Postcards
This scene really got me thinking about what it means to be a contents tourist. It was taken in Hokkaido Greenland, an amusement park in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido. It is the middle of the summer holiday and many families are enjoying a day out. On the stage a play presenting a Kamen Rider (Masked Rider) story is being performed. To the right of the stage is a pavilion containing a Yokai Watch attraction. Both the play and attraction are part of the summer season of special events put on by the park to attract more visitors. Sitting on the grass watching the play are a few hundred people. They are tourists in a tourist site. They are watching a play based on a famous set of contents. But are they contents tourists?
Some definitely are. They are Kamen Rider fans and came to the park that day specifically to see the play. Others thought it would be one nice thing to do among many that day. Others might have gone to the park mainly for the roller coasters, but had a pleasant surprise when they realised there were attractions related to favourite contents on offer, too. Others perhaps had little prior interest and were just curious or killing time. Others might have been ignoring the show and simply eating their picnic lunch outside on the grass.
A few hundred people all doing the same thing: sitting on a hillside in a tourist site as some contents are performed on a stage in front of them. But some are contents tourists and some are not. Only one way to find out which are which: go and ask them …
