This book examines the phenomenon of war-related contents tourism
throughout Japanese history, from conflicts described in ancient Japanese
myth through to contemporary depictions of fantasy and futuristic
warfare.
It tackles two crucial questions: first, how does war transition from
being traumatic to entertaining in the public imagination and works of
popular culture; and second, how does visitation to war-related sites
transition from being an act of mourning or commemorative pilgrimage
to an act of devotion or fan pilgrimage? Representing the collaboration

of ten expert researchers of Japanese popular culture and travel, it devel-
ops a theoretical framework for understanding war-related contents tour-
ism and demonstrates the framework in practice via numerous short case

studies across over a millennium of warfare in Japan including the tales
of heroic deities in the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters, AD 712), the
Edo poetry of Matsuo Basho, and the Pacific war through the lens of
popular media such as the animated film Grave of the Fireflies.
This book will be of interest to researchers and students in tourism
studies and cultural studies, as well as more general issues of war and
peace in Japan, East Asia, and beyond.