Religion and Tourism in Japan

Ian Reader is Professor Emeritus at the University of Manchester, UK. His prime areas of research are on religious dynamics in the contemporary world, with a special focus on Japan, on pilgrimage and on the links between religion and violence. He is the author of numerous books, articles and chapters about such issues, including Pilgrims Until We Die: Unending Pilgrimage in Shikoku, co-authored with John Shultz, (2021) and Dynamism and the Ageing of a Japanese "New" Religion, co-authored with Erica Baffelli (Bloomsbury, 2019).

• Introduction: Tourist Spots, Holy Ice Creams and Zen Monastic Brands1. Religion and Tourism: Definitions, Theoretical Perspectives and Contemporary Japanese Dynamics2. Temples, Shrines and Play: Historical Patterns, Transport Networks and State Policies3. When Religion is Not Religious: The State, Tourism and Constitutional Acrobatics4. What Shall We Do on Wednesday? The Shikoku Pilgrimage, Tourism, Heritage and Economic Regeneration5. Stations, Stamps and the Significance of Sweets in the Saikoku Pilgrimage6. Mystical Mountains and Ascetic Training as Tourist Attractions: Spiritual Japan for Visitors Concluding Comments: Religion, Tourism, the State, Decline and Secularisation BibliographyIndex

Reader breaks new ground in this study on the role of the state and commercial enterprises in promoting tourism, and how their policies impact shrines and temples in areas undergoing depopulation. A strong case is made that the ‘touristification’ ofreligious sites as ‘cultural heritage’ tends to ‘dereligionize’ them, circumvents conflictsover religion-state separation, and contributes to the ongoing process of secularization.