Building experience for Seichi Junrei "Anime pilgrimage"

Digital tourism: Building experience for Seichi Junrei "Anime pilgrimage". Author: Edgar Axelsson

Media Technology: Strategic Media Development. Master thesis, 30 credits, advanced level (ME620A).

Malmö University. Supervisor: Martin Berg. Examiner: Thomas Pederson. Date of submission: 25th of June 2020.

Abstract

Despite growing as a new popular facet of tourism in Japan, Seichi junrei is still niche and largely undocumented, stifling both the experiences of participants as well as the opportunities in the tourism industry. The tourism industry is changing and always trying to improve but lacks a personal touch. According to studies, the tourism industry focuses more on mainstream

tourism than it does on niche tourism. Seichi junrei community issues are not being heard by the tourism industry; There are no user-friendly platforms available for the subculture to contribute towards tourism. This text explores the development of tourism and improving the experiences of tourists participating in the phenomena known as seichi junrei. Seichi junrei is explored through ethnography to create bonds. Together as a team of voluntary participants, through participatory design challenges the current problems with tourist experiences and improves them through digital tourism. The thesis creates a community and a platform that solves the user experience problems of seichi junrei. Seichi junrei becomes a guide for new fans where everyone can work as a community and help evolve the tourism phenomena of seichi junrei.

Keywords: subculture, digital tourism, participatory design, user experience, otaku, community

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the following individuals who took part in this master’s thesis research: ● Martin Berg for supervising the thesis

● My family for supporting me along the way

Also, special thanks to the following communities for taking part in interviews and testing the prototype:

● /r/laidback camp

● Joey Bizinger and the local Japanese otaku community for providing seiche junrei experiences

● Lee Cheong Loong (YogurtM; http://yogurtmedia.net) for providing information about inside the anime industry

Table of Contents

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SEICHI JUNREI TODAY 17

ONLINE OBSERVATION 17

MAPPING LOCATIONS DIGITAL TOURISM INTERACTION 20

FIELD RESEARCH IN JAPAN 22

UNDERSTANDING SEICHI JUNREI 25

LOCATION OBSERVATION 29

RURAL SEICHI JUNREI 29

METROPOLITAN SEICHI JUNREI 33

ANALYZING ISSUES WITH SEICHI JUNREI 36

IMPROVING SEICHI JUNREI 37

SUMMARY 37

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN OF WEB APP PROTOTYPE 39

DIGITAL TOURISM PARTICIPATORY DESIGN 39

DESIGN OVERVIEW 42 COMPARING SEICHI JUNREI ALTERNATIVES 42

PROTOTYPE DESIGN PROCESS 44

SKETCHES AND WIREFRAMES 46

CHARACTER DESIGN 55

PROTOTYPE SHOWCASE 58

PROTOTYPE TESTING 64

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 72

RESULT LIMITATION 75 CONCLUSION 75 FUTURE STUDY 77 REFERENCES 78 GLOSSARY 82 CONSENT FORM 84

Table of Figures

Figure 1 Akihabara Tokyo Japan. 1

Figure 2 example of moe. 5

Figure 3 Washimiya event. 6

Figure 4 The design process. 11

Figure 5 Ethnographic notes. 13

Figure 6 Reddit and Discord anime groups. 17

Figure 7 Interview with Lee Cheong Loong from Yogurt Media. 19

Figure 8 Anime and seichi junrei locations. 20

Figure 9 Map of seichi junrei. 21

Figure 10 Author of a manga engaging with the readers. 22

Figure 11 Magia Record gacha game. 23

Figure 12 Example pages of Japanese Anime 88 Spots magazine. 25

Figure 13 The Anime Man and Edgar Axelsson. 27

Figure 14 Ema the wooden plaques. 28

Figure 15 Laid-Back Camp the scene in the anime and the same place in real life. 30 Figure 16 Hints from laid back camp locations. 31

Figure 17 Laid-back camp seichi junrei. 33

Figure 18 Your name movie staircase. 34

Figure 19 Hatsune Miku itasha Akihabara. 35

Figure 20 Leg work web archival. 36

Figure 21 Design workshop doing participatory design with otaku community members. 40 Figure 22 Voting process for prototype features. 41 Figure 23 Japanese Anime 88 Spots magazine and Legwork feature broken down. 43 Figure 24 Suggested features by the community. 44

Figure 25 The design process of the prototype. 45

Figure 26 Sketch of the prototype. 46

Figure 27 User interaction with the platform. 48

Figure 28 Testing the research question. 49

Figure 29 Main page wireframe of project ライ. 50

Figure 30 Log in wireframe of project ライ. 51

Figure 31 Menu wireframe of project ライ. 52

Figure 32 Tourism experience wireframe of project ライ. 54 Figure 33 Anime character mascot of Mount Fuji. 55

Figure 34 Akihabara. 56

Figure 35 Rai seichi junrei mascot. 57

Figure 36 Rai mascot animated into a realistic background to create seichi junrei. 58

Figure 37 Main website page. 59

Figure 38 Main menu page. 61

Figure 39 Laidback camp seichi junrei page. 62

Figure 40 Report card. 65

Figure 41 Total score of the prototype. 66

Figure 42 A/B test results. 68

Figure 43 Project ライ testing by community members. 69 Figure 44 Magi Record character augmented reality photo mode. 70 Figure 45 Ufotable and anime tourism association. 76

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Introduction

Introduction

Seichi junrei is a fast-growing tourism phenomenon within the otaku subculture. Otaku’s subculture members have dedicated a huge amount of time exploring real-life anime locations. The term seichi junrei in Japanese means anime pilgrimage and it’s on the rise as a niche tourism phenomenon. The reason for the phenomena being niche is because some of the activities that the subculture does are unique to Japan (Okamura, 2010). From participating in Shinto anime rituals to cosplaying as your favorite anime character. Japan takes the concept of cuteness to animation to a whole new level with millions of storming Akihabara.

Figure 1 Akihabara Tokyo Japan.

Akihabara is a popular subculture location for other otaku subculture members to gather and share their identities. Identity is strong within the otaku subculture where anyone can become one just by watching their favorite anime or joining an online community.

“The settings of Japanese anime series are often closely based on real locations. Places like shrines and train stations featured in these cartoons are often hunted down by fans on visits called seichi junrei, which translates as

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Introduction

"holy land pilgrimage." Local governments and businesses sometimes even promote the connections to well-known places, decorating train stations with characters or selling souvenirs at shrines.

