good food and drink.
Recent Trends in Leisure
The former Japanese view of work and leisure as
stated by Kelly (1991) is that “growing up Japanese
meant becoming motivated to achieve long-term
goals rather than satisfy immediate pleasures” (p.

400). During the recent economic recession, more
people have tended to seek and enjoy leisure time.
People who consider leisure to be more important
than work outnumber those who make work the focus of their lives. More and more Japanese consider
leisure as being what makes life worthwhile (Seya,
2003), and they seek more enjoyment outside their
work (Ishimori, 2004). The Cabinet Office
(Naikakufu) conducted a public opinion survey concerning priorities in life. The results indicate that
from time to time, leisure and leisure activities are a
high priority for most Japanese. Responding to the
question of what they will focus on in their future
life, 26.9% answered, “Preparing for the future with
savings and investments,” 56.4% answered, “To enjoy an enriched life every day,” and 14.9% answered,
“Cannot say” (Seya, 2003, p. 244).

The Leisure Development Research Center, which
is located in the Japan Productivity Center for SocioEconomic Development (JPC-SED), regularly monitors people’s participation in 91 leisure activities,
and has published a White Paper on Leisure (Rejâ
Hakusho) every year since 1977. The most popular
leisure activities have changed little from year to
year. Figure 2 shows the popular leisure activities in
1998 and 2002, as sourced from the 1999 and 2003
White Paper on Leisure (Seya, 2003), on the basis
of a multiple-response survey. Dining out with family or friends and domestic travel during holidays
seems to be firmly established as Japanese ways of
spending leisure time.
According to the 1999 White Paper on leisure,
spending on leisure activities (i.e., expenses for dining out, buying durable goods, culture and entertainment, sports, and traveling) was ¥80.17 trillion
(US$636 billion) in 1998. The number of domestic
sightseeing trips involving overnight stays during

1998 was estimated at about 205 million, or an average of 1.6 trips per person, almost the same as in the
previous year. Such trips are estimated to have cost a
total of ¥8.7 trillion (US$69 billion), or about ¥68,600
(US$544) per person. In 2002, spending for overseas
travel was estimated at an average of ¥169,610
(US$1,288) per trip or ¥305,000 ($US 2,316) per
person per year, while spending for domestic travel
was ¥29,590 ($US224) per trip or ¥100,600 ($US764)
per person per year. The average of overseas travel in
2002 was estimated at 1.9 trips per person, while domestic travel was 3 trips per person.
The Determinants of Japanese Culinary Tourism
What attracts people to search for food in a particular place can be that of the attraction of the food
itself: ingredients, presentations, healthiness, freshness, etc., and the association of the food with a place
of culture. In Japan, there are two factors that have a
strong role in determining the culinary tourism pattern: the meibutsu culture and the seasonal variations. The meibutsu culture is the idea of famous
things being associated with a local place and culture. When they are at a particular location, tourists
usually consider that they are consuming its
meibutsu. Seasonal variation is the factor that makes
potential tourists consider which dishes are best to
eat and where they might find such dishes.


GOURMET DOMESTIC TOURISM IN JAPAN

285

Popular Leisure Activities 1998 and 2002
77.5
71.6

Dining out
63.1
62.7

Domestic travel

59.4
61.2

Driving
49.5

Karaoke

56.9

47.9
43.4

Videos

45
40.6

Lotteries

2002

44.4
41.7

Listening to music
PC (Games, Communication)

1998

42.3

31.6

42.7
43.4

Zoos, museums, etc.
Movies

28.4

40.8
38
38.3

Gardening

37.9
43.4

Bars

35.5

36.6

Amusement parks

34.6
30.7

Physical exercise (without equipment)
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Number of Participants (in millions)

Figure 2.

Popular leisure activities in Japan. Source: (Seya, 2003).

