“Contents Tourism and Local Community Response: Lucky Star and Collaborative Anime-Induced Tourism in Washimiya”, 2014-12-11 ():
This article demonstrates how a local community succeeded in forming favorable relationships with fans and copyright holders in Washimiya, a town in which the anime television series Lucky Star was set. Washimiya is now visited by fans from all across Japan as a so-called ‘anime sacred site’. [ie. a media mix; 2015; cf. “famous sights”]
Through interviews with fans, local people, and the anime production company, participant observation, and analysis of primary documents, the article outlines how the local community, fans, and copyright holders formed relationships based on mutual consideration to the benefit of all.
Mutual understanding and common goals emerged from their shared respect for the contents (Lucky Star), a phenomenon that has received little attention in discussions about “contents tourism.” By viewing contents tourism not only as a licensing business or business between the host and the guest, but instead as communication between people in an actual space and time with contents at the center of interactions, many important insights are gained into the potential for contents tourism.
[Keywords: contents tourism, anime, Lucky Star, local revitalization, copyright]
…This article examines how a local community succeeded in forming favourable relationships among these actors in the Washimiya district of Kuki city, Saitama prefecture. This town was the location for the anime television series Lucky Star. It is visited by fans from all over Japan and is one of the so-called ‘anime sacred sites’, anime seichi, defined by Yamamura as ‘a location in an animated work or a place related to the work or author whose value is acknowledged by fans’ (2008, pg146).
…The manga depicts the mundane daily life of 4 high school girls and the people around them. Two of the girls, Hiiragi Kagami and Hiiragi Tsukasa, are the daughters of the Shinto priest of Takamiya Shrine. In the animated TV version, Takamiya Shrine is modelled on Washinomiya Shrine in Washimiya town.
The number of fans visiting Washimiya town as a result of seeing the anime was unprecedented. With the collaboration of local communities, fans and copyright holders, the visits of fans developed into a town revitalization programme. There are two main reasons why the anime induced such levels of tourism.
First, the opening scene of each episode, which recreated actual scenes in the town, made an extremely strong impression on viewers. Every episode, viewers watched the same opening scene, which was an effective combination of high-quality graphic background images, the story’s characters and a catchy theme song. This opening left a powerful impression of the scenery of Washimiya town on viewers (2012).
Second, this show was a representative example of a genre of animation in which descriptions of deep personal relationships or fully fledged romantic relationships are deliberately eliminated from the story in order to tell a light, non-serious story that focuses on the everyday lives and conversations of the bishōjo (young, pretty girl) characters. Consequently, the fans, local community and copyright holders were able to create connections with an actual location and the bishōjo characters in various ways without being tied up by the story, and they were able to vitalize communication through the characters (2011, pg382–392; 2011a). In other words, the lack of dramatic aspects in the plot enabled a type of tourism in which reality is sought by linking the anime to actual locations. This genre of anime is called ‘daily life anime’ (nichijo-kei) or ‘slice of life anime’ (kūki-kei, literally ‘air style’). Anime shows of this genre have been produced in large numbers since the mid-2000s.
…With the help of such coverage, the profile of various sites, but particularly Washinomiya Shrine (which appeared in the opening scene of the anime) became dramatically higher. The number of people making hatsumōde New Year’s shrine visits (in the first 3 days of the new year) was only 90,000 prior to the airing of the anime, but, according to a survey by the Saitama Prefectural Police, it increased by about 3.5× in 3 years to 300,000 in 2008, 420,000 in 2009 and 450,000 in 2010.
There had been other similar cases of anime and manga contents playing roles in the promotion of localities and shopping districts. Sakaiminato city in Tottori prefecture has been the most successful in attracting visitors over an extended period of time. Sakaiminato is the hometown of the well-known manga artist Mizuki Shigeru, and the city promotes its shopping district using his manga/anime Gegege-no-Kitaro. The locality, therefore, has had a nationally famous set of contents to use. The case of Washimiya, by contrast, was revolutionary in that fans and the locality worked together and built up the popularity of a little-known anime by a little-known writer.
…Fans quickly identified the location of the opening sequence and started to visit Washinomiya Shrine. According to Sakata Atsushi and Matsumoto Shinji (interview conducted 30 May 2008), two members of staff at the Commerce and Industry Association of Washimiya, most of the visitors immediately after the airing of the anime tended to visit the shrine surreptitiously, took pictures and left the shrine quietly.
…About one month after the beginning of the airing of the anime, a self-published magazine (dōjinshi) Lucky Star TV Animation Version Commemorative Fan Book: ‘Follow The Sailor Uniform’ was published on 4 May 2007 by an amateur writer called Izuki. This was important because it was published before any actions by the copyright holders or the locality. The magazine introduces the locations featured in the anime, including Washimiya, and mainly functions as a guidebook. ‘The biggest reason was to avoid bothering the local residents’, explained Izuki (interview conducted 21 February 2009) as he described his reasons for publishing the magazine such a short time after the beginning of the anime’s broadcast. When he found out that there was a large online debate about where the Lucky Star locations actually were, he became concerned that a large number of fans would start wandering around the town looking for them. ‘To avoid criticism of the programme and prejudice against fans…I wanted to introduce the locations accurately to prevent fans getting lost during their visits’.
