The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is vigorously promoting initiatives to overcome Covid-19 and achieve a sustainable recovery. It aims to evolve into a city that is a beacon for the rest of the world.
In order to realize this goal, we have established the Roundtable Conference on Promoting the Attractiveness of Tokyo with a Focus on History and Culture to discover and redefine the wisdom and attractiveness of Edo, one of the most populous and sustainable cities in the world at the time. We will examine why the lessons from that city are still relevant today and are likely to guide us into the future, and plan to widely promote the various attractions representative of Edo and Tokyo.
Since sushi is a structurally and visually simple dish, it has been spreading worldwide and, depending on the region, undergoes constant and unique changes. As the leading sushi culture city, Tokyo inherited the wisdom of Edo’s culture, including sushi. It might be interesting to utilize a storyline to transmit sushi-related information or to seek new potential ingredients for modern sushi while considering future prospects.
In cultural comparison, I had an interesting experience. I once thought some cultures were limited to a certain area, but when someone told me that one culture was similar to their area, I found it very interesting and felt a universal culture. Of course, it’s good to present history and culture as it is, but it’s also a good idea to delve into history through what is popular today. Tokyo is where people gather for modern pop culture and gourmet food, so I think it’s interesting to showcase its charms by connecting old and new cultures, such as Ukiyo-e (a genre of traditional Japanese painting) and robots while introducing historical and cultural backgrounds. For those who are conscious of the environment, an example is the furoshiki (traditional Japanese wrapping cloths), the origin of the present eco-bags, which is a good motif for sustainability.
I feel that the simple utilization of technology tends fail. Therefore, I’d like to suggest we utilize digital technology in more innovative ways and not just limit ourselves to reproducing a castle tower with Augmented Reality (AR). We should express the faith or spirituality underscoring the Edo government’s decision to prioritize restoring the livelihood of their citizens over rebuilding Edo castle when Edo was severely damaged by fire. Instead of relying on cutting-edge technology and limiting ourselves to digital technology, I think more flexible and unique ideas developed through our experiences will attract more foreign tourists.
When introducing history, we should pay careful attention to the words “universality” and “uniqueness.”
The earlier forms of sushi, such as narezushi (fermented sushi) or oshizushi (pressed sushi), originated in the Kansai region before the Edo period. We should note that the unique style of Edomae-sushi, sushi that used fresh seafood caught from the local sea, was created in Edo, a new-born city after the sushi culture started in Kansai. Edomae-sushi is the origin of today’s sushi styles, including conveyor-belt sushi.
When mentioning castles, we should focus on the real nature of castles instead of focusing too much on their military functions. We should be aware that Edo Castle continuously functioned as the administrative center of national governance even after the castle tower burned down by the great fire. I think it’s important to tell these facts.
Regarding sustainability, people in Edo actually did not have fewer restrictions to throw away rubbish when compared to the modern waste system. So why did they thoroughly recycle items? Was it because of the spirit of “Mottainai” (Mottainai means that there is a shame in letting something go to waste without making full use of its potential), or did they have no choice but to reuse them due to lack of materials? We need to properly re-examine this question instead of merely assuming it was a characteristic of Edo.
As all of you had suggested, we should be careful not to impose our thought on foreigners that universality is unique to Japan. Moreover, instead of relying on the word “attractive,” replacing this word with “characteristic,” I think it’s more valuable to add something along the lines of “fun, joyful, and educational” to “innovation and service.”
I believe that the characteristics of Japanese food culture are its grace and its use of seasonal ingredients. For instance, the sushi cuisine has beautiful terms such as “Hashiri,” “Sakari,” and “Nagori.” “Sakari” means ingredients that are in season now, “Nagori” means ingredients that are about to go out of season, and “Hashiri” means ingredients that are provided ahead of their season. If you know these terms when you have sushi, you will be able to have more chances to enjoy delicious seasonal ingredients and seasonal flavors. One of the pleasures of enjoying sushi is revisiting a sushi restaurant in different seasons and tasting different seasonal ingredients. Especially for foreign travelers, I wish they would come back to Japan during different seasons to taste Japan’s four seasonal flavors.
However, when we recommend something to these travelers, we should be careful not to impose our values. I think it would be ideal to share our recommendations more naturally, like through a story or visual arts. Through this process, I think it would be really wonderful if we could share mutual feelings of agreement like “I feel the same” and “We can have fun together.” If you like music, you can make friends through music even when you visit a new city.
Instead of merely transmitting Japan’s attractions, I prefer to transmit the information in a way that results in a fun shared experience. To achieve that, we should think about various innovations to create a flow that would enable foreign visitors to willingly share their good times during their stay and spread them by word of mouth.
There are a number of important considerations to take into account when promoting Tokyo overseas.