The Role of Meibutsu
In the realm of tourism, Japan has a culture of
searching meibutsu, translated literally as the famous
things/products of a location. The idea of meibutsu
derived from the religious nature of tourist travel
(Ashkenazi & Jacob, 2000), such as water from holy
springs or fruit from particular mountains, etc.
Nowadays, meibutsu mostly involves the form of
food and foodstuffs: special fish from local waters,
special crops from local farms, or a special cuisine
prepared using a unique local technique. It also often includes local features and is presented as a form
of support for local festivals or other events.
The culture of meibutsu reflects an association of
local features to Japanese-ness, culturally as well as
regionally. Therefore, the creation, regeneration, or
sale of meibutsu involves raising the importance of
local feelings and local pride. With their meibutsu,
localities became equivalent to other places in Ja-

pan. The creation of meibutsu is also important in
relation to tourist destination choice, as it generates
publicity: “as tourism became more and more a
popular phenomenon, and as Japanese started exploring their country to a greater extent, there was
more demand for specific local products which
would provide the purchasing traveler with a bona
fide identification that he had been there” (Ashkenazi

& Jacob, 2000, p. 175). However, the postal system
nowadays reduces the importance of the original
locality of a product from previously, as people can
order many local special products by post as well as
buy them from the nearest department store. Nevertheless, as the media also cultivates this, people believe that a meibutsu is best consumed/enjoyed in
its original place. It is believed that the most delicious way to eat kegani (hairy crab) is going to
Hokkaido where it comes from and that the taste
and the feeling from eating it are incomparable with
eating ordered kegani at home. This belief leads to a


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TUSSYADIAH

motive to travel to be in the place of origin to enjoy
the desired meibutsu.
Seasonal Variations
Japanese customs are very sensitive to seasonal
change. In seasonal change, one can immediately
see changes in the colors of street decorations as
well as in the clothes people wear. As the parades
and festivals of the changing seasons take place in
different locations, there are also changes in seasonal
food. Japanese traditional culture is often described
as a seasonal culture, for an appreciation of season
is highly valued. People in general, as well as the
gourmand and restaurateurs, make dishes with the
ingredients and presentation that meet the shun: the
peak of perfection. The ingredients and presentation of every dish in Japan, whether an actual product or in symbolic form, have to be according to

season. This aspect of food culture is a form of communication and association with nature in that eating the ingredients at the shun is believed to be good
for health.
This seasonal change factor also has an important influence on culinary travel. Local places,
ryokans and restaurants, adjust the main dishes offered to tourists to match the shun. People also
choose to travel to places where their food is served
best to the seasonal changes. As winter comes, people
travel to places with nabe ryôri (pot dishes), which
is believed to be good to warm up the body.
The Forms of Japanese Culinary Tourism
As an attempt to analyze culinary tourism in Japan, this article describes three major patterns of
dining out in Japanese society and of gourmet trips
undertaken. The first analysis concentrates on the
place and the frequency of dining out, and kind of
food or cuisine Japanese consume when dining out.
The second analysis concentrates on the gourmet
trip product offered by travel agents and tour operators throughout the year. The third analysis concentrates on the destination management and marketing of culinary tourism.
Japanese Dining-Out Patterns
The move of Japanese society into a consumeroriented economy and the emergence of two-carrier

households have created a change in Japanese food
consumption patterns. The change is marked by an
increase in the consumption of prepared/convenient
food and by dining out. Convenience food is usually
in the form of demae (delivered food) or mochikaeriv
(takeaway). According to data from the Ministry of
Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunication/sômushô (Seya, 2003, p. 178), the
ratio of dining out in a salaried worker’s household
food expenditures is 19.4% in 2002 [at the value of
¥14,223 ($US108) a month], compared with only
7.2% in 1965 (at the value of ¥1,288 a month).

Places for dining in Japan vary from high-class
restaurants such as ryôtei (expensive restaurant serving Japanese cuisine), Chinese culinary delights and
French haute cuisine, to ryôriya (cook shops) and
many unique low-cost dining stalls. High-class restaurants can easily be found in the best hotels or in
fashionable city districts. More affordable restaurants flourish on the dining floors of department
stores and in the underground malls of railway stations. A Ryôriya usually serves specialized dishes;
examples of ryôriya dishes are tempura-ya and
ramen-ya. Some other forms of dining-out are in
bars, izakaya (Japanese drinking places that also
serve a wide variety of food), street side yatai (food
stalls), Kaitenzushi (running sushi) where customers sit at a round counter and choose low-priced sushi
on a circling conveyor belt, and bentô (lunch box)
shops. Noodle stands, coffee shops, fast-food outlets, and vending machines can be found in train
stations or urban shopping centers, providing a variety of food and drink at very low cost.
One leading web guide on Japan (www.japanguide.com) organized a survey on dining out in August 2001. The subjects were 726 Japanese people
who live in Japan (The Japan Guide, 2001). However, as about 75% of the subjects were between 20
and 40 years old, the survey is not a valid measure
of the whole Japanese population. The survey results show that most subjects (55%) go out for dinner between two and eight times per month. The
average spending is ¥2,275 per dinner and person.
Most (60%) dine out with friends, some (44%) dine
out with the family, and some (13%) with coworkers. The most popular places for dinner are family
restaurants (48%) and izakaya (44%), both of which
serve a wide variety of food and dishes. The rankings
of different categories of restaurants are as follows:


