Placemaking and pastoral park planning in Japan: the Showa case
Journal of Place Management and Development
ISSN: 1753-8335
Article publication date: 23 August 2021
Issue publication date: 27 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to critically assess how a National Government Park in Tokyo aims to commemorate the first 50 years of the Showa era (1926–1976), a time of drastic upheaval and societal change, with a naturalistic landscape.
Design/methodology/approach
The author investigated the park by conducting a literature review, making observations in the park on multiple occasions, conducting a survey of and interviews with park users and compiling photographs.
Findings
The author found that the park nostalgically highlights the early 1950s as the essence of Showa Japan. These few years represent a lull between the two Showa-era upheavals of war and rapid development and urbanization, and symbolize a last flowering of Japan’s 2,000-year-old agrarian way of life. The nostalgic presentation of Japan’s rural essence presents, the author argues, a different nationalist narrative than the military-glorifying variant that has gained traction since the end of the Cold War.
Social implications
According to critical theorists, society and space are dialectically related and mutually constitutive. The nationalist vision of a landscape, then – including the park’s landscape – has potential to inform and help shape social beliefs and values.
Originality/value
While Japanese nationalism is a major topic among Western academics, the literature on nationalist landscapes in Japan – with the exception of “obviously” symbolic sites, such as Yasukuni Shrine – is extremely limited. This paper helps fill the gap.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to the reviewers for their detailed and helpful feedback. Special thanks are also due to Dr Orhon Myadar for helpful suggestions on an earlier draft of this manuscript.
Citation
Davidson, R.A. (2022), "Placemaking and pastoral park planning in Japan: the Showa case", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 55-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-02-2021-0018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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