Tracing Shintoism in Japanese nature-based domestic tourism experiences

Figures & data

Table 1. Shintoism aspects and the focus of analysis

Shintoism aspects	Multiple Kami (god) – polytheistic nature	Significance of woods/forests
Analysis focus questions
Meaning of nature	Any underlying impulse that reflected the concept of multiple Kami in the meaning of nature	Particular meanings endowed in association with woods or forests
Experiences sought	Any symbolically meaningful experiences or activities in contemporary Japanese society	Some experiences were given more meanings if they were associated with woods or forests
Things to see	Any symbolically meaningful object or item in contemporary Japanese society	Special meanings given to particular flora or fauna in woods or forests
Benefits sought		Characteristics in the benefits sought from woods or forests compared to others

Table 2. Summary of findings

Questions	Shintoism-relevant concepts (number of occurrences from the data-set)
Meaning of nature	• Relaxation/diversion (35/78 = 45%) W/F • No meaning (11/78 = 14%), no answer (38/116 = 33%) • Healing (10/78 = 13%) W/F
Experiences sought	• Healing and relaxation (53/131 = 40.5%) W/F • Bathing in forest (17/131 = 13%) W/F; K • Furaeeru (ふれあう) (2) W/F
Benefits sought	• Refreshed by nature (77/114 = 67.5%) W/F • Healing (20/114 = 17.5%) W/F • Learning/gaining knowledge (6/114 = 0.5%) • Furaeeru (ふれあう) (1) W/F
Things to see	• Trees and leaves, rocks, mountain, animals in mountain/forest, flowers, lakes (72/130 = 55%) W/F; K • Something as perfect as seen in Ghibli (1/130 = 0.07%) K

Notes: W/F for Woods/Forests and K for Kami.

Figure 1. Frequency use of the words “shizen to fureau” or “shizen tono fureai” in academic journals in Japan from 1995 to 2014

Figure 2. Frequency use of the words fureau or fureai in national newspapers in Japan from 2005 to 2014