GOURMET DOMESTIC TOURISM IN JAPAN
Italian (33%), fast food (30%), Korean BBQ (30%),
noodle (27%), Chinese (24%), and sushi (21%).
Gourmet Trip Packages

Besides dining out in nearby restaurants, an important form of culinary tourism in Japan is gourmet-themed package trips from one area to another,
available as day-trip and overnight-trip packages.
The gourmet trip package is gaining popularity in
Japan. In many travel brochures, food is presented
as the main attraction and destination image. Most
gourmet day-trip packages (higaeri puran) are lunch
plans (higaeri chûshoku puran) offered by tour operators, hotels and ryokan, and other operators such
as Japan Railway (JR) and Japan Post. Lunch packages offered by hotel and ryokan are combined with
the use of guest rooms and onsen. Some of the packages are as follows:
•
•

•

In-Room Dining Package (Oheyashoku Puran).
The guest can have lunch at one guest room in
ryokan; the guest room is utilized only for lunch;
Lunch and Guestroom Package (Ranchi &
Kyakushitsu Riyô Puran). The guest can have
lunch at one guest room in ryokan, and use the
room to relax and have a little chat with family
or friends after lunch;
Gourmet and Onsen Package (Gurume & Onsen
Riyô Puran). After lunch, the guest can use the
onsen of the hotel or ryokan. Within this package, the lunch can be served either in the guest
room (ryokan), or in the restaurant (hotel or
ryokan). Some hotels also serve buffet lunch.

Packages offered by JR are usually in the form of
train tickets plus gourmet vouchers and other activities (higaeri gurume chiketto). Some forms of

these are:
•
•

•

Gourmet Ticket (gurume chiketto). Within this
package, the traveler gets a return ticket with a
dining voucher;
Gourmet Ticket plus Hot Spa (gurume chiketto
purasu onsen). Within this package, the traveler gets a return ticket, a dining voucher, and a
ticket to use the hot baths;
Gourmet Ticket plus Sightseeing Ticket
(gurume chiketto purasu kenbutsu). Within this

287

package, the traveler gets a return ticket, a dining voucher, and entry tickets to some
sightseeing spots at the destination. Travelers
usually can decide their own schedule by adjusting the departure and return times so that
they have free time in between to enjoy other
activities.
There are many other packages offered, combining restaurants, hotels, ryokans, hot baths, and other
sightseeing spots, with different modes of transportation, such as bus trips and rental car packages.
Although there are not as many as lunch trips, there
are also some forms of dinner trips offered. One of
the popular trips for dinner is a cruise ship in the
evening that enables diners to enjoy the city lights
from the water.
Gourmet overnight trip packages are basically

trips to stay in certain hotels or ryokans, which utilize local cuisine, ingredients and foodstuffs, cooking styles, food displays, and unique eating environments as their main attractions. Such a package
comprises usually a mixture of cuisine and the use
of other hotel facilities. A standard breakfast is served
in hotels, but what makes the gourmet overnight trip
special is the dinner. The term “gourmet” in most
overnight trips refers to dinner and, in the day trip,
to lunch. One example of popular packages is Ajiwai
no yado (flavor lodging), operated by Ace JTB (the
Japan Travel Bureau). The package arranges travel
from the Tokyo area to 10 different prefectures with
more than 50 hotels and ryokans. All hotels and
ryokans serving the Ajiwai no yado package offer
different kinds of cuisine, all seasonally specific.
Other packages have similar themes, such as Bimi
no yado (delicacy lodging), Mikaku puran (palate
plans), and Ryôri jiman no yado (cuisine lodging).
To analyze the pattern of Japanese gourmet overnight trips, a total sample of 406 packages, consisting of 131 day trips (32.27%) and 275 overnight
trips (67.73%), were taken from the travel brochures
available in several major cities in Japan: Tokyo,
Osaka, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Fukuoka, and Sendai. The
collected data include travel cost, duration, main
food/menu, and other facilities offered in the packages. The chi-square test was applied to pairs of data
category, and the result shows that the hypotheses
that all data are independent can be rejected. The
cost of a gourmet day-trip package ranges from


