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Tourism’s Impacts on Rural Livelihood in the Sustainability of an Aging Community in Japan

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  • Bixia Chen

    (Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara Town, Okinawa Prefecture 903-0213, Japan)

  • Zhenmian Qiu

    (Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-mati, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan)

  • Nisikawa Usio

    (Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-mati, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan)

  • Koji Nakamura

    (Ishikawa Prefectural Natural History Museum, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-1147, Japan)

Abstract

Rural tourism, which is often interpreted as rural development initiatives, has been extensively studied in a Japanese context; however, this has been typically observed at a community level, and the host households were assumed as homogeneous. Therefore, this article explores rural tourism’s potential as a tool for territorial development in Japan, and augments established literature by studying how rural tourism contributes to sustainable livelihoods at the household level in an aging community and a developed economy. For this purpose, a qualitative study observed a farm inn group in the town of Noto, a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) site in Japan. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) rural tourism in a remote/isolated region has changed the host households’ livelihood assets; (2) the economic benefits from rural tourism are marginal to host households; and (3) the benefits other than income earnings exceed the economic benefits for aging communities. The residents’ quality of life has improved in this super-aging rural community, although the economic benefits are still marginal to most host households. Tourists have brought vitality to these remote villages, and a lack of young residents to inherit these farm inn businesses presents a bottleneck to the industry’s future development. Social capital should be strengthened by forming social networks with the local government and private sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Bixia Chen & Zhenmian Qiu & Nisikawa Usio & Koji Nakamura, 2018. "Tourism’s Impacts on Rural Livelihood in the Sustainability of an Aging Community in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2896-:d:163887
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Ali Bakdur & Fumito Masui & Michal Ptaszynski, 2021. "Predicting Increase in Demand for Public Buses in University Students Daily Life Needs: Case Study Based on a City in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-28, May.
    3. Linghan Zhang & Junyi Zhang, 2018. "Impacts of Leisure and Tourism on the Elderly’s Quality of Life in Intimacy: A Comparative Study in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Huiqin Li & Tinghong Guo & Peter Nijkamp & Xuelian Xie & Jingjing Liu, 2020. "Farmers’ Livelihood Adaptability in Rural Tourism Destinations: An Evaluation Study of Rural Revitalization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Lili Li & Yiwu Zeng & Yanmei He & Qiuxia Qin & Jianhao Wang & Changluan Fu, 2022. "Developing Village-Based Green Economy in an Endogenous Way: A Case Study from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-22, June.
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    7. Susan Matiku & Jethro Zuwarimwe & Ndivhuwo Tshipala, 2020. "Community-Driven Tourism Projects’ Economic Contribution to Community Livelihoods—A Case of Makuleke Contractual Park Community Tourism Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Wookhyun An & Silverio Alarcón, 2020. "How Can Rural Tourism Be Sustainable? A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-23, September.
    9. Dipanwita De & Chandan Surabhi Das, 2021. "Measuring Livelihood Sustainability by PCA in Indian Sundarban," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(12), pages 18424-18442, December.
    10. Ketut Eko Ari Saputro & Hasim & Lina Karlinasari & Irfan Syauqi Beik, 2023. "Evaluation of Sustainable Rural Tourism Development with an Integrated Approach Using MDS and ANP Methods: Case Study in Ciamis, West Java, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Menghan Zhang & Jingyi Liu, 2022. "Does Agroforestry Correlate with the Sustainability of Agricultural Landscapes? Evidence from China’s Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, June.
    12. Guilin Liu & Domenico M. Doronzo, 2020. "A Novel Approach to Bridging Physical, Cultural, and Socioeconomic Indicators with Spatial Distributions of Agricultural Heritage Systems (AHS) in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    13. Setiawan Priatmoko & Moaaz Kabil & Ali Akaak & Zoltán Lakner & Csaba Gyuricza & Lóránt Dénes Dávid, 2023. "Understanding the Complexity of Rural Tourism Business: Scholarly Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.

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