Pop culture contents and historical heritage: The case of heritage revitalization through ‘contents tourism’ in Shiroishi city

The objective of this study is to clarify the processes of contents tourism promotion and local cultural heritage revitalization using pop culture contents or popular media. Specifically, this article analyzes the potential of games and anime to play a role in the revitalization of regional historical resources. As a case study, it focuses on the case of Shiroishi city, Miyagi prefecture, in northern Japan and the video game and television anime Sengoku BASARA. This article describes how the local community reacted to a tourism boom triggered by the game and anime, and how they took advantage of the renewed interest in their local history created by popular cultural forms to revitalize historical heritage in the city. The findings suggest that a key to the successful use of game contents to promote historical tourism is for the game/anime to be treated as an opportunity, and to have the fans of the game/anime become fans of the local region. Such a process encourages local residents to feel pride towards their local history. These suggestions imply the possibility of new forms of tourism where new cultures can be created by revitalizing local heritage.