Tourism promotion through homestay and ‘YUKATA’ Festival in Hiroshima, Japan: Lessons learned
by Shree Kumar Maharjan (published in Society of Urban Poor - SOUP Souvenir on the occasion of 25th Anniversary)
Figure 2: All members involved in the homestay in Shobara city in 2017 including participants, their families & host families (PC: Yoshinori Okuda (both photos)
Figure 3: Participants enjoying with taking photo in YUKATA festival (PC: Dyuti Prakash Sarkar) 
The festivals like Yukata are important to conserve and promote traditional dresses/clothing like ‘Haku Patashi’ in Newar culture. I would link up this festival to the ‘Nhu Da’ Newar New Year celebration. It is possible to organize and combine with traditional food festival, fashion show, different events and programs such as competition of arts and songs, dances etc. to attract the tourists and also to conserve and promote traditional cultures and customs, where youngsters and foreigners are attracted to learn, share and experience new and blended cultures, customs and lifestyles. It is more important to find ways to explore, learn and promote different opportunities and take appropriate actions to fulfill the needs and priorities. Effective and efficient planning among the public, private and people with good policy interventions and practices are crucial for it.
Tourism has become the fastest service industry in the world. Japan is one of the frontline countries in the world with lots of famous tourism destinations. All kinds and forms of tourism destinations are existed in Japan with the combination of traditional and modern unique destinations and activities such as many temples, shrines and castles, interesting buildings, architectures, technologies, nature and cultures, islands, beaches and mountains. Hiroshima is one of such famous tourism destinations in Japan. There are many renowned tourism hotspots such as Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima Peace Museum, Hiroshima Botanical Garden and other historical cities such as Onomichi, Tomonoura, Takehara, Kure and others are in the proximities in Seto Inland Sea. All these cities have unique traditional houses, shrines, temples that are easily accessible by JR trains and regular bus services from the stations.
Hiroshima city is also known as ‘City of Water’ because of six beautiful rivers flowing through it. The origin of city dates back to 1589AD when Mori Terumoto, a feudal god, built Hiroshima Castle at the large delta of Ota-gawa River. Hiroshima literally means Wide Island in Japanese as it looks like large island due to its deltas[i]. It has two UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites namely - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum including the Atomic Bomb Dome and Itsukushima Shinto Shrine – registered in 1996. The atomic dome is the only structure left standing near the hypocenter in the first atomic bomb attack that was exploded on 6 August 1945 in Hiroshima. It symbolizes the surviving structure from the devastating atomic bomb attack rather than its just aesthetic and architectural values. Furthermore, it also signifies the terrific destructive power that humankind invent and also reminds the hope of world peace on the other hand[ii].
Miyajima is famous for Itsukushima shrine and floating Torii gate in the island as one of the main attractions for the tourists in the prefecture. It used to be the holy place for the Shintoism in the early times. The Shintoism is the ethnic religion of Japan which practices the rituals to establish the connection between the ancient past and present Japan. It is deeply rooted in Japanese culture to worship all the deities of earth and heaven such as mountains, islands, rocks and trees including the deep gratitude to the ancestors. Miyajima Island has been worshiped as the god since the ancient times. This Island is recognized as the one of three most scenic spots of Japan including ‘Amano Hashidate’ in Tango Peninsula in the northern part of Kyoto prefecture and ‘Matsushima’ in Miyagi prefecture[iii]. The world travel and leisure listed Miyajima as the 26th world sacred place out of 50 such places with the record of 3.4 million tourists annually[iv].
Homestay
There are many kinds of tourism activities in the world depending on the needs and priorities of the tourists and service providers. Homestay is slightly different form of tourism than it has mentioned above, which is getting popular in Japan in recent decades basically to share and learn the Japanese cultures, customs and lifestyles. Through this program the foreigners can become the member of the Japanese families and directly experience the Japanese culture, customs and lifestyles. Japanese society used to be closed to the outsiders in past, but now it has drastically changed as they have been accepting foreigners in the homestay programs and have been sharing their cultures and lifestyles. It is a way of sharing and learning different cultures among the outsiders and the host families.
As part of the homestay program for the students of Hiroshima University in July 2017, I had a chance to experience Japanese culture and lifestyle in the Shobara city of Northern Hiroshima prefecture. Altogether 10-12 students with or without their families experienced the homestay for 3 days in same number of Japanese families in the city. It was an excellent opportunity for the selected students to experience and understand Japanese culture, custom and lifestyle. Despite the language barriers, both the students and the host families communicated well, which was clearly reflected in the expressions of both the students and the host families on the closing event on the last day.
