Embodying Japanese Heritage: Consumer Experience and Social Contact at a Historical Themed Park

Abstract

This article analyses the experiential consumption of heritage that is staged for paying visitors to a historical themed park. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at a Japanese historical themed park re-creating the Edo period (1603–1867), it examines the re-enactment of Japanese history through an experience with embodied and social elements. This historical themed park presents an immersive environment re-enacting the ‘everyday’ culture of ‘ordinary’ commoners, where Japanese and foreign visitors imaginatively role-play and engage the past in different ways. Frontline service workers and actors, who perform historical characters called Edo People (Edo-jin), project a warm and lively atmosphere that incorporates popular conceptions of Edo/Japanese culture and customer service. The past is also transformed into experience-based attractions where consumers participate in cultural activities while communicating with each other and the staff. Consumer participation ultimately brings the past as heritage into the present as embodied experience.

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