On countryside roads to national identity

Japanese morning drama series ( asadora) and contents tourism

Bibliographic Data

ID7529121
AuthorsElisabeth Scherer (0000-0002-5582-0351, corresponding author), T Thelen (0000-0002-5859-3094)
Year2017
Volume32
Issue1
Pages6-29
Publication date2017-12-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJapan Forum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0955-5803 • E-ISSN: 1469-932X
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09555803.2017.1411378
OpenAlexW2778893507
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited27

Since the 1960s, NHK's morning drama series (asadora) have become known as a popular and quasi-institutionalised serial format of Japanese TV broadcasting. They attract millions of viewers by telling stories of female protagonists struggling to achieve personal fulfilment. At the same time, they also function as tools to spread certain forms of national identity, which are often linked to conservative concepts of an ideal Japanese lifestyle and anchored in a nostalgic rural landscape. Using the example of 2015's asadora Mare, we investigate how these two crucial aspects are implemented in the series’ narrative and production. Furthermore, we link our observations to the domain of ‘contents tourism’; this type of Japanese media-induced tourism recently gained significant attention from regional decision-makers working towards local revitalisation. By investigating contents tourism activities in Mare's context, the rural city of Wajima in the Noto Peninsula, we aim to understand how the media-touristic negotiation between real and imaged landscapes works and how that process influences consumers as well as locals. Our study provides a previously missing link between the qualitative analysis of media content and the examination of contents tourism in order to achieve a broader sociocultural perspective on this phenomenon

Advertising · Aesthetics · Business · Context (archaeology · Drama · Geography · Identity (music · Literature · Media studies · Mobilities · Narrative · National identity · Negotiation · Peninsula · Political science · Social science · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Tourism · Visual arts · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Japanese History and Culture · Media, Gender, and Advertising

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub