UAS Students Contemplate issues of Culture, Heritage, and Tourism

The University of Alaska Southeast Tourism Studies class recently returned from a 15-day tourism immersion trip in Japan.

Juneau, Alaska

Date of Press Release: March 9, 2024

The University of Alaska Southeast Tourism Studies class recently returned from a 15-day tourism immersion trip in Japan. The semester long class, which is part of the UAS Outdoor Studies program, focused on discussing theories regarding the role of sport, culture, and tourism in Alaska and internationally.

To help stimulate thoughtful conversation on the role of heritage in national and international tourism, Professors Forest Wagner and Kevin Krein brough the ten students to shrines and temples in Kyoto, including the Fushimi Inari Shrine which is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails in the shadow of Mount Inari.

The group the spent a week in the Japanese Alps skiing and thinking about how sport and leisure relate and complicate eco and adventure tourism. The course concluded with a visit to the Snow Monkey Park and instruction in Kendo at Hosei University in Tokyo.

The trip took place from January 1 through the 15th, and was supported by the University of Alaska Southeast School of Arts and Sciences, and Hosei University Professor Yoshiko Oda.