But there's a more challenging version of the pursuit: a subculture of hobbyists who hunt for everyday streetscapes, shops, and train stations reproduced in these cartoons in exquisite detail. Called butaitanbou, which translates as "scene hunting," it's not as simple as it might sound.” (Lombardi 2016).

While seichi junrei is growing Japan faces problems with tourism with big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Having issues with overpopulated tourism creates a challenge for the

Japanese government to scatter tourists across the country. Some rural cities are dependent on tourism and have tourism as the main source of income for the city or community (Kreps, 1997). Platforms like TripAdvisor offer tourism services and experience, but it’s usually tailored towards popular tourism locations (Ardito, 2019). Niche tourism experiences have become more popular and are not taken as seriously as popular tourism locations. The Japanese government has tried to launch a project called Anime Tourism Association. However, the feedback that was received was mixed. This is due to the government trying to commercialize the idea of seichi junrei and voice their own opinions. Not allowing others to participate as much. The association was criticized for taking favors from big anime companies for beneficial purposes.

Hatena Group which was another solution where the platform achieved seiche junrei tourism experiences. The idea behind the platform was to serve as an archival database for others who enjoy a similar activity. However, the archival platform was hard to navigate and did not provide valuable tourism information. It was also disliked by a few otaku community members because it used web scraping techniques to gather their information (Hatena Group 2013). As of writing this thesis Hatena Group has shut down its services and is no longer in operations.

With a limit to information and not much to go on with the phenomena on seichi junrei. This creates a problem area of tourism development. Overpopulated tourism in big cities and little to no tourism in rural areas of Japan. Followed by issues with finding a good platform to explore the phenomena of seichi junrei. Requiring additional research to understand why the otaku subculture doesn't have a good solid platform that would help them with tourism development. Digital tourism developed by David Benyon is a method of understanding tourism and

attempting to digitize the tourism experience. Focusing on 3 principles. Before, during and, after tourism experience, this is used by user experience developers to develop good tourism

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platforms. The idea behind the 3 principles is to focus on the analysis of tourism experience. To understand how it can be improved (Benyon, 2014).

During this master thesis, I traveled to Japan to create a platform that would help solve the tourism problems of seichi junrei. I focused on ethnography and observation to understand the Japanese culture closer and use them as a model for community development. Together through participatory design and media technology we attempted to create a platform that helps seiche junrei become more recognizable.

This study aims to investigate how user experience designers can work with a subculture to create a good design for tourism development. As well as how to work together with the observational group on creating a community-driven user experience design for tourism development through media technology.

Study Limitation

The study focuses on community-driven tourism development and is limited to specific

prefectures of Japan. Those prefectures are Yamanashi, Tokyo prefecture, Hyōgo prefecture, Kyoto prefecture, and Osaka prefecture. The thesis does not explore the economical side of tourism and only focuses on the ethnographic and media technological study.

Research question

To what degree can the experience of seichi junrei be improved and supported by a web application?

Next, the study proceeds to the literature review and method. This allows the reader to understand the subculture, digital tourism, and tourism development better. Followed by

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Literature Review

Literature Review

Anime, like the word animation, is a form of animated media that originated in Japan and is known for its colorful art forms, unique characters, and storytelling. The word otaku is a

Japanese word for a geek or a nerd. The word otaku has been used to describe specific people based on their passion for media, such as gaming, anime, manga, and photography. Anime is watched by many people. However, it is not the only media out there. Anime is closely related to manga. Manga is a graphic novel form of anime that consists of mostly black-and-white printed comics.

During the 1960s, a large proportion of Japanese youth, both university students and lower-class migrant workers in urban areas, began to oppose existing political, social, and cultural agreements (Kinsella, 1998). Japanese people used the word otaku or outcast for people who were against the government. This happened because Japanese people have high moral standards and view those who oppose the country as outcasts. In the 1980s, the media industry began releasing much anime, the word otaku definition changed because the youth had found interest in doing extra activities after school and formed social clubs making anime watching and the word otaku a social status.

The word otaku has mixed views around Japanese people. Members of the older generation still see the word as negative due to its negative reputation and history (Galbraith, 2010). However, due to the otaku anime movement, which promoted seeing otakus as creative individuals who use their artistic skills for freelancing and creating dōjinshi, which is a form of self-publishing and selling manga, the word otaku has adapted as a positive meaning related to the identities of some people within the subculture (Kinsella, 1998).

Condry (2017) examined the symbolic definition of being an otaku within the subculture and mentioned that you get hooked in the artistic form of creating dōjinshi and interacting with the other members of the subculture because they become fans of your artwork, especially when it comes to character design. The otaku subculture likes anime characters because “they become like friends and want to spend time with them” (Condry, 2017, p. 144). Japanese dōjinshi artists are known for creating memorable characters for all age demographics, allowing the characters to have symbolic meanings to otakus they enjoy reading about or watching them and feel like they are part of these characters’ stories.

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Literature Review

Figure 2 example of moe.

Japanese doujin artists prefer to draw “moe” characters. The word moe means cute in slang Japanese. Through “moe” representations of characters in anime, otaku members become attracted to characters based on appearance (Ito, 2013). Character appearance is not the only factor of symbolism within the subculture. The stories and locations of scenes play important roles in the anime. One popular location that is often referenced within anime is Akihabara. Akihabara acts as a subculture gathering spot for those who follow the otaku anime and manga subculture. The area is known for events, activities, merchandise, and jobs that revolve around the otaku subculture.

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Literature Review

Otakus who are interested in seichi junrei like to travel to their favorite anime locations to

experience what it is like to be in an anime. Seichi junrei enables fans to experience how it feels to be a character in an anime or get inspiration for creating new forms of media, like dōjinshi for anime or manga.

Figure 3 Washimiya event.

“Following the airing of the anime television series Lucky star in 2007 fans spontaneously began to visit Washimiya '' (Yamamura, 2014, p. 62). Lucky Star features the simple lives of high school girls in a place called Washimiya. The idea of the anime was to promote the slice of life genre and the comedy of everyday life for high school girls with an otaku parody in mind. Some of the characters were otakus who faced otaku-related problems. Following the success of Lucky Star, Japanese fans began to organize meetings on internet forums to discuss the relationship between anime and its locations. Washimiya, the town where Lucky Star scenes were inspired, the locals began creating seichi junrei (Yamamura, 2014). This is because Lucky Star featured real-life inspired Japanese locations to show the typical everyday life of an otaku. However, there was one problem. The town of Washimiya is a rural community, and not much

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Literature Review

information is available about the area that inspired Lucky Star. Many fans of Lucky Star faced the problem of not being able to map out all the specific locations shown in Lucky Star. When locals found out that there was considerable online debate about where the Lucky Star locations were, they became concerned that many fans would start wandering around the town looking for them (Yamamura, 2014).

