Travelling the Bakumatsu Opera The Woman Who Loved Toshizō

Towards a theory of music-related contents tourism

Philip Seaton

2022.11.15

Abstract

Within contents tourism research, music has assumed one of two main positions. First, it is one media/cultural format among many inducing tourism under the umbrella term of ‘contents tourism’. This is similar to the position of ‘music tourism’ within ‘media tourism’ in English. Second, it is treated more as a ‘creative element’ within a narrative world that triggers contents tourism. In this article, a performance of the Bakumatsu Opera The Woman Who Loved Toshizō is used as a starting point to consider how music fits within contents tourism research in the latter conceptualisation of music as a creative element. There are three main lines of discussion: 1) music within the varied categorisations of tourism studies, 2) contents tourism by performers/creators of musical works, and 3) music tourism’s connections with theatre tourism and other forms of live event tourism. This article offers some preliminary discussion regarding music-related contents tourism as a sub-genre of research within contents tourism studies.

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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 in the fields of Japanese war memories and contents tourism studies. Recent works include Contents tourism and pop culture fandom: transnational tourist experiences (Channel View Books, 2020, co-edited with Takayoshi Yamamura) and War as entertainment and contents tourism in Japan (Routledge, 2022, co-edited with Takayoshi Yamamura). His website is www.philipseaton.net

シートン、フィリップ。東京外国語大学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。最近の著書に、Contents tourism and pop culture fandom: transnational tourist experiences (Channel View Books、2020年、山村高淑と共編)、War as entertainment and contents tourism in Japan (Routledge, 2022年、山村高淑と共編). ウェブサイトはwww.philipseaton.net