Figure 1: Homestay participants & host families in introduction session
Though the concept of homestay might be similar in most of the cases, the aims and objectives might be diverse in different contexts. I found that the main aim of homestay in Japan is the cultural interaction and exchanges among the host families and the guests (students). In the process, both parties share and learn each other’s the cultures. In developing countries like Nepal, it could be a source of income generation in addition to the cultural exchange and understanding customs and lifestyles. But in Japanese context, all the expenses during the homestay was covered by the host families. In that sense, it was really a good opportunity for the foreign students to learn and experience the Japanese cultures and lifestyles without spending a penny. However, the guests (students) have certainly respected the Japanese cultures and have shared their own cultures, lifestyles which is different from the Japanese cultures and the most importantly they have become the members or parts of the family. All the students expressed that they have found their Japanese families and would continue their relationships with their host families. In fact, they have invited them to visit their home countries and families.
Figure 2: All members involved in the homestay in Shobara city in 2017 including participants, their families & host families (PC: Yoshinori Okuda (both photos)
‘YUKATA’ Festival
‘YUKATA’ is a traditional Japanese dress/clothing, which is light and bright ‘Kimonos’ worn in Japan during the summer months. Even Japanese people don’t wear Kimonos and Yukatas in their day-to-day lives. That might be reason, they organize this festival so that they have chance to wear their traditional clothing at least in this festival. Not only Japanese, foreigners from all over the World visiting Japan including tourists and international students also enjoy wearing yukata on this occasion. It was lots of fun and entertaining for both Japanese and foreigners wearing Yukata in the festival, roaming around, taking lots of photos and sharing in the social media.
Figure 3: Participants enjoying with taking photo in YUKATA festival (PC: Dyuti Prakash Sarkar)
It is informed that this festival has been celebrated since a long time for more than 250 years. Himeji Yukata Festival is considered as the oldest yukata festival in Japan. During this festival, people usually enjoy Japanese food in the food stalls and many other entertaining activities such as fashion shows, singing, dancing, magic shows and other performances. In fact, there are combinations of different activities to engage the people throughout the festival including fireworks. The association of international students in Hiroshima University (HUISA) exhibited the international cultures, traditional dresses/clothing and posters from more than 10 countries in the festival, which is an opportunity for sharing and learning the international cultures among the international students and Japanese nationalities.
Lessons and conclusions
The city of Hiroshima signifies the successful and sustainable recovery of the terrific and devastating atomic bomb attack in 1945. People don’t want to remember the traumatic and distressful incident, which happened seven decades ago. However, the city has recovered and rebuilt back and has become an example as one of the popular tourism destinations not only in Japan, but also in the world. Thousands of visitors come to Hiroshima to see the Atomic Bomb Dome, Peace museum, Itsukushima shrine and many other places annually. It is possible to recover and rebuild the city and nation if the people, society and the government has proper plan, vision and strong leadership. In that sense, Nepal and Nepalese can definitely recover and rebuild Nepal from the devastating earthquakes in 2015. But unfortunately we are moving in very slow pace even slower than the tortoise. The Kumamoto, another prefecture in Japan, destroyed by the earthquake in 2016 is rather rebuilding faster than Nepal. The reason is they have proper planning, vision and strong and decent leadership of the government, which is lacking in Nepalese context.
Tourism is one of the largest industries and sources of foreign exchange and revenue in Nepal. Thus, it is crucial to explore and expand the potentialities and possibilities of tourism destinations and activities not only to fulfill the economic purposes, but also to enhance the socio-cultural aspects and inter-relationships between and among the tourists and residents. In that regards, homestays, festivals and events play important roles. Homestay is not new concept in Nepalese context as well. However, there are certainly many areas within the homestay program that needs to be improved in Nepal in terms of accessibility, attractions, assets, aspirations, hygiene and sanitations and others. Homestay in Japan is done mostly in the rural and traditional houses. There are large number of traditional fashioned houses still found in Japan properly managed, maintained and conserved the ancient histories by them even in the premises of cities. But in Nepal, most of the traditional houses are changed into the modern houses. Few traditional and old molded houses are existed that needs to be conserved, protected and promoted.
[iv] http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-most-visited-sacred-sites/26 (Accessed on 11 July 2017)
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