First, it is important not to make overly simple comparisons with foreign countries. It’s almost impossible to make international comparisons based on all the facts and without risking offending people.
Also, we should be aware that what we think of as the attractions of visiting Tokyo is a subjective judgment. I think our task is to “objectively explain the differentiating characteristics of Tokyo.” Just focusing on only the good points of Tokyo and generalizing them is one-sided and potentially misleading. Therefore, I think it’s necessary to be balanced and thoroughly check the facts. The “history of the city” is only one of the many needs of tourists since it’s only a part of the charms they feel.
In general, tourist destinations tend to promote their differentiating and special features, leaving the interpretation and valuation of the destination for tourists to make for themselves. Also, it can be counter-productive to emphasize differences with other countries if we wish foreign tourists to identify with Japan. Thus, perhaps it is advisable to use more neutral phrasing such as “Sushi originated in Tokyo and has become popular all over the world,” “Edo Castle was the center of Japanese politics for about 260 years.”, or “Many different styles of noren (hanging dividers) can be found in Tokyo.”
Although the city landscape and people’s lives drastically changed after the Meiji Restoration, the time’s wisdom, ingenuity, and sense of beauty had been handed down to the present Tokyo, which has flexibly selected and adopted these characteristics depending on the occasion.
The Edo Castle is one of the most valuable tourist resources that are reminiscent of life during the Edo period, but we need to be careful not to adopt facile ideas like rebuilding a new castle tower since this may falsify history. Using modern technologies such as the Metaverse and VR, it may be interesting to experience things in a way that uses all our five senses. It is better to provide such a service in a way that users can access it when they need it instead of aggressively recommending it to them. Also, regarding how to introduce cultural characteristics and customs, as foreign people feel more familiar and empathetic, it’s better to focus on commonalities instead of focusing on differences.
I also think one-way communication is not sufficient. It’s ideal to exchange opinions openly and frankly between information senders and receivers, even if their opinions and tastes differ. It’s also important to continue these activities. If others have the opportunity to experience our service and communicate with us several times, then I think they will be willing to continue connecting with us.
Moreover, it’s difficult to preserve local historical heritages unless the local people themselves feel attached, understand their values, and push for the preservation of their heritages. In the case of Tokyo, it’s desirable for Tokyo residents to know its charms and to have a strong affection for it. When we think about ways to showcase Tokyo, we should consider utilizing the power of Tokyo residents and incorporating it into this project.
When I saw the Kidai Shōran picture scroll which is currently on display in front of the Mitsukoshi Department Store, I was impressed with its ingenious design that allows visitors to read the description with QR codes. Having seen this display, I would like to give a suggestion from the younger generation’s perspective: we could try to apply a metaverse space or VFX (visual effects) using vertical reality (VR) technology to preserve this information as digital data. If we could go into and see Edo street life as depicted in the Kidai Shōran picture scroll by VR, we could witness the vibrance of the people at that time in a more realistic way, which would make the experience more fun and appealing.
If we would collect findings and digitalize them, we could use them repeatedly in various ways and preserve them for future generations. To learn about the connection between the past and present, we need to invent ingenious ways to learn and feel history’s attraction through hands-on experience by making the most use of today’s cutting-edge technology.
It’s not for us who live in Japan to decide what is cool about Japan, but rather for foreign visitors to discover its cool things. It would be ideal if they discover Japan’s attractions, refine them, and communicate them to the rest of the world. In fact, things accepted by visitors overseas are based on their values rather than advanced technologies. Making something good does not necessarily mean that it will be accepted or found attractive since there may be inspiration that arises from different lifestyles.
When I think about the keywords that connect Edo and present-day Tokyo, the words “resilience” and “survival” come to my mind. The city has overcome numerous historical and environmental adversities and finally became an international city recognized by the rest of the world.
Edo/Tokyo has overcome various difficulties, such as disasters and wars, and developed into a giant city of 10 million people from 1 million since the Edo period. The fact that sushi, which was originally a fast food in Edo, has evolved and changed to become a world-renowned dish, depending on the region, like California rolls.
Sushi was originally created as a preserved food with applying vinegar rice and fresh seafood, and it had been developed while considering various environment conditions. The noren (hanging fabric dividers) is one of the symbols of the Edo people’s high literacy because wisdom and education were essential for inheriting and further developing their culture. This spirit has been reflected in the urban development of Edo and Tokyo. I believe that this wisdom and education became the backbone of Tokyo becoming an international city. I think that Kidai Shōran is a concrete example of this underlying strength, and it is filled with tremendous wisdom even in the details. I hope that the wisdom of our predecessors can be applied to our future development.
However, for communicating such information, more visualizations are necessary. It’s well written in the story, so I hope to be ingeniously visualized in an easier way to be understood by foreign tourists.