Yamamura thought that the locals of Washimiya would not like otakus traveling to rural Japan for seichi junrei. Once otaku fans started visiting the rural town of Washimiya, the “contact between fans and residents increased” (Yamamura, 2014, p. 65). Washimiya locals

acknowledged the popularity of the anime and worked with otakus to create an event that has been celebrated yearly due to the popularity of the anime. The Washimiya event successfully promoted seiche junrei as a tourist attraction. “If the one who watches anime doesn't have access to location information, the fan has no way of knowing where to visit such locations” (Okamoto, 2014, p. 22). One other successful example of seichi junrei was the dying town of Numazu. With the success of Love Live! Sunshine!! Many otaku fans began flocking the city to experience the setting of the anime (Sherman, 2018). The city's economy drastically changed because the town was not a tourist attraction and the city needed to grow economically. The anime of Love Live! Sunshine!! saved the city from financial problems.

“According to Numazu's tourism bureau, about 4.02 million tourists visited the city in 2015, but the number increased after Love Live! Sunshine!! premiered in 2016. The city received about 4.15 million tourists in 2016. From April to September of 2017, about 2.90 million people visited Numazu, an increase of about 570,000 people from the same period the previous year.” (Sherman 2018). Seichi junrei is an important idea to expand on. Because the Japanese government is trying to solve the overcrowded problem with metropolitan cities and trying to attract people to fewer known towns (Alyse, 2020).

One common question is usually asked by people in Yamamura (2014) research. How does one participate in seichi junrei? Okamoto (2014) explains that anime travels begin by watching the anime to gather information about the scenes. Then otaku fans try to map out the locations. Fans can try to find the locations of the anime if they are skilled enough. Once the locations are identified, the fans head out on a pilgrimage to experience the locations (Yamamura, 2014).

“Fans take laptop computers or mobile phones with them and provide updates or pilgrimage diaries in real time on internet notice-boards, blogs. Such online postings done after the pilgrimage is over.” (Okamoto, 2014, p. 26).

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Literature Review

The information is inaccessible to others because it is private and scattered around the internet, making it difficult for people who are interested in similar activities to access it (Scarles, 2013). “Many pilgrims publish pilgrimage journals online, including photographs or videos that they have taken in the sacred site” (Okamoto, 2014, p. 26). An online archive called Legwork has archived information about some of the available locations in Japanese. It has about 1,715 blogs. The platform Legwork will be discussed later, along with why the otakus do not trust the platform.

Okamoto (2014) mentions that otaku fans do not become contributors. They only travel to locations with no intention of contributing to tourism platforms. Instead of creating an experience for others, they do it for themselves with no intention to share their experiences with others (Okamoto, 2014). According to Scarles’ (2013) theory, there is a trust issue because outside influences, like official tourism agencies, in this case, try to promote seichi junrei. Scarles (2013) mentions that otakus do not make their tourism experiences public (Scarles, 2013). This creates confusion in niche tourism because people with similar interests do not know where to start. Therefore, as a UX researcher and designer, it’s important to find out why the otaku subculture does not want to share touristic experiences and attempt to build a platform with the subculture. Which is a user driver and creates a positive tourism experience. That would allow seichi junrei to become more recognizable and personalized towards the otaku subculture. To be able to tackle such a problem I need to study the otaku subculture closer. To get an understanding of what the subculture needs are. What are the pain and the problems that the user has with the sharing of experience or using the platforms or other guides?

To solve the tourism problem of seiche junrei it’s important to focus on digital tourism. Because “digital tourism is the digital support of the tourist experience” (Benyon, 2014, p. 522).

Digital tourism is a concept that was developed by UX researchers to gain an understanding of how to improve tourism experiences. Through digital technology platforms like TripAdvisor help travelers to plan their trips and write recommendations after, but such platforms are only beneficial to popular tourist destinations. Niche tourism like seiche junrei is absent on platforms like TripAdvisor. Therefore, digital tourism will act as a media technological tool that will help solve the issue of the lack of information about related touristic experiences because the point of digital tourism is to improve people’s experiences. The idea of digital tourism is to focus on three principles that were developed by Benyon (2014): before, during, and after experiences.

The idea of using before, during, and after experiences is for UX designers to focus on stages of the tourism experience so it can be tested and improved.

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Literature Review

● The before experience idea involves understanding what seichi junrei is about and where the traveler is during the planning stages of their tourism activity. The idea for the UX designer here is to focus on attracting the curiosity of the traveler by analyzing and understanding how the traveler interacts with tourism platforms. ● The during experience idea involves understanding what the traveler will be

doing during their travels and providing them with trouble-free support. Also, it’s about how a tourism platform can be easy to use, such as by enabling users to view events at the locations.

● The after-experience idea involves trying to convert travelers into contributors so that they can help others have positive touristic experiences. When a traveler is finished with their travels, designers try to get them to contribute to the platform by designing a user-driver platform that attracts others to join. Attracting people to the platform is done by understanding traveler needs and emotions through empathy.

The most popular media technological tools for digital tourism, according to Benyon (2014), are web-based platforms and smartphones. While testing the concept of digital tourism, UX

researchers found that mobile websites work best because users can jump straight into the platform (Benyon, 2014). This is because mobile apps must be downloaded and there is a chance that travelers will remove the app once they are done traveling. Websites are always there and available. However, the most important idea is to attract users to the website by ensuring that the published content is targeted towards the interests of the targeted travelers. Safiti (2017) used digital tourism to promote digital experiences of the exploration of Indonesian culture using augmented reality. According to her examples, digital tourism sparks curiosity in what is going on within the platforms, making the travelers want to come back to the locations and use the platform.

“Users can check out selected information from any tourism location.

Information may include a description of the tourism site along with pictures, video, 3D objects, and 360 virtual tours to explain the information in detail.” (Safitri, 2017, p. 2)

Using augmented reality technologies makes platforms highly interactive. This is what makes travelers interested in the tourism experience. They constantly have support, enabling them to have touristic experiences and become contributors to support new travelers. Benyon (2014) states the following about the development of effective digital touristic experiences:

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Literature Review

● To improve tourism experiences, the first idea is to analyze and anticipate the needs of travelers.

● The second idea for UX researchers is to focus on providing engaging experiences to travelers.

