Country Roads – Rural Tourism in Canada and Japan

Organized by: The Japan Foundation, Toronto
Supported by: Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University

Please note that due to copyright considerations, photography and recording are not permitted at this event. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Spring not springing fast enough? Visions of cherry blossoms dancing through your head rather than before your eyes? Don’t despair. The Japan Foundation, Toronto is offering an exciting substitute to airplane or even armchair travel: a Travel Lecture Series. In each installment, a pair of speakers will address a particular travel-related issue from both a Canadian and a Japanese perspective.

For the third and final installment of our Travel Lecture Series, The Japan Foundation, Toronto is pleased to present a pair of lectures about the potential and pitfalls of rural Tourism for challenged communities in Canada and Japan. Come and learn how Japan and Canada are maximizing tourism development to respond to the shared problem of rural depopulation and economic decline. How are both countries coping, and what threats does this strategy pose?

Rural Tourism in Canada – Prof. Christopher Fullerton
Rural communities across Canada face a variety of economic challenges that threaten their very existence. As traditional industries such as fishing, forestry or mining decline, communities are looking for ways to revitalize their local economies, and remain viable places to live, work and play. Many have turned to tourism as a possible solution. The types of rural tourism development being pursued across Canada vary, but most involve harnessing place-based assets that had previously served other uses, or that have otherwise been ignored as resources for tourism development. Although the potential benefits are numerous, rural communities must also be aware of the environmental, economic and social consequences that can come with improper tourism management.

“Green Tourism” in Rural Japan – Prof. Atsuko Hashimoto
The revitalisation of depopulating and ageing rural communities is one of the challenges facing modern societies. Japan has been employing tourism as a tool to rejuvenate rural communities since 1992. Known as Green Tourism, this innovative type of rural or agri-tourism development is supported by various levels of government. Benefits include economic rejuvenation, the enhanced empowerment of women, increased networking in host communities, the building of bridges between rural and urban areas, and, in some successful cases, the return of younger generations to rural communities. However, as Professor Hashimoto explains, not all Green Tourism projects are without challenges.

About the speakers:

Christopher Fullerton is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Department of Geography at Brock University. He is also a member of Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre.  He received a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Queen’s University, and his Doctorate in Geography from the University of Saskatchewan. His research centres on topics such as rural and urban land use planning, public transit planning and policy, and rural community economic development.

Atsuko Hashimoto is an Associate Professor in the Department of Tourism Management at Brock University. She received a Master’s degree in Tourism Planning and Development, and a PhD in Tourism Management from the University of Surrey. Her research interests are the socio-cultural aspects of tourism development and use of tourism for the rejuvenation of rural communities in Japan. She is currently involved in a long-term study on Green Tourism in Japanese farming communities. She has published extensively on issues in Tourism Management related to Canada and Japan.

Image: Rice Terrace of Eriyama ©Saga Prefecture/©JNTO