tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post4707379522645034021..comments2024-03-14T20:55:21.709+09:00Comments on Janne In Osaka: Akan National ParkJan Morenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06834641501438709866noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-56240229867883180962008-03-18T12:04:00.000+09:002008-03-18T12:04:00.000+09:00Don't worry; it's not argumentative at all. I thin...Don't worry; it's not argumentative at all. <BR/><BR/>I think you do hit on an important distinction: tourist area versus non-tourist area. A "normal" rural area is a rather different thing than a tourist magnet like Akan. That's what I was alluding to when I talked about JR and the local businesses seeing themselves as serving (or not) the local farming industry rather than tourism. That makes sense for areas like where you live; it makes less sense in tourist areas.<BR/><BR/>These things tend to be self-reinforcing too; if you can only come to an area by tour bus, and only buy lunch in tour-operator restaurants, then that's of course the only kind of visitor you'll have. And while I don't know about Hokkaido specifically, I suspect it is not unlike other places where a part of the population sees tourists as unwanted and unwelcome and welcomes anything that decreases the number of visits. Which is a legitimate, understandable standpoint; tourism _is_ disruptive after all. But then the consequence may well be a slide into irrelevance.Jan Morenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834641501438709866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-1832332405251178692008-03-18T11:27:00.000+09:002008-03-18T11:27:00.000+09:00P.S. Sorry if I am being overly argumentative. :-...P.S. Sorry if I am being overly argumentative. :-) I have a cold and lack the energy to properly edit my comments. The topic is an interesting one.<BR/><BR/>BrianAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-30770443100204454922008-03-18T11:05:00.000+09:002008-03-18T11:05:00.000+09:00I'm the anonymous at the top. Just a bit more com...I'm the anonymous at the top. Just a bit more commentary:<BR/><BR/>I'm not any kind of tourism expert, my comments are only based on speculating from what I have seen and heard living in Hokkaido. I first came almost 20 years ago. I have come and gone a few times, but have been living in a small Hokkaido town for the past eleven years.<BR/><BR/>One thing is that even over the past ten years, in my area (Tokachi) many of the roads have been upgraded and widened. We have also gotten our own segment of kousoku douro (expressway). On the two or three occasions I have had over the years to ride train or bus locally I have been alone or accompanied by one or two other passengers. Others tell me this is standard. Our local train line was finally given up on a couple years ago after many years of losing much money. As long as I have known it was only one car, but my wife says that years ago there were more, and that the train had many passengers. Local rail lines have been disappearing all over Hokkaido for years. The only people who use the bus these days are elderly farmers wives who never got a drivers license, and some high school students who go to school in neighboring towns.<BR/><BR/>Of course this is not a tourist area. But there has been a distinct pattern of change in transportation patterns in rural Hokkaido.<BR/><BR/>You say that all the forms of transportation you took were filled to capacity. I think that has mostly to do with the capacity being small and the usage rising and falling due to season and events. The problem with public transportation when it is underutilized is that you can't maintain capacity for peak demand and remain financially viable. With train there is even more overhead and maintaining service at all below a certain level of usage requires subsidizing.<BR/><BR/>As for the stores and such, I don't know. I have also often found myself wishing for a store or a restaurant where there were none to be found. I don't know if local entrepreneurship is lacking or if it is more the style of Japanese tourism. Again my speculation based on observation but it seems to me that there are two styles of tourist in Hokkaido. The ones who set their own itinerary are for the most part from Hokkaido, on day or perhaps overnight trips, by car. These are probably not enough in number, nor likely to spend money in big enough amounts to support an independent tourist industry. The rest are on packaged tours and are shuttled from airport to hotel to sightseeing spot and omiyage shops and so on, never setting foot in an independently run business during their entire stay.<BR/><BR/>BrianAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-63437762948819659202008-03-17T21:42:00.000+09:002008-03-17T21:42:00.000+09:00MTC: the lake picture is just a matter of persever...MTC: the lake picture is just a matter of perseverance, not brilliance; pick an angle, then sit and wait until a few swans decide to fly over the right spot in the sky. I was lucky that they did before my tour companions got fed up waiting for me in the bus. <BR/><BR/>It did turn out pretty good, though (well, 自画自賛 <I>is</I> part of this week's homework; I'm just practising).Jan Morenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834641501438709866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-17917675096919831462008-03-17T21:32:00.000+09:002008-03-17T21:32:00.000+09:00Anonymous: the point about tour buses only patroni...Anonymous: the point about tour buses only patronizing certain stores is well taken. And I speculated above that seasonal closures are common. However, I suspect that there's more to it than that. Most stores we saw did not seem to acknowledge the reality of tourism; work clothes and tractor parts rather than hiking gear and camera consumables.<BR/><BR/>I also don't really buy the car-only argument. Despite it being off season, every form of public transportation we took was filled to capacity and beyond. If you can't run a train or bus line when filled to capacity, you're not doing much of a job as a transport operator.<BR/><BR/>Tourism certainly seems to be flourishing in Hokkaido; it is the industry that is lacking.Jan Morenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834641501438709866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-7216519570264822702008-03-17T17:18:00.000+09:002008-03-17T17:18:00.000+09:00Correction to the earlier flying geese comment:The...Correction to the earlier flying geese comment:<BR/><BR/>The birds in the foreground are Whooping Swans (<B>Ohakucho</B> - <I>Cygnus cygnus</I>. It stands to reason that the flying birds are whooping swans too.MTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-26675005349794132812008-03-17T16:55:00.000+09:002008-03-17T16:55:00.000+09:00Herr Morén - Fantastic detail with the flying gees...Herr Morén - <BR/><BR/>Fantastic detail with the flying geese above the lake shimmer.<BR/><BR/>Envy, I must remind myself, is a sin.MTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455782214242472677.post-37068535462786787272008-03-17T14:04:00.000+09:002008-03-17T14:04:00.000+09:00Some impressions as to why the apparent lack of fl...Some impressions as to why the apparent lack of flourishing tourism industry in Hokkaido:<BR/>As to J.R.- cars have largely replaced all other forms of transportation in Hokkaido except in and between large centers, and tour buses.<BR/>As to closed up shops- some of it is seasonal, Hokkaido has a lot more tourism in the summer, except for a few major ski areas, and even skiing has been losing popularity among Japanese for quite awhile. The permanently closed ones have lost out to the tour companies, which run the buses and stop them at the omiyage shops and restaurants they own and operate themselves- or so I hear. Good for business, but not so good for the local economies I would guess.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com