The magazine contributed to the formation of a positive relationship between fans and local residents by encouraging fans’ pilgrimages to cause as little trouble as possible to local residents and by appealing to the fans’ morals and consciences through their love for the anime. Following its initial publication, other versions have been published periodically.
Subsequently, the locations of the anime version of Lucky Star were officially introduced by the copyright holders in the supplement Lucky Star Style Field Trip Booklet (Rakisuta-teki ensoku no shiori) in the August 2007 issue of the anime magazine Monthly Newtype (published by Kadokawa).
…It became a common sight at Washinomiya Shrine to see fans hanging up wooden votive plaques (ema) inscribed with drawings of anime characters and fans taking pictures of the shrine gate and the tea house Otori-chaya in the same composition as in the opening scene of the anime. The Commerce and Industry Association staff, which had not been aware of the anime until then, began to notice the ema plaques offering prayers or wishes that were ’completely different from traditional ema’ (Kono anime ga sugoi!2008, pg30).
…As their interviews with fans progressed, communications increased between the fans and two young members of staff at the Commerce and Industry Association (Sakata and Matsumoto), who were conducting most of the interviews. Association staff began discussing how there were no souvenirs in Washimiya for fans travelling long distances to visit the town. Discussions about what could be done for fans led to suggestions such as selling souvenirs at the tea house Otori-chaya.
Meanwhile, Sakata found out about the self-published magazine by Izuki and contacted him directly. They discussed whether there would be a demand for mobile-phone straps sold as souvenirs. Following this initial contact, Izuki began, on a volunteer basis, to support events and product development projects initiated by the Association. The Association also began to ask fans their opinions whenever possible. They understood that they should not compromise on the quality of the events and products targeted at the fans. As a result, many fans like Izuki began to show up at the Association as volunteers and participated in brainstorming sessions. In addition, Sakata and Matsumoto also participated in a discussion on the social networking site 2 Channel, and asked for advice from fans via internet chat rooms (2008, pg100–101).
Advice obtained through contact with fans in this manner led to the development of omiyage-style souvenir manju (steamed sweet buns) with the wording ‘sacred site pilgrimage’ (junrei) on the manju. When they began selling this product at the tea house Otori-chaya in boxes of 6, they sold 50 boxes in a week. This trial selling of branded sweet buns convinced the staff of the Commerce and Industry Association that there was a demand for anime-related products and souvenirs. This led them to contact one of the copyright holders, Kadokawa (discussed in more detail below).
…The Commerce and Industry Association’s structure and formula for collaboration with fans
There are 5 full-time members of staff at the Commerce and Industry Association of Washimiya, and Sakata and Matsumoto (in their 30s at the time) have been in charge of Lucky Star tie-in projects from the beginning. They believe that the small scale of the project enabled flexible, timely action. Matsumoto commented:
We will miss the boat if we follow the local government approach to annual budgets and project plans, which first establishes a budget and then starts projects the following year. We can produce big results because we ignore these things and initiate projects at the right time. The size and structure of the Commerce and Industry Association of Washimiya Town allow us to do this. (Matsumoto Shinji, interview conducted 30 May 2008)
Also important is the role of the Association’s president, who assigned this large project to these two energetic young members of staff and then backed them up at all times by saying, ‘don’t be afraid of failure. I’ll take full responsibility’ (Mainichi Shimbun2008).
…Many of these early-stage volunteers had experience taking part in Comiket (Comic Market), the largest self-published comic book fair in the world, which is held twice a year in Tokyo. It has been suggested that their voluntary actions relate to the volunteering culture of Comiket.
…The Lucky Star mikoshi has been seen at the festival every year since its first appearance in September 2008. It has become an annual event at which more than 120 anime fans come to the town from all over Japan to shoulder the mikoshi and walk around the town (Matsumoto Shinji, interview conducted 31 March 2011; see Figure 3). The Lucky Star mikoshi gained even greater international attention when it was paraded through the Asia Square during Japan Day at Expo 2010 in Shanghai at the request of CoFesta (Japan International Contents Festival), which is organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Figure 4). Local people from Washimiya and Japanese anime fans travelled to Shanghai to carry the mikoshi.
…Summary: In the early stages, when fans were visiting the site as pioneers (see the article by 2015 in this issue), a conscientious fan showed concern for the locality by producing a guidebook so that fans could avoid causing problems. The local Commerce and Industry Association responded by identifying themselves with the fans and strived to make contact in various ways, such as through asking advice from fans. Through deepening mutual understanding of each other’s situations and needs, and through contact between the locality and fans, a cooperative locality-fans relationship was formed.
