J a p a n e s e    C u l t u r e

Urry (2002) , (Turner & Turner, 1995) and others persuade us that Western tourism is sightseeing: gazing upon things. I have argued elsewhere (40,000 views and zero comments. I took it off the Net!) that this gazing may in part be a form of reconstruction (the focus of Derridean Deconstruction) after the model of Mary, Jackson's fantasy (1986) that had never seen red. When Mary sees red for the first time we are persuaded by philosophical dualism: of (1) an ideal scientific world, in our heads and in spooky things in themselves, and (2) chimerical mere phenomenal like red. Mary's word "red" and the description of Frenchness in a guidebook, unaccompanied by qualia is like all the other castrated signs that Derrida (2011) argues Western philosophers parade before us (writing, speech acts, foreign words, indicative signs) before showing us the full dual sign and meaning in that moment when e.g. Culler's tourists (Culler, 1988) find a Breton wearing clogs and pronounce upon her. Behold! Frenchiness (it wasn't just a world but a Platonic ideal)! The Japanes have a tendency to go on tours with out looking. One commentator (Araki,1973, p10 below) bewails their tendency to get on trains and busses travelling through magnificent scenery which they ignore. The book above (Mori, 2014) has a "belt" telling potential purchasers that it will tell them the "hilstorical truth" of the protypical pilgrimage, the "Shikoku Henro" tour of 88 temples: a truth that pilgrims who walk the route will not be able to see. The temples themselves are above all named, possed of stamps, that pilgrims press on on a pad that they carry around their necks. Japanese pilgrims such show on the book belt, or such as monks in various blindfolding straw hats (above right), and Japanese travellers in pallanquins (top left) also have a tendency not even to try to look at the scenery. Travlling is about going to places of historical truth, picking up names rather than gazing at images. Japanese tourism is conversely about being seen. Japanese tourism is sightseen, *auto*photographed. Tatsuno (2001) writes that after completing the Henro pilgrimage he becomes, like Mario, able to see his own back. To (re)construct a Japapnese self one can practice a lot of set moves in a Japanese art, or visit a lot of named places on a set route picking up names. In either case one develops within oneself the eye in the sky of the Other. The tendency to collect names and engage in other Japanese tourism practices shows a negative correlation with feeling autoscopic, like Mario. So perhaps, when Japanese stop feeling like Mario, and need their autoscopy topped up, they cover their eyes, and go on tour. "歩いたあとは自分の後姿が少しは見えてきた。" (Tatsuno, 2001, p.3) http://ift.tt/1Sye6ph 私は旅しながら考えていた。。。日本人にとって旅とはいったいなんなのだろうか。指定車のの中である。車内は団体客でほぼいっぱいであった。賑やかな一行を乗せて列車は宮崎へと向かっていた。盃（さかずき）を汲み交わすもの手拍子で変声を張り上げるもの、通路を左往右往するもの、等々。 だが、その喧騒をよそに左手には昼下りの陽光をきらめかせながら春の豊後水道がのびやかにひろがっていた。窓外いっぱいに溢れるめくるめくような瑠璃色の空と海。－この壮麗さと無関係な旅が、いったいどうしてありうるのだろうか。。。車内のだれ一人として窓外に目をくれるものがなかったからである。(荒木,1973, p10) Culler, J. D. (1988). The Semiotics of Tourism. In Framing the sign. Univ. of Oklahoma Pr. Derrida, J. (2011). Voice and Phenomenon: Introduction to the Problem of the Sign in Husserl’s Phenomenology. Northwestern Univ Pr. Jackson, F. (1986). What Mary didn’t know. The Journal of Philosophy, 83(5), 291–295. Retrieved from http://ift.tt/1ZCX5JA... Turner, V., & Turner, E. (1995). Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture (0 ed.). Columbia University Press. Urry, J. (2002). The Tourist Gaze. SAGE. 森正人. (2014). 四国遍路 - 八八ヶ所巡礼の歴史と文化. Tōkyō: 中央公論新社. 辰濃和男. (2001). 四国遍路. 東京: 岩波書店. http://flic.kr/p/CMt7xX