Japan: The Sustainable Development of a Small Peninsula: The Case of Irago Triathlon

Misuzu Toba
Additional contact information
Misuzu Toba: Kwansei Gakuin University

Chapter Chapter 18 in Sport Tourism, Island Territories and Sustainable Development, 2024, pp 297-311 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The problems caused by Japan’s declining birthrate, aging population, and depopulation are more severe in the tip of the peninsular regions than in the Tokyo metropolitan area. This chapter examines the case of Irago—a place rich in nature and beautiful landscapes, with several tourist attractions—that is not well known even within Japan. We investigate the Irago triathlon, which is hosted to promote regional development, through interviews and a survey of the literature. The results of the study show that the town hall, which changed its negative stance to host the event, asked local high school students to volunteer, and successfully encouraged the involvement of the local youth, future leaders of the community. The study also found that the NPO entrusted with organizing the event was creative in developing a family-like atmosphere around the event, which athletes regard highly in comparison with other triathlons. In addition, a comparative analysis with the Tokyo and Lake Biwa triathlons revealed the need not just for financial support from the national and prefectural governments for environmental conservation and securing human resources but also for tangible regional development.

Keywords: Japanese Peninsula; Irago; Triathlon; Sport tourism event; Local development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:semchp:978-3-031-51705-1_18

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031517051

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-51705-1_18

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Sports Economics, Management, and Policy from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().