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TUSSYADIAH

¥3,300 to ¥14,900 ($US136). Around 83.21% of the
samples cost less than ¥10,000 ($US91), while the
rest (16.79%) cost from ¥10,000 ($US91) to ¥14,900
($US136). The cheapest day-trip package is a trip
called Gourmet Hakata, from Hakata Station to
Gourmet City, both in Fukuoka, while the most expensive is a higaeri asobase trip from Tokyo to one
ryokan in the Kansai Area. The cost of an overnight
trip (based on two-person occupancy in the low season) ranges from ¥6,900 ($US63) to ¥42,000 ($381).
Most of the packages (34.90%) cost from ¥15,000
($US136) to ¥20,000 ($US182). The distances between origin and destination result in some differences in trip duration and means of transportation,
which eventually influence the cost of a trip.
The cheapest overnight trip is a Mikaku puran
from Sendai City to a ryokan in Matsushima Beach.
In the category of overnight trip within one area, the
most expensive package is a Bijin kamameshi ryôri
trip, from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture to Niigata
Prefecture, both in Tohoku Area. The package is a
trip to enjoy kamameshi (rice and other ingredients
cooked in soup stock inside a pot/kettle) served by a
beautiful woman in traditional dress and who also
performs local traditional art while accompanying
the guest during the meal. In the category of longdistance trips, a 2-night, 3-day trip from the Tokyo
area to Hokkaido costs around ¥35,000 (US$318)
in the low season and ¥52,000 ($473) in the high
season.
Another important finding from this sample is the
food category served by the destination eatery to
travelers. Around 96% of the overnight trip packages serve washoku (Japanese style food) for dinner, only 1.8% serve yoshoku (Western style food),
and 2.2% serve chûshoku (Chinese style food). In

comparison with dinner, the breakfast has more
yoshoku (10.6%), and in some hotels/ryokans
(20.8%), the guest could even choose between
washoku and yoshoku for their breakfast. The dinner, especially washoku, is usually served inside the
guest room kaiseki (multi-course meal) style, while
the breakfast is often served either in the restaurant
or dining hall baikingu (buffet) style. Destinations
that offer more variation in the food category are
Yokohama and Tokyo. The other parts of the country only offer washoku as tourist attractions.
From the sample, it is apparent that Japanese
people travel to search for something “Japanese,” a

reflection of washoku culture. Ashkenazi and Jacob
(2000) pointed out some important factors in the
creation of the washoku culture. The first is the natural food movement, a growing awareness of a need
to shift from consuming “risky” industrialized food
to more “healthy” natural food. Local, natural food
is believed to be more “safe” because of its simplicity and authenticity (Scarpato & Daniele, 2003). The
second is that Japanese food incorporates a symbol
to differentiate Nihonjin-ron (this term refers to the
Japanese-ness of things, values, customs, and other)
from other-ron. In this way the philosophy of
Nihonjin-ron—basically a belief that Japan is unique,
special, and incomparable—has a strong influence
on Japanese food preferences, particularly in relation to special events and occasions including traveling.
Destination Management and
Marketing Strategies
Creating a local cuisine and making it a pull factor for a particular location can be one effective strategy for tourism development. Some regions in Japan adopt a particular food as their icon and some
others take the availability of good food as their icon.
One example of the second category is Yamagata

Prefecture, with its Oishii Yamagata (Delicious
Yamagata) slogan. As many regions are aware of
the importance of culinary tourism to promote their
area, they apply different strategies to promote their
localities to attract more visitors. Some of the strategies involve organizing food festivals or food
events, creating gourmet zones or eating districts,
and building food theme parks.
Many regions in Japan organize food festivals
often called “Foodpia,” short for Food Utopia. One
of them is “Foodpia Kanazawa,” a festival held every February in Ishikawa Prefecture. Several foodrelated events organized in the prefecture give visitors opportunities to taste various local foods, brewed
drinks, and confectionary. Some prefectures have
other forms of food festivals; one example is the
Heisei Nabe Gassen (Pot Food Contest), organized
in Tendo City, Yamagata Prefecture, every January.
In the festivals, the fastest to sell 100 pots of their
original Nabe cuisine wins the contest. This form of
festival can also attract many visitors simply to taste
the food and enjoy the competition.


