Slogans, Poetry and Platitudes in Japan’s Travel Media: Function of Stereotype in the “Chikyu-No-Arukikata” Guidebook Series

要旨

Chikyu-No-Arukikata has been Japan's foremost travel guidebook series since its start in 1979.This paper examines how it was quickly and widely accepted by the Japanese public.By analyzing the slogans that appeared on its cover pages from its first days to its renewal around 2002, this paper aims to indicate that the series utilized slogans based on stereotypes in multiple ways to gain popularity among youth, its main target audience at the time.These slogans can be divided into two types: method-oriented and experience-oriented.In the former type of slogan, the series adopted the stereotypic approaches of a popular counterculture magazine to gain recognition from the younger generation.As for the latter type, the series described destinations with a variety of clichs or platitudes, namely through stereotypes, and they are composed in a poetic style, which can be regarded as a travel stereotype in Japan.With the help of stereotypes, the series was able to open up a market in the FIT travel media that was uncommon in Japan at that time.Therefore, it is reasonable that the series stopped using the stereotype-based slogans after its renewal as it was able to get rid of its image as a series for backpacker's budget travel and to advance to an all-around guidebook series for general tourists.

主題