【Sixth Round】We Ask Sociologist Yoshikazu Nango What Travel Will Look Like in Five Years

The New Buds of Tourism, Exploring the Shape and Future of Tourism Five Years Ahead

What is the “privilege to get lost” to enjoy accidental encounters mean for Mr. Nango, a sociologist who researches “spaces for the individual,” in an information society?
Today’s column focuses on knowing and pinpointing changes in future tourism and travel trends and brings an expertise from specialist outside of the travel industry to share their thoughts.
We’re joined by Mr. Yoshikazu Nango, an associate professor from Meiji University’s School of Communication and Information, who’s currently working on cities and architecture using sociology as a key point in his research.

Mr. Yoshikazu Nango

　
An associate professor at Meiji University’s School of Information and Communication, focusing on sociology, city and architect theory. Yoshikazu Nango was born in 1979 in Osaka, Japan and attained credits from The University of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies before dropping out. His published works include HItori Kukan no Toshi Ron (Chikuma Shinsho 2018), Shogyo Kukanha Nan No Yume wo Mitaka (co-authored, Heibonsha, 2016), Kenchiku no Sai (editing, Heibonsha, 2015), Bunkajintoha Nanika? (co-authored, Tokyo Shoseki, 2010) and more.
　

The Anonymous Communications Seen in the City

　
Explorer: Mr. Nango, we heard that you carry out research on cities and architecture using sociology as a key point. Could you tell us specifically about what sort of research you do?
　
Mr. Nango: Sociology is the study of how macro-level structures such as the influence of politics, economics, and the changes in the media environment like social media are interconnected in the background of micro-level phenomenon of daily scenes and life that everyone experiences on a day-to-day basis. Within these parameters, I focus on cities and architecture. When I was a graduate student, I wondered what sort of people graffitied on the walls in the city, what sort of anonymous communications occur, and what sort of sub-cultures have come to exist. Questions like these have become the background of my fieldwork and research. In Japan, unconventional and anonymous human relationships have increased with the rise of the internet and cellphones since the mid 1990’s. As such, I thought that increase of graffiti and anonymous communication from cellphones and the internet belonged in the same time period and thus did a lot of research on this.
　
Explorer: What was the catalyst for your interest in cities in particular?
　
Mr. Nango: I was born and raised in a new housing development town in the suburbs. There were many people in my generation and many parents used their children as a link to create relationships with people nearby. There was a comparatively low-level anonymity as people in the area often knew the family structures and professions of their neighbors and other people nearby. Meanwhile, people who live in tall buildings in the city often don’t even know their neighbors’ names or what they do despite being only separated by a wall. Compared to the suburbs and regional areas, the cities are made up of anonymous individuals. I feel that is a huge difference and that’s how my interest in cities got started. The rhythm of the lifestyles and the pacing in each city is different too. Tokyo and New York City are different, just as Tokyo and Osaka are. I’m interested in that physical sensation of how different the rhythms are in each respective city.

What is this “Individual Space” You’ve Seen in Cities in Japan Since Prior COVID-19?

　
Explorer: That’s true – people often spend time alone in a space in the city.
　
Mr. Nango: There’s a trend of creating “spaces for the individual” since prior to COVID-19 for what was deemed as group activities that you’d go with your family or colleagues such as karaoke or yakiniku. I think such changes are the result of people wanting to be alone and to separate themselves from the ever-present eye and peer pressure of people on social media.
　
Explorer: Compared to before, we believe there are more people choosing to be in these spaces for the individual and believe that more people are spending time like this. What does the increase of these spaces mean?
　
Mr. Nango: This phenomenon is the result of a combination of multiple factors; there more spaces for the individual available now and the way we think we should spend time by ourselves has also changed.
　
Ohitorisama (can be translated as “party for one” in English) usually refers to the increase of those who married late, are unmarried by choice, or have become senior citizens. Of course, single people oversee their own individual spaces, but the “singles” I’m researching have nothing to do with being married or not. It doesn’t matter if they’re living with family or living together as a couple, my research refers to “singles” as a condition of being by oneself in a 24-hour window. Let me rephrase this in a more abstract way: “singles” mean becoming separated from an attributed group to be temporarily an anonymous existence. This is true particularly for the cities and the phenomenon is increasing in number. The “condition of being by oneself” has taken many forms and those individual spaces have become more commonplace. Let’s compare Japan with Europe. In Japan, you can have meals that are quick like fast food, seats are partitioned for one person and that means there are a lot of restaurants that make it easy to have a meal by yourself. Companies in Japan have a strong sense of collectivism, but people tend to have no interest in others once they’re away from that attributed group. This is the reason why, I believe, there places that cater to the single individual in the cities in Japan.
　
Explorer: I think even in Europe, people also spend time eating or commuting alone, but are places that exemplify “individual spaces” like solo karaoke or solo yakiniku unique to Japan?
　
Mr. Nango: I think that has to do much with Japan’s customer service culture. This is because a lot of individual spaces in Japan are commercialized spaces that charge a fee. How much does 30 minutes cost? A lot of businesses and therefore spaces will charge money. It’s like buying the right to be by yourself.