● The third idea is to make it easy for travelers to understand the purpose of traveling, so they do not need to do much research about the destination. It should be intuitive for a traveler to have a tourism experience.

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Method

Method

This thesis aims to understand how the experience of seichi junrei can be improved through UX design. This thesis adopts ethnography and participatory design research methodology.

Ethnography is used to understand the everyday life of the otaku subculture and get the insides of the subculture which can later be applied in design. Participatory design is used as a

collaboration with the otaku subculture through ethnography. The group that will be studied will be used in participatory design to create an interactive platform.

.

Figure 4 The design process.

The Interactive cycle of human-centered design as shown in figure 4 allows us to make

observations on the intended target, generate ideas, produce prototypes, and test them. Repeat until satisfied. This is often called the spiral method to emphasize that each interaction through the stages makes progress (Norman, 1988).

Norman (1988) talks about the everyday principles of design; his method approach to product design is a good way to get the research going. Because the study focused on the area that is not known by many with limited amounts of literature observation was a good starting point of the research. By participating in the country of origin where seichi junrei it was possible to study the subculture closer and observe their culture to form bonds that would be used for

participatory design.

Digital tourism guidelines are divided into three categories for improving tourism before the tourism trip, during the tourism trip and, after the tourism trip.

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Method

● Before tourism experience: Online observation where I participated in online communities to further understand how the subculture interacts with one and other. Observe what the subcultures are interested in and connect with them. The connections were used to move the research further because I managed to get good starting points on where to start in seichi junrei this is also known as digital ethnography.

● During tourism experience: From the information that was gathered through digital ethnography, I moved to observe the subculture closer in Japan and participated in seichi junrei activities to understand the anime pilgrimage closer and why the subculture does it. Also known as ethnography.

● After tourism experience: Using the information that is gathered from the ethnography and observation and putting it together with the community to create an interactive prototype. Also known as participatory design. In participatory design sub-methods were used such as user interviews to understand the user needs, brainstorming to bring out ideas for the prototype, A/B testing to further test the prototype from point a to point b and vice versa.

These are the essential methods that were used to solve the research problems and attempt to answer the research question.

Ethnography

“Ethnography usually involves the ethnographer participating in people’s daily lives for an extended period. Watching what happens, listening to what is said, and asking questions through informal and formal interviews, collecting

documents.” (Atkinson, 2007, p. 3)

Ethnography was used to understand the otaku subculture. Ethnography is important to

understand the daily lives and activities that take place within the otaku subculture. Traveling to Japan enabled me to participate in seichi junrei and understand what it was about. The locations were chosen based on my digital ethnographic observations, research on seichi junrei, and the use of anime to map out the locations. This was a good start that helped me gain opportunities to interview local community members and further understand the tourism activity of seichi junrei. I documented my findings from observing and interacting with people within the community.

Based on the information found by Okomoto (2014) and Scarles (2013), there are unanswered questions about tourism experiences ethnography would allow me to understand what it means to go on such pilgrimages as an otaku. Ethnographic studies of the subculture and findings were

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Method

recorded and documented through notetaking, photography, and capturing videos as shown in figure 5.

Figure 5 Ethnographic notes.

My ethnographic results helped me with prototype development. Ethnography enabled me to explore and see firsthand how users engage in seichi junrei (O’Reilly, 2012).

Digital ethnography is a part of the ethnographic study. I used digital ethnography to join online communities to gather information on the subculture. As well as trying to get an understanding of what seichi junrei means for the subculture. This allowed me to create a bond with the subculture which was used for participatory design. The idea was to improve the design by creating more community interaction. Because community interaction was one of the absent features of existing solutions. The interaction of digital ethnography was done through text, video calls, and online workshops.

Before traveling to Japan and engaging in necessary field observation, I had to map out specific locations of seichi junrei. I identified the anime series that takes place in both rural and

metropolitan areas of Japan to get an understanding of how the local otaku community responds to travelers who visit seichi junrei locations. Mapping out locations and settings can give an ethnographer a first glimpse of how to sample data when it comes to seichi junrei (Okamoto, 2014). By interacting with the digital community of people interested in the same anime series helped me to find such locations and develop the prototype that will help improve people’s tourism experiences based on otaku subculture knowledge.

Ethnography focuses on empathy and understanding of the individual who is trying to share their experiences. I attempted to understand shared experiences through empathy by allowing the subculture members to guide me (Pink, 2016).

“Unstructured interview is an interview in which there is no specific set of predetermined questions, although the interviewers usually have certain topics in mind that they wish to cover during the interview. Unstructured interviews flow like an everyday conversation and tend to be more informal and open-ended.” (Williams, 2019)

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Method

I choose to use unstructured interview techniques due to my qualitative approach. There were no restrictions, and I asked questions about the topic and formed new questions as the

interviews progressed.

“Participant observation is one of the main ethnographic data collection methods.” (Group, -). The observation was the key methodology used in this thesis while I was traveling and gaining a deep understanding of seichi junrei. The ethnographer is encouraged to become a participant-observer while conducting the research. The advantage of participating is that you become fully part of the group and can directly experience what the people you are studying are

experiencing. It is particularly useful when, for example, you need to understand different cultures and values, as well as the traditions of a subculture (Group, -). There are multiple ways to observe in a study like this, but when it comes to tourism and subculture studies, it is

important to be an observer and a participant because doing so enables others outside of seichi junrei to understand what is missing for those who want to begin engaging in seichi junrei. For example, someone who is interested in anime culture and is a part of the otaku subculture may never have participated in it or know about seichi junrei. Digital tourism is a process that

improves a traveler’s experience before, during, and after a trip. Therefore, it is important to be a participant-observer and form a relationship with members of the subculture and participate in seichi junrei.

Participatory design

The information that was gathered during the research based on participating in digital

ethnography and ethnographic observations in Japan was combined to deliver a digital tourism experience. Participatory design advises working together with the otaku subculture to create a dedicated community member who can help create a prototype for digital tourism. In

ethnographic research, I studied individuals over a long time and observed them. Participatory design can strengthen the relationship between me and participants in the study. This is important because by looking at the Lucky Star example in Chapter Two of the research by Yamamura (2014), the community is focused on seichi junrei. By forming a community and understanding seichi junrei it enables the community to create an interactive platform that would engage the research in the design process. The formation of the community allows us to focus on the strengths of seichi junrei and how to improve it because each participant brings unique experiences. They can contribute their experiences and research findings to the platform. By applying participatory design and sharing visions of seichi junrei, it is possible to create a platform that can improve tourism, like Trip Advisor. The aim is to improve seichi junrei

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Method

experiences for members of the otaku subculture. This would allow the individuals to share their touristic experience digitally and overall tourism experience will be improved before, during, and after of seichi junrei (Benyon, 2014).

