Paper short abstract:

I will stress the processes by which Okinawan tourism was developed as a foreign destination in Japan. Then, I will argue about how the Okinawa Prefecture plays a major function in building the image of Japan as an attractive destination for international tourist and as a multicultural country.

Paper long abstract:

For local economy, international tourism not only means an exploitation of natural and cultural resources, but also the creation of new employments, an economic development and improved human relations throughout the world. Perceiving this phenomenon as a globalization's vector, geography analyze it in as a spatial system including tourist's flows, transport and accommodation facilities and touristic resources, as well as imaginative representations of the space and political measures. Inbound tourism remains a priority sector to develop for Japanese government since the economic bubble explosion, in a sense of improving the revenue's balance between inbound and outbound tourism, raising Japan in the top class rank of touristic (and economically developed) countries and revitalizing peripheral areas.

Considering these facts, my presentation would replace Okinawa, the most tourism-dependent prefecture of Japan, in this context of international tourism development measures in Japan. According to officials, inbound tourism not only would 1) put the particular cultural patterns of Okinawa to a sustainable use; 2) induce important economic externalities; and 3) integrate this peripheral archipelago in the Asian market. International tourism as a "peaceful activity" would then deny the "military image" of the American military bases and the territorial issue with China concerning the Senkaku islets. Through the analyze of the spatial system related to Okinawan tourism, all these points would be studied with the aim of establishing a perspective for international tourism in Japan and stressing the main issues which have to be resolved.