On the trail of The Last Samurai (III)

Himeji and Kagoshima

Philip Seaton

2019.3.19

Abstract

This research note is part three of a three-part series documenting fieldwork at sites related to the 2003 film The Last Samurai. It contrasts the two major sites in Japan that experienced increased tourism levels as a result of the film: the shooting locations in Himeji and heritage sites in Kagoshima related to the ‘real last samurai’, Saigō Takamori. Despite the film being only very loosely based on Saigō’s life, the tourism impacts were greatest in Kagoshima, in other words the place where contents tourism relating to the actual history of ‘the last samurai’ (Saigō) occurred, and not in Himeji, where film tourism relating to The Last Samurai (the film) occurred. Comparison with the levels of tourism at shooting locations in New Zealand (in part I and part II of the article series) demonstrates a similar pattern: the tourism impacts were greatest in the country depicted in the film rather than the country where the film was made.

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Author Biography

Philip Seaton is a professor in the Institute of Japan Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He is the author of numerous books and articles relating to war history, memory, media and tourism, including: Japan’s Contested War Memories (Routledge 2007), Voices from the Shifting Russo- Japanese Border (Routledge, 2015, co-edited with Svetlana Paichadze), Local History and War Memories in Hokkaido (Routledge 2016), and Contents Tourism in Japan (Cambria Press, 2017, co- authored with Takayoshi Yamamura, Akiko Sugawa-Shimada, and Kyungjae Jang). His website is www.philipseaton.net.

フィリップ・シートン。東京外国語大学大学院国際日本学研究院教授。戦史、戦争記憶、メディア・ツーリ ズムに関する著書・論文多数。代表的著書に、Japan’s Contested War Memories (Routledge 2007), Voices from the Shifting Russo-Japanese Border (Routledge, 2015, co-edited with Svetlana Paichadze), Local History and War Memories in Hokkaido (Routledge 2016), and Contents Tourism in Japan (Cambria Press, 2017, coauthored with Takayoshi Yamamura, Akiko Sugawa-Shimada, and Kyungjae Jang)などがある。ウェブサイトは、 www.philipseaton.net.