Prototype

According to UX design guidelines, to create an optimal experience, it is important to

understand that experience from the beginning (Benyon, 2014). According to Yamamura (2014), seichi junrei exists and that there are a few issues related to tourism experiences. One of the issues was with the platform known as Legwork. According to Travis (2019), by focusing on tourism platforms that exist. To see where the issues are in the tourism experience and build a similar solution. Comparing the existing platforms will enable a future prototype to improve tourism experiences because the issues will be identified in the existing platform (Travis, 2019). Ethnography enables researchers to see how users interact with the environment and how I can participate in it. Observation enabled the research to engage with the community and observe seichi junrei. Participatory design is what brings both communities together to create a platform. The prototype is an additional part of the research where it was possible to test the research question and determine whether it was possible to improve people’s experiences of seichi junrei. By having a prototype as a tool, with the community that was created in the study, I was able to measure how much the improvement was made in anime tourism and create digital tourism (Benyon, 2014). The prototype was used as a method to develop the research question. To test it to see if it was possible to answer the research question.

Ethical considerations

Ethics were important in this research. Laws like the general data protection regulation were explained to the individuals before the interviews to familiarize them with what rights they have and what type of information would be used in the research (Council, 2017).

Each participant was given a consent form in verbal and written form. The consent form can be found at the bottom of the thesis. When it comes to digital ethnography, the consent form was given in another form. This is because, in digital ethnography, aliases are used instead of real names providing anonymity depending on how the user chooses to display their name. Each user is given an option to use their real name or an alias (Nedbalkova, 2015). All the fieldnotes and documentation was stored privately with no names, providing anonymity between me and the individual providing the data. Participants were able to withdraw themselves from the research if they chose to.

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Method

Summary

This chapter is about the methods needed to provide the necessary results to answer the research question. Digital ethnography was used to gather data digitally before I traveled to Japan and formed a community to gain an understanding of what seichi junrei is about to members of the otaku subculture. Ethnography was used in Japan to observe seichi junrei locations to further gather results needed to build a platform prototype for this type of travel. Participatory design was used to design and create the prototype.

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An ethnographic study of seichi junrei today

An ethnographic study of seichi junrei today

This chapter is divided into multiple sections with a focus on digital tourism and how it can be applied to seichi junrei. First, I deepened my understanding of seichi junrei by interacting with the otaku subculture using the methodology from the previous chapter. Then I travel to Japan to participate in seichi junrei based on the mapped locations to gain an understanding of why seichi junrei is touristic and create a community to improve it.

Online observation

Before understanding what seichi junrei is, I had to gain an understanding of what it means to be a part of an otaku subculture (Okamoto, 2014). Over four weeks, I joined a few online

communities to engage in the subculture and learn and understand what it is like to be an otaku, as well as daily-life activities in the otaku community. During the four weeks, I spoke mixed Japanese and English language.

While researching, my goal was to focus on tourism experiences, so I investigated anime communities in rural and metropolitan areas. I had to observe both areas to understand how seichi junrei is created in them to understand how tourism can affect those locations. I found a few interesting communities that focused on anime, like Lucky Star, which focused on real-life Japanese locations. One anime called Laid Back Camp shows what daily life is like camping in the rural Yamanashi prefecture of Japan, and Steins Gate takes place in Tokyo Akihabara. The idea was to get to know the communities and study the otaku subculture. While browsing the internet for communities, I found that most otakus prefer using Reddit and Discord. Reddit is the “front page of the internet” where people can start their forums and discuss the topics of

interest. Discord is a communication platform like Skype but focuses on multiple channels where people can text and voice chat.

Figure 6 Reddit and Discord anime groups.

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● Sharing memes about specific anime. Memes are “an element of a culture or system of behavior passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means” (Lexico, 2019).

● Showcasing artwork that was inspired by anime. ● Showcasing purchased merchandise.

● Sharing hentai images of a specific character that the group liked. Hentai meaning animated pornography.

● Dedication to a specific character called “waifu”.

As Condry (2017) described, when it comes to character engagement otakus have tendencies to post characters with symbolic identities that they enjoy sharing with others, making this an interesting starting point for designing the prototype when it comes to the aesthetics of the subculture. I managed to interview a few otakus on Discord to understand why they share information like pictures, memes, and hentai, as well as why other otaku members need to see their content. According to the individuals in the Reddit interview, sharing memes relaxes people when they are stressed out. They showcase artwork because it brings forth creativity and wants feedback. Hentai allows individuals to fantasize about their worlds where the only limitation is one’s creativity. Dedication to a specific character is called “waifu.” The individual is attached to a specific character that they enjoy and engage with, either by collecting merchandise or sharing content on platforms like Reddit or Discord.

This subculture shares strong symbolism and a sense of identity by using these key points on platforms like Reddit. The key points are useful and enable designers to focus on symbolic design. When it comes to UX design and digital tourism, one needs to understand design patterns through the behavior of members of the subculture and their interests (Travis, 2019). After analyzing the forums of the communities, I joined their Discord group to begin analyzing community interaction by using voice and text communication. While observing the

conversation, I noticed that the structure of Discord was like Reddit but with a lively scene. Individuals were discussing similar topics but in a more open environment, sharing life stories, favorite episodes and characters, and so on. I managed to introduce myself and got a friendly reception after explaining what my research is about. This was where I focused on ethnographic interviews and began receiving data about experiences in the subculture and seichi junrei by allowing the community to guide me in the research (O’Reilly, 2012). The interviews had no specific structure due to the idea being that I was the observer and the individuals who part take in them are the ones that guide me since interviewees are the most experienced in anime experiences (Nedbalkova, 2015). The whole interview process took two weeks. There were

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seven dedicated participants in the interviews. Throughout the interviews, I managed to get an inside view of the otaku subculture and why seichi junrei is an interesting tourism activity. The results show that members of the subculture have a great interest in and passion for anything anime related. Some important points were drawn from the interviews:

● There is a strong interest in symbolism within the otaku subculture because they are strongly dedicated to characters and scenery.

● There is a desire to participate in seichi junrei and document experiences. ● Anime and manga have brought much joy to individuals and inspired them to

become like the characters and improve themselves.

Throughout the interviews, I managed to interview a manga artist and a publisher and gain a deep understanding of why the artists of anime and manga paint real-life locations.

