Project title
Old and new tourist pamphlet - An invitation to tourism education and sightseeing with Bird's Eye View drawn by Hatsusaburo Yoshida
Research Unit
Primary investigator
Co investigators
ELBARBARY Mohamed, ISHIKAWA Hajime, YAMAKITA Ryutaro
Project period
2024/5/10 ～ 2025/3/31
Activity and results reports
In FY2023, the pamphlet, “Showa Retro Wakayama Guide-Wakayama City and Wakanoura” was published using the Hatsusaburo Yoshida bird's eye view style map that was popular during the tourism boom started from the Taisho era until the early Showa era.
The pamphlet was distributed to several facilities in Wakayama City and overseas researchers. We received a certain amount of positive feedback, suggesting that the pamphlet should be published in English because of its excellent design.
Accordingly, the FY2024 project aimed to produce the pamphlet in both Japanese and English. In addition, since we were unable to present data on the effectiveness of this practical approach in the previous fiscal year, we conducted a questionnaire survey this year.
The following is a review of the results of the FY2024 research in accordance with the four objectives outlined in the “Research Overview” section.
1) A questionnaire survey was conducted on the contents of the pamphlets targeting university students. All responses were positive, especially about the design and color, reflected in statements such as “I think it has a very good retro atmosphere”, “I thought the colors of the old pictures were beautifully done,” and "catch my eyes.” Moreover, except for one respondent, all participants responded positively about whether or not they would like to give the pamphlet to their family and friends. For instance, a respondent stated that "I think my family and friends would also be interested to know about Shirahama and this pamphlet will encourage them to visit it”. However, one issue that was pointed out was the lack of sufficient information.
2) The pamphlet, “Showa Retro Wakayama Guide - Shirahama Edition” was published in English and Japanese (Figure 1). The English version addresses the language barriers and makes visiting Shirahama more convenient to potential overseas travelers and visitors.
Figure 1. FY 2025 designed pamphlet for Shirahama
3) Regarding “Education and proposed ways to use the pamphlet for regional, historical, and environmental education for students and pupils”, Dr. Ishikawa, one of the project members conducted a class using “Showa Retro Wakayama Guide-Shirahama Edition” for about 100 students in the School of For-eign Languages at Osaka University. Since most students aim to study abroad, Dr. Ishikawa told them that the knowledge of their own culture is what they actually need when they learn a foreign language. The pamphlet was very helpful when they learned about the history and culture of Wakayama prefec-ture particularly, and many students commented that they would like to have similar pamphlets for their own hometowns, using a bird's-eye view.
4) In response to “the expectation that the pamphlet will be preserved by tourists after their trip, not only as a means to obtain information but also as an artwork, with memories of their trip,” Dr. Mohamed and Dr. Yamakita observed their students' reactions to the pamphlet. The first reaction, especially from international students, was their admiration of the colors and design. In addition, feedback from the general Japanese public highly praised the pamphlet's “Japaneseness” and that it could be used as a wonderful souvenir or a gift. As for future issues, given the limited paper space, it is necessary to con-sider how to provide much more necessary information as a tourism pamphlet.
