ABSTRACT
In this chapter, research articles and books on tourism and Japan published in both Japanese and English are reviewed based on online databases. In Japanese, 2,463 books and 727 government publications (1940–2016), and 471 articles published in two journals (1961–2015) are identified, and in English, 21 books and 7 book chapters (1983–2013), and 224 articles in 97 journal titles (1975–2016) are examined. The review had two aims: to identify main research trends in Japan and globally, and to examine how the overall theme of this special issue – regions, communities and places in Japan – are portrayed (or not) in the existing studies within the materials located with the keyword tourism or kankō (in Japanese). General trends and specific aspects are identified and explored independently as well as comparatively between Japanese and English language publications, providing an overview of, and potential future directions in, this field of study.