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Figure 7 shows the interview with the creator of Yoghurt Media, who provided interesting points about drawing inspired locations and bringing readers together to the place that inspired his works. Locations serve as vehicles of emotional attachment with not only the story characters but the individuals visiting them.

Mapping locations digital tourism interaction

Before continuing my study on and observations of seichi junrei in Japan, I decided to test Yamamura’s (2014) theory to promote seichi junrei by using digital tourism (Benyon, 2014). A task was set up to see what kind of information is needed to participate in seichi junrei. The task was to create a map to map out the locations of anime such as Laid Back and Steins Gate in real life. Locations were mapped by watching anime, analyzing scenes, and pinpointing the exact locations, as shown in figure 8.

Figure 8 Anime and seichi junrei locations.

The Discord communities participated in the analysis, and within a week, the community members managed to find almost all the locations that inspired Laid Back Camp and Steins Gate anime. Mapping out the locations makes it easy for other members to visit them and experience seichi junrei.

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Figure 9 Map of seichi junrei.

Figure 9 shows the locations that were mapped out by me and community members through participatory design. By using digital ethnography and participatory design, I showed that when one has spent enough time within the community, it is possible to improve tourism experiences by interacting with one and another and understanding one another and showing similar interests. It also created a great opportunity to use community dedication to test the design of the final prototype (DESIGN, 2019).

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While reading manga, in some rare cases, the author of the manga series gives locations hints about where the story took place. However, it is not as detailed as the analysis that was done by the community. Some manga authors give names to the cities that inspired their scenes or characters. Some authors want to show some behind-the-scenes details about the locations of their stories or characters, as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10 Author of a manga engaging with the readers.

Figure 10 shows the author of a manga communicating with fans and sharing ideas about what they see as the keys of the stories. Authors’ notes are also useful when it comes to finding and mapping seichi junrei locations. While investigating manga and anime, I noticed that this trend is only popular in a specific genre of manga called slice-of-life. The stories involve real-life

scenarios, but seichi junrei is not limited to slice-of-life and is popular across other genres as well.

The following two subchapters focused on analyzing and observing the otaku subculture online. This was achieved through digital ethnography and observation through analysis. It might be possible to start the research directly in Japan, but it won’t fit together with the methodology. Because seichi junrei is Japanese and it’s difficult to study a culture that I was not familiar with. Therefore, I had to observe the otaku subculture online and create bonds. That would help me move further with the research in Japan so I would know where to start.

Field research in Japan

During my field research, I spent two weeks in Japan to closely observe the subculture and gain an understanding of the otaku subculture and seichi junrei. In this subchapter, I present my findings of seichi junrei. In the online observation sub-chapter, I focus on before-travel

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experiences. This subchapter is focused on the “during experience” of digital tourism. I used the map that was formed by the community to find, observe, and document the locations and interact with local Japanese otakus.

I arrived in Tokyo early in the morning and headed toward Akihabara to begin observing the otaku subculture. At Akihabara, I focused on observing the daily lives of people to get an understanding of the locals and what kind of daily routines they have and noticed a trend in the use of smartphones to play gacha anime games. Gacha games are capsule vending machines but virtualized. The players use real or in-game currency to summon their favorite cards or characters. Gacha is a popular monetization method for mobile games in Japan, making the games free to play. The producers earn money using gacha. Most of the otakus I observed were busy playing popular anime games, such as Magia Record, Fate Grand Order, and Pokémon Go.

Figure 11 Magia Record gacha game.

Figure 11 shows the Magia Record, a popular game played in Japan. The game is free to download but in order to get specific characters, they must be summoned using money. The character has a specific drop rate. Special characters shown in the figure 11 have a drop rate of 1% per drop. Making them unique and desirable.

Akihabara is the central hub for otaku gathering. This is where I managed to question local otakus about seichi junrei. I approached a group of individuals who were waiting in line and playing games and began introducing myself and building relationships with local otakus about topics related to those mentioned in the relevant research chapter and online observation subchapter. The conversations were focused on Akihabara surroundings, anime, manga, and other similar interests. They explained that they were waiting for the pachinko parlor to open. A pachinko parlor is a gambling place according to the locals. Japanese people play pachinko as

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a source of income by playing a mechanical arcade game. While discussing the topic of anime, we managed to talk about Steins Gate which is a popular anime that is from Akihabara. Then the conversation continued towards seichi junrei because some of the locations in Steins Gate were inspired by places in Akihabara. Based on their experience, they explained that seichi junrei is a following of the Japanese Shinto religion, where Shinto followers visit specific temples around the country for religious purposes. The sites are scattered around Japan, and one can visit from 33 to 88 of those sacred sites, and once the pilgrimage is completed, your wishes are fulfilled. The translation of seichi junrei is anime pilgrimage according to them. They described it as a favorite activity among otakus that involves gathering information about and visiting popular anime locations. They had minor knowledge of seichi junrei, and I introduced them to the idea of my study. According to the group, they were interested in seichi junrei and would consider participating in such tourism activity. Contact details were exchanged to keep them as contacts for the future development of the prototype. Before parting ways, I was told that seichi junrei is promoted by the government and that there is a document in the form of a journal available for purchase. This document is only available in physical form as a magazine called Japanese Anime 88 Spots magazine.

I managed to find the local magazine Japanese Anime 88 Spots magazine. It aims to promote tourism for local otaku fans of different series based on anime popularity. The current edition of the magazine focuses on 88 locations picked by fans. The magazine is published yearly by the Anime Tourism Association, a company that is controlled by the Japanese government to promote tourism to popular anime sites. This edition of the magazine featured a favorite anime called Laid-Back Camp. Upon examining the magazine further, I found a description of anime scenes, a list of characters and their personalities, different types of food recommendations based on anime activities, and merchandising, as shown in figure 12.

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Figure 12 Example pages of Japanese Anime 88 Spots magazine.

Understanding seichi junrei

Before participating in seichi junrei I needed to gain a further understanding of why such tourism exists, what kind of history seichi junrei has, and what the locals in Japan have to say about seichi junrei. The group that I first interviewed recommended that I check out the Edo-Tokyo Museum and a specific shrine from a favorite anime called “Your Name” because these are the ideal places to be introduced to seichi junrei.

While visiting the Edo-Tokyo Museum, it was noticed that there was an exhibition showing how the city of Tokyo has developed from the Edo Period until the 21st _{century. The demonstrations}

included Edo-period artifacts in the form of a timeline displaying the country’s heritage. In the presentation, the 1980s model showed “cosplay.” It had a description of the development of Japan through digitization in the modern world. With cosplay being the keyword, I headed back to Akihabara to pursue knowledge of the foundation of the otaku subculture because cosplay is one popular otaku subculture activity.