GOURMET DOMESTIC TOURISM IN JAPAN
Another popular concept for food tourism in Japan is the booming food theme park development.
Food theme parks are usually located indoors and
decorated with a specific epoch or fantasy theme.
Food theme parks usually specialize in one type of
food or dish, cooked by a reputable restaurant or
chef, and, in contrast to the gourmet trip to hotels or
ryokans, the food theme parks serve more foreign
food or adaptations. The first food theme park in
Japan was the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum

(founded in 1994), where visitors can try out some
of the most popular varieties of ramen at one location. As featured frequently in the media, it attracts
between 100,000 and 150,000 visitors each month
(The Japan Information Network, 2003). Examples
of other specialized food theme parks are the
Yokohama Curry Museum (specializing in curry) in
Yokohama, the Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium (specializing in gyoza/dumplings stuffed with minced pork
and vegetables) in Tokyo, Shimizu Sushi Museum
(specializing in sushi) in Shizuoka Prefecture, Ramen
Stadium (specializing in ramen) in Fukuoka Prefecture, Ice Cream City (specializing in ice cream) in
Tokyo, Jiyugaoka Sweet Forest (specializing in
sweets) in Tokyo, and Yokohama Daisekai (specializing in Chinese Food) in Yokohama Chinatown. The
other parks have more varieties of dishes, including
the Naniwa Kuishinbo Yokocho (Osaka Eater’s Alley), the first food theme park in the Kansai region,
and Otaru Unga Shokudo (Otaru Canal Cafeteria)
in Hokkaido Prefecture.
Osaka has long been acknowledged as Japan’s
culinary Mecca (the Japan National Tourism Organization, 2003), but now faces challenges from other
cities and regions. Tohoku region plans to become
Japan’s Foodpia, for it has the best apples in Japan,
delicious and tender Yonezawa Beef, oysters the size
of a man’s palm, Eniwa udon noodles, and many
other delicacies.
The Markets. These gourmet day-trip and overnight trip packages are designed to attract general
visitors. Some of them focus on families or group
of friends, as the hotels and ryokans also provide
rooms to relax and chat. A particular target market
exists in some silver plan shiruba puran trips (i.e.,
for groups of senior travelers, and graduation trips)
and sotsugyôshiki puran trips (i.e., for fresh graduates from junior high schools, high schools, and

289

universities). The silver plan usually focuses on
healthy food, healthy baths, and relaxing surroundings. The graduation plan offers facilities to organize graduation parties and other facilities for
younger visitors, such as karaoke rooms and game
centers. Some food theme parks also try to attract a
particular gender. The Jiyugaoka Sweet Forest, which
offers a huge variety of sweets and confectionaries,
focuses on attracting women, as the passion for
sweets usually involves women rather than men in
Japan.
The Media. The media play a very strong role in
the direction of Japanese culinary tourism. Travelers refer to the media listings when choosing destinations and food. There are three main references
used by travelers in Japan, beside travel brochures:
travel magazines, television programs, and the
Internet. Travel magazines are available in bookstores conveniently located in shopping centers and
train stations. A magazine usually focuses on one
particular area or tourism spot, giving detailed information about its attractions, best hotels, best restaurants, prices, transportation, etc. A gourmet travel
magazine provides a wide choice of a particular food
category at a particular location.
Japan also presents a remarkable number of foodrelated programs on television. Food programs including aspects of everyday life, social history, and
cultural values are aired year-round on every channel throughout the broadcasting day (Holden, 1999).
Food also appears in travel programs (cruises, adventures, cultural explorations, etc.), and there are
features on travel locations, hotels, and restaurants
in numerous programs (talk shows, quizzes, etc.) that
usually include highly motivating introductions playing to the oishii (delicious) culture of Japan.
Internet access, including access to leisure and
travel-related websites, is increasing during holidays
such as Golden Week and New Year. Sugimoto

(2003) reported on the number of visitors to two
culinary-related websites, “Yahoo! Gurume”
(gourmet.yahoo.co.jp) and “Gurunabi” (gnavi.co.jp),
during New Year 2003, December 2002, and January 2003. “Yahoo! Gurume” was visited by 1.078
million people in December 2002 and 1.094 million
people in January 2003, while “Gurunabi” was visited by 895,000 and 882,000 people in December
2002 and January 2003 respectively. “Yahoo!


