The Role of a Community-based Organization in Promoting Anime Contents Tourism in Takehara City, Hiroshima, Japan

Abstract

This study focuses on the role of NPO Network Takehara, a community-based organization, in mediating between an anime production company and the local community to promote anime contents tourism in Takehara, a city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.

Anime contents tourism, which attracts tourists to visit the locations featured in animes, has been one of the popular tourism trends in Japan since the late 1990s. In Takehara City, NPO Network Takehara has assumed a key role in developing anime contents tourism. Since 2010, it has collaborated with anime production companies and assisted in developing the TV anime series Tamayura (『たまゆら』, 2010-2016), which focused on the emotional development of high school girls in Takehara. By utilizing this anime’s content and local resources, NPO Network Takehara has succeeded in promoting tourism in their city.

Drawing on an interview with the executive director of NPO Network Takehara,

Mr. Yasushi SADO, and related academic research on anime contents tourism in Japan, this

study discusses the challenges, achievements and lessons learned from mediating activities

such as assisting the anime director with story development, helping the Takehara community

promote events and tourism, collaborating with local industries and the anime production

companies to develop local products, and building the recognition of Tamayura as a symbol

of the community.

By evaluating the mediating role of NPO Network Takehara, this study highlights

the importance of community-based organizations as mediators in promoting anime contents

tourism. By utilizing local knowledge for anime production and promotion, coordinating

informal human resources in the city, and working for the long-term public benefit of local

residents, such organizations are striving to find ways to develop tourism for the future of

their local community.