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I found a café in Akihabara that promoted cosplay culture, so I managed to interview the workers about what they knew about seichi junrei. According to the workers at the cosplay café, most of the workers were diagnosed with hikikomori, which is a social withdrawal from the rest of the people. Participating in seichi junrei travels allows them to get out of their comfort zones and remain social with locals. People who suffer from hikikomori are known as modern-day hermits or individuals who withdraw from the rest of the people and tend to avoid social interaction. According to the workers, they find it comforting to visit anime locations and participate in seichi junrei because it allows them to escape from reality and enjoy their favorite hobby. Before parting ways, I showed them the magazine that I used to study the Anime Tourism Association. There were mixed reactions. They said that “The magazine lacks transparency while showing tourism locations but try to profit more from seichi junrei instead of promoting it by selling more merchandise than showing actual locations.”

Before my first participation in seichi junrei, I managed to encounter a celebrity, Joey Bizinger, in Akihabara, as shown in figure 13. Joey Bizinger is an internet personality known as “The Anime Man” with more than 4 million followers on social platforms like YouTube and Facebook. He is known as a public figure within the otaku subculture and an entertainer who understands the community. He is a native Japanese resident who knows the otaku subculture well. This was a good opportunity to learn and understand seichi junrei better and get inside information from a public figure.

According to Bizinger (2019), seichi junrei is an identity activity for otakus. “Having done a few trips myself, otakus do it just because it is cool and it is for someone that are hardcore fans of a particular show” (Bizinger, 2019, personal communication). It is essential to consider the fact that seichi junrei have become a tourist phenomenon because many young otakus moved from rural areas to metropolitan areas. Tourism has declined, and seichi junrei, or anime pilgrimage, is an excellent way to boost tourism in rural areas of Japan, as well as get away from regular tourists. However, seichi junrei is not known that well among others, and that is something that could be improved (Bizinger, 2019).

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Figure 13 The Anime Man and Edgar Axelsson.

Based on my findings, seichi junrei is out there but lacks a community movement. While interacting in the interviews, most of the people expressed interest in developing the platform and improving seichi junrei. Members of the otaku subculture have many interesting ideas about how they want to improve their own tourism experiences. One example from the interviews is about how the community wants the platform to be according to some locals:

“I think the important part is to see the community being lively and being something you, as a researcher, engage and be a part of where we can return to, to talk, have fun, etc. It’s not about profit but it’s a long-term project that keeps continuing. Like taking care of a plant or pet”

“Improving tourism for seichi junrei, I think that it depends on the community’s quality depending on how large it is as well as how newcomer friendly a community is for seichi junrei. If people who join seichi junrei find it easy to enter the conversation, ask questions and be active participants without feeling left behind or left out of previously established ideas within the community, I think that indicates a nice and well-working community for seichi junrei.”

When I arrived at the famous staircase scene from the movie “Your Name,” I noticed that there was a Shinto shrine near the grand staircase. Upon examining the message boards beside the

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shrine, I noticed that many locals left messages on small boards concerning the movie. The messages contained wishes for them or their loved ones and references to the original movie.

Figure 14 Ema the wooden plaques.

In Shinto religion, the practice of writing prayers known as Ema. It is a practice whereby Shinto worshipers leave wishes and prayers on small wooden plaques. Once the board becomes full of wooden plates, they are burned in a ceremony, fulfilling a specific request that was written on the plaques (Hardacre, 2017). According to the staff of the Shinto shrine, people participate in such activities to wish for anything they desire. Upon examining the Ema, the otaku-related plaques contained wishes about improving oneself or seeking love, as well as wishing good luck for others.

Seichi junrei means anime pilgrimage, and it has some close ties to the Shinto religion. The significant activities and locations are not typical tourist attractions. Informing others in the subculture of such activities would be interesting because there are no guidelines on how to follow such rituals. Rituals like these could serve an important tourism activity for the subculture because it is one way of engaging in pilgrimage.

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Location observation

Rural seichi junrei

While following the map, as shown in figure 9 and figure 12, I noticed that each location was classified based on interest and the guide showed the locations that were mostly advertised through merchandising. My first seichi junrei experience was in a rural area, which enabled me to check out the countryside and hear what locals had to say about seichi junrei. The anime related to the site was Laid Back Camp because it was a currently trendy anime and favorite. The anime focuses on a high school club of individuals who enjoy camping and exploring. The plot expands to the characters visiting locations of Mount Fuji, but with a twist; instead of traveling during the seasonal time for visiting Mount Fuji, they aim to discover new areas by camping and sightseeing around Mount Fuji during the offseason (Kyōgoku, 2018). The anime takes place in real places in Yamanashi prefecture that were mapped out by the otaku

subculture that I experienced the event with. Before embarking on the journey, I heard many rumors from the otaku members that rural Japan can be unpleasant for foreign tourists

compared to metropolitan areas because of racism (Okamura, 2010) because the locals have different cultures and views of tourists than Japanese people in metropolitan areas. This was something important to investigate because it would allow other foreign tourists to understand why it’s such a case.

I traveled to the south of Japan outside of the metropolitan area to commence on my first ethnographic study of seichi junrei. In Yamanashi prefecture, the city of Kofu is the central hub for seichi junrei related to Laid-Back Camp. Most public locations in Yamanashi prefecture had significant resemblances to the show of Laid-Back Camp. I visited entire scenes of seichi junrei locations to take pictures and document my experience and tried to see if I could meet other local otakus to interview. An interesting difference between such locations and regular tourist locations is that I was the only tourist there. It was much easier to capture a scene without needing to be overwhelmed by many tourists in one location. While participating in seichi junrei in Yamanashi prefecture, one of the first things that came to my mind was how realistic the site was because I had only seen it animated on TV before seeing it in real life. This allowed me to understand why the subculture participates in the activity based on interviews. The area was surrounded by a beautiful mountainside and gave me flashbacks of watching and experiencing the site in the anime.

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Figure 15 Laid-Back Camp the scene in the anime and the same place in real life.

While visiting different places, I noticed a popular trend of other fans leaving hints that they were there, like the popular activity of geocaching, where one goes on a treasure hunt to make it easier for other fans to find the locations. Figures 16 show examples of hints from anime scenes for other fans to explore.

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Figure 16 Hints from laid back camp locations.