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TUSSYADIAH

Gurume” received 18.53 million page views (about
6.5 minutes per person per visit), while “Gurunabi”
had 25.5 million page views (about 9.5 minutes per
person per visit). Numerous people accessed the
gourmet websites, as well as other leisure information websites, during Golden Week 2003. According to Hagiwara (2003), the number of visitors to
travel and leisure information websites increased
during Golden Week 2003 (compared to the period
of April 21 to April 27 and of April 28 to May 4).
Some of the websites are “Yahoo! Eiga”
(movies.yahoo.co.jp),
“Yahoo!
Chizu”
(map.yahoo.co.jp),
“Yahoo!
Gurume”
(gourmet.yahoo.co.jp), “Yahoo! Rosen”
(transit.yahoo.co.jp), “Pia” (pia.co.jp), “Walker Plus”

(walkerplus.com), “Gurunabi” (gnavi.co.jp), and
“Nihon Dôro Kôtsû Sentâ” (jartic.or.jp). The different contents of each site reflect the information
needed to decide where and how to travel.
Conclusion
More and more Japanese consider leisure to be
an increasingly important factor in their lives and
they seek more enjoyment outside work. Dining out
and domestic travel are two of the most popular leisure-related activities carried out by Japanese in recent years. People dine out more frequently nowadays, mostly in family restaurants or izakaya, eating
places that offer more variety in food. In search of
greater variety, people also travel to other areas to
try out good food and drink. This trend shows that
cuisine is an important factor in Japanese domestic
tourism.
In culinary tourism, hotels, restaurants, and chefs
have become designers of many travel packages. The
media, as opinion mediators and influencers, present
relaxing food trips and unique food experiences in
such ways that culinary tourism is highly promoted.
Since accurate data on domestic tourism is difficult
to find, this article cannot present the proportion of
all Japanese tourists who travel primarily for food
in relation to tourists regarding food as secondary
or minor motives. As an attempt to analyze the demand for culinary tourism, this article tries to analyze it from the supply side, presenting trends in
culinary tourism provision in Japan.
Gourmet trip packages, day trips, and overnight
trips usually originate from big cities and the desti-

nations are often suburban areas, places that offer
an authentic or natural feeling to tourists. Rest, relaxation, and natural affinity are the themes of most
packages. Local traditional food as a pull factor to

attract many visitors can be a vehicle for tourism
development in suburban areas. On the other hand,
the big cities have advantages in attracting visitors
as they can offer wider varieties of food and eating
places. The gourmet districts, eating zones, and food
theme parks are some of the facilities offered by big
cities to attract visitors. A key difference in offerings between the gourmet trip packages and gourmet districts exists in relation to the types of food
they offer to visitors. Nearly all gourmet trip packages offer only washoku cuisine as the main menu,
while most of the gourmet districts offer various
kinds of food, including food adopted and, perhaps,
adapted from overseas.
The washoku culture that exists in gourmet trip
packages indicates that Japanese tourists are in
search of authenticity in the places they go to, seeking good traditional food and local cuisine that represent their varied food culture. This fact confirms
the finding of most studies that Japanese tourists are
more safety conscious (risk avoiders) than other tourists (Mok & Lam, 2000). Another explanation of the
washoku search and consumption is that traditional
local food can generate pride and satisfaction in most
Japanese in relation to their perceived unique culture.
Biographical Note
Iis P. Tussyadiah is a Ph.D. candidate in the Regional and
Urban Planning Laboratory in the Graduate School of Information Sciences at Tohoku University in Japan. Her research
interests focus on destination choice, tourism economics,
tourists’ psychology, culture tourism, and special interest
tourism.
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