Illustrated Maps on Public Display: An Overlooked Aspect of Cultural Tourism In Japan

Illustrated Maps on Public Display: An Overlooked Aspect of Cultural Tourism In Japan

This paper for the keynote presentation has been revised and lengthened from another which the author submitted for this conference. Comprising three sections of text and grayscale reproductions of eight Japanese maps, it explores illustrated maps on public display for tourism and/or leisure in Japan in the contexts of their topographical content, cultural insights, and relevance for visitors. The opening section (context and research history) explains maps as scientific and artistic constructs for providing spatial distributions, mentions previous work done by the author in regard to illustrated and/or Japanese cartography, and links contemporary illustrated maps to tourism and leisure in Japan. In the second section (examples of publicly displayed illustrated maps in Japan) eight rather different maps which were photographed within the last six years are explained in terms of their geographical content and types of illustration, and the final section (analytical comments) notes that maps are integral for tourism and some leisure activities, makes connections between illustrated maps in Japan and its artistic heritage, and observes that they are cultural expressions probably overlooked by most tourists. Following the third section of the text and a list of cited references are grayscale reproductions of the eight maps with captions that note the title, location, orientation, and date photographed for each one.