The good souvenir: representations of Okinawa and Kinmen islands in Asia

Abstract

Representations of indigenous Okinawa shisa (Japan) and Kinmen wind lion totems (Taiwan) are popular tourist souvenirs. They are also commonly used in destination tourism promotion as logos or mascots. Some tourism research describes these practices as exploitative and damaging to local culture. Other research suggests that resident consensus, local production and government sponsorship can produce a good souvenir that benefits local identity and economy. This paper reports on a semiotic analysis of these cultural representations as found onsite at these two destinations. Photographs are interpreted as index, icon and symbol according to Peirce's semiotics compared. Seven types of representations were found that indicate complex relationships between original totems and their variations. The representations are the same for both destinations. This comparative research finds that each type of representation has a unique place in the tourism economy, but all are held together as a coherent whole by the form and location of the original totems. The good souvenir is a product of creative marketing and sponsorship and vigilant preservation of cultural heritage. The original totem form should be immutable; its value and significance increases over time. As commercial duplications proliferate, government policy should protect the originals and fix them in their physical locations.

理想的旅游纪念品：亚洲冲绳和金门岛的代表性

日本冲绳shisa图腾和台湾金门风狮图腾的代表物是很流行的旅游纪念品。它们也经常被用于目的地旅游促销的标志物和吉祥物。一些旅游研究将这些行为看作是剥削和毁坏当地文化的作为。其他研究建议当地居民的共识，当地的生产力和政府的赞助能提供一个很好的能有益于当地经济和当地个性的旅游纪念品。该文章报告了在该两地发现的文化代表特性的符号学分析。根据Peirce的符号对比来将照片解释为目录，图标和象征符号。文章发现了七种代表性，并指出在图腾和可变特性间的复杂关系。在两个目的地发现的代表性是一样的。对比研究发现每一种代表特性在旅游经济中都有一种独特的地位，但全部通过图腾的形式和位置综合起来能成为连贯的整体。理想的旅游纪念品是创造性的市场营销和文化遗产的谨慎保护的产品。原本的图腾形式应该是不变的，它的价值和重要性通过时间变化而增加。商业重复性和政府政策应该在它们原本的地理位置上保护原来的样貌和修复它们。

Keywords:

• cultural sustainability
• Kinmen
• Okinawa
• representations
• semiotics
• souvenir
• visual research

关键词:

• 文化可持续性
• 金门
• 冲绳
• 代表性
• 符号学
• 纪念品
• 视觉研究

Acknowledgement

This research was generously funded by Kyung Hee University Research Grant no. 20100703 (3.1.2010 to 2.28.2011), Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Notes

1. Semiotics is the study of the meaning of signs, typically their iconic, indexical and symbolic aspects.