While traveling to Yamanashi prefecture, one interesting thing that I observed was the absence of tourists. The town of Kofu is famous for its fruit growing and its fantastic scenery. While observing the surroundings, I wanted to get an understanding of how the local community would react to meeting foreign tourists. Constant rumors spread before my departure that rural Japan and prefectures like Yamanashi have issues with racism toward foreign tourists (Arudou 2015). While I was in Yamanashi, I did not face any issues when interacting with the locals or

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on helping with directions to seichi junrei locations. While wrapping up my experience with seichi junrei, my next goal was to find locals that I could interview. As the day was nearing an end, I visited the final location of my journey—the highest point of Kofu—to view Mount Fuji. There is an issue with Mount Fuji. It is a popular location to visit with many regular tourists, making it difficult to enjoy the view of Mount Fuji from a non-crowded area.

The highest point of Kofu is also a destination related to Laid-Back Camp. When I was up there, it was peaceful and quiet with not many people present, only a few workers and a few otakus. I was approached by many fans of Laid-Back Camp who were curious about what a foreigner tourist was doing in such a rural Japanese area. By explaining my research goals and intentions, I managed to interview them. During the interview, the focus was on seichi junrei. They told me that they were from Yamanashi and were familiar with the area and knew where all the anime spots of Laid-Back Camp were. However, they were really surprised to see a foreign tourist because it is unusual for tourists to visit such remote places, especially

participating in seichi junrei. I was asked how I managed to find such remote locations. I showed them the mapping route that I set up with the others in the community as well as the tourism anime association magazine guide. They were surprised how the online community managed to set up the route so well and how organized it was. I managed to learn why the seichi junrei is not promoted. It is because most members of the subculture do not want to have seichi junrei commercialized so they can focus on the experience. I was told that the magazine is disliked by the community because the tourism association does not listen to what the otaku subculture wants. They were keen on helping me with the research and creating a platform that would help seichi junrei grow and expressed interest in sharing their tourism experiences because my research was focused on the experience instead of commercializing seichi junrei. I invited the participants to the local restaurant that promotes the food from Laid Back Camp to talk to the staff and the locals and further understand the community’s view on tourism. The restaurant was part local residence and part business. In rural Japanese areas, many individuals turn their homes into local businesses (Kimball, 2019). Upon entering the restaurant, I was greeted with a surprised look because the individuals in the restaurant had not seen tourists in a while. Very curious and interested, the workers in the restaurant wanted to know what brought us to Kofu. When we explained that we were participating in the popular seichi junrei of “Laid-Back Camp,” they were surprised to see that international tourists were interested in similar activities as local tourists. During the stay, I interacted with and interviewed the locals to understand their feelings about seichi junrei. According to them, they would like to have more tourism in their local

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The staff and the locals were all keen on helping promote the seichi junrei and improve it by attracting tourists.

Figure 17 Laid-back camp seichi junrei.

Metropolitan seichi junrei

When it comes to the metropolitan areas of Japan and participating in seichi junrei. Most popular locations are already covered by most tourists. Scarles (2013) discusses the fact that otaku subcultures do not create their tourism experiences because the majority do not notice such locations or understand the purpose of them. They might participate in seichi junrei but not be as actively dedicated as rural Japanese otaku members, making it feel like seichi junrei is just a location to see rather than experience (Scarles, 2013).

While participating in metropolitan seichi junrei, the urban scene was full and lively with locals and advertisements on each corner, attracting people to the area.

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Figure 18 Your name movie staircase.

Figure 18 shows the famous staircase from the anime Your Name, where the two protagonists meet, and the staircase has become famous for its shrine where Ema wishes are left, as shown in figure 14.

While there, I managed to encounter local and international otaku tourists. Upon interviewing them, I found that most of their trips were related to finding cool spots that are unique to share on social media. Out of curiosity, I wanted to know how they knew such a location was seichi junrei. They said because they saw locals taking pictures of the staircase and wanted to know why it was a popular location. When I explained that the staircase is from the popular movie Your Name, they were interested in the term seichi junrei and were keen on visiting more locations. After I described my research, they were interested in the idea and wanted to see a platform built.

Before ending my observation of metropolitan seichi junrei, I managed to learn about a popular activity within the otaku subculture. That popular activity is called itasha. The word itasha is divided into two parts meaning painful and car. The meaning behind the word itasha is

embarrassing or “something that will hurt your wallet.” It is a slang word used within the

subculture. The idea behind this activity is to decorate a car with an anime character using expensive decals.

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Figure 19 Hatsune Miku itasha Akihabara.

Figure 19 shows the iconic anime character Hatsune Miku, a famous vocal software used to produce music. Hatsune Miku has become a brand for the software and gained many followers during the vocal software release. The activity of itasha is popular for people between the ages of 30 and 60 who are dedicated to decorating their cars. From car liveries to accessories like plushies, the idea is to create a symbolic view of one’s interest. According to an article about why people like itasha,

“Stopping at a red light could bring about a great love affair. Three years ago, when we were in Akihabara waiting at a red light, we saw an itasha. We fell in love! I began decorating my mini truck almost immediately. Before that, I was not into anime. I only began reading manga and watching anime after I saw an itasha.” (KAWAGUCHI, 2011)

While interviewing the owner of an itasha car, I learned that the otaku subculture shares a strong bond with anime characters. Anime characters, as shown in figure 12, are symbolic for members of the otaku subculture, and they enjoy such design. Itasha has also involved car racing. Many Japanese car racing teams travel abroad to represent Japanese car racing using itasha.

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By the end of my observation journey, I managed to visit all the locations that were mapped out and get enough tourism experiences and form bonds to create a prototype that would help the research move forward in answering the research question.

Analyzing issues with seichi junrei

While traveling and observing how the tourism experience is created within seichi junrei, I noticed a few issues during my location observations, such as the fact that knowledge about the subculture is not documented well enough, and if it is, it is scattered across the internet.

Platforms like Legwork, as shown in figure 20, try to archive other otakus participants' tourism stories and recommendations and create a hub where the information can be shown to others who are keen on participating in seichi junrei.

Figure 20 Leg work web archival.

However, archiving other participants' information without their permission is not ethical. When it comes to the application of digital tourism, the experience should be ethical and personalized towards the individual that is trying to understand seichi junrei (Benyon, 2014). Legwork just archives massive amounts of data, making the platform a grey area for tourism because it uses web scraping techniques, making the platform untrusted according to the individuals who were interviewed.

Japanese Anime 88 Spots Magazine, as shown in figure 12, provides basic information about anime tourism locations. However, the locations cannot be found. There is no map or guide, just