About Us

Director’s message

The Center for Media and Tourism Studies was established in 2017 as an affiliated research center within the Graduate School of Media and Communication at Hokkaido University. The Center functions as a platform for interdisciplinary inquiry into the various phenomena that emerge at the intersection of media and tourism, aiming to reconsider the changing forms of culture, economy, and identity in contemporary society.

With the advancement of globalization and digitalization, tourism has evolved beyond a simple act of movement or consumption to become a social practice closely intertwined with media elements such as information, images, memory, and narrative. In response to this context, the Center for Media and Tourism Studies promotes research that bridges media studies and tourism studies, in an effort to elucidate the multifaceted meanings of mobility and representation in today’s world.

Furthermore, the Center serves as a hub for collaboration and exchange among researchers both within and outside the university. By bringing together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and fostering open dialogue and joint research, the Center strives to deepen academic inquiry and contribute meaningfully to society.

We sincerely appreciate your continued understanding and support of the Center for Media and Tourism Studies.

May 2025 Svetlana Paichadze
Director, Center for Media and Tourism Studies
Professor, Graduate School of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University.

Mission

Recently, advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs), diversification of media, stagnation of electronic media space and reality space, transformation of communication style, and cultural culture centering on popular culture have rapidly progressed beyond boundaries. Furthermore, the explosive increase in the number of international tourist exchanges, centered on East Asia, and the increase in human mobility are accelerating the linkage of these cross-border communication and cultural cross-border developments to specific places.

In order to grasp the phenomenon and problems that arise in this situation, it is indispensable for the cross-sectoral approach of conventional media and tourism research. Graduate School of International Media, Communication and Tourism Studies (IMCTS), and the Research Faculty of Media and Communication have accumulated pioneering and international research achievements in cross-domain research in media research and tourism research.

Based on this background, we have established a Center for Media and Tourism Studies as a hub and platform to promote cross-domain research in media research and tourism research and to support and promote the advancement of media tourism education.

Activities

The Center for Media and Tourism Studies conducts activities in accordance with the following four points.

1. Promotion of research and development of preliminary and embryonic research areas and promotion of related joint research to promote cross-linking of media research and research and fusion of fields
2. Network construction of researchers and research institutes for the international development of media research
3. Supporting the publication and publicization of research results both at home and abroad
4. Providing research opportunities for graduate students, and developing teaching materials.