　

Getting Lost Until You Reach Your Destination Means You Can Realize and Encounter New Experiences

　
Explorer: Spaces for the individual seem to be a unique cultural phenomenon in Japan compared to countries overseas. Mr. Nango, I know that you travel for work, but what kind of travel do you engage in normally?
　
Mr. Nango: For starters, people imagine different things when they hear the word “travel.” “Travel” encompasses everything about traveling, while a “trip” has a specific destination and a planned return date in mind. A “journey” doesn’t really have a destination nor a planned return date in mind necessarily.
　
In the study of behavior geography, people take “trips” when they are commuting to work or school, or out going shopping. If trips like these are included in travel in a broad sense, I’m particularly interested in finding out the differences the repetition and small changes people experience in their daily lives. When traveling abroad, it isn’t about enjoying the unusual setting in the usual routine but experiencing the usual routine in an unusual setting. For example, finding out how people spending their mornings commuting to work or school, finding out how they spend their lunch times, etc. I’ll often experience in person the sounds of the streets, smells in the air – which are things that can’t be felt with only pictures.
　
Explorer: Does that mean you spend your time at your travel location not really deciding on a particular goal or destination?
　
Mr. Nango: When I travel I often perform my research as well, so it’s not like I don’t have a particular destination in mind. When I think about the most memorable experiences when I traveled, I have to say it was when I got lost, rode the local trains and buses that were hard to comprehend that it took a long time to reach my destination. These experiences are memorable, maybe even more so than the things I was looking forward to the most at my destination. So, I do have a destination in mind and I think everyday trips have their value too. This doesn’t mean that travel and journeys to unusual settings have low value, it just means that “travel” comprises of both types. However, with the advent of GPS and map applications, I feel like the chances to get lost on the way to our destination, actualizations or encounters from our “right to get lost” have decreased though.
　
Explorer: “Actualizations or encounters from our ‘right to get lost’” is a lovely way of thinking about it. Meanwhile, many people don’t want to fail when they’re at their destination. What are your tricks to enjoy when things don’t go as planned?
　
Mr. Nango: Many review sites talk about effectiveness, certainty and not wanting to waste time. However, people who enjoy daily trips, changes in the daily life and differences in that repetition, aren’t obsessed with negative thoughts such as contingency plans or the prediction of the impossible. They have the tolerance to accept the positives and can enjoy things very easily.
　
The joys of traveling mean that what was once obvious to you is no longer so by encountering things that surpass your way of seeing things or your thoughts. Traveling is all about unusual settings for me, so I engage in my usual routine in those settings. I’ll realize things that are different from I usually experience. I’ll learn what is comfortable and what makes me uncomfortable – these are the joy of traveling. Traveling is not just about seeking what is comfortable for you. In this regard, it’s related to whether or not you can the contingencies or the impossible happening.

　

Rethink Your Values and Become Active, These are Important To Enjoy Travel in this Information Society

　
Explorer: Hearing your thoughts made us realize that people will change how they choose to travel if they want chance encounters or to experience something unexpected. The results are that travel products and plans in the future will also change to meet this change.
　
Mr. Nango: Traveling is essentially linked to the physical act of moving. At a glance, it may look like we’re moving actively on our own, but the reality is we’re made to travel because it’s the Golden Week or summer holidays. The acts of going to Instagram-worthy locations, going to popular places listed on websites looks like we’re charmed by them and that’s why we travel, but I argue we can look at it like we’re made to travel to those places because of social media itself. This is connected with the “right to get lost,” but the fact we are forced to move without getting lost is a characteristic of our modern information society.
　
On the other hand, COVID-19 was the catalyst that made people realize the condition of being unfree and unable to move. How will people actively move in the future? Rethinking the thought process of “being forced to move” is strongly interlinked with how to have fun while traveling.
　
Interviewer: Social media and review sites are deeply connected with travel. That’s why we feel it’s an important question that must be faced. What sort of changes do you think social media like this will bring about on people’s mentalities and actions in the future?
　
Mr. Nango: When I think about the changes social media has brought about, I often think about “solo” activities, which has been increasing lately. For example, camping by yourself as an activitie has increased lately, but I don’t think it’s a completely isolated experience. There are many people doing the same thing in the same place. Solo camp areas are live streamed online for someone to see. When you probe into the desire of wanting to escape the pressures and supervision of social media, you have to think about what it means to be completely by yourself. Thinking about this aspect might change every person’s mentality and actions in the future.
　
Let’s replace camping with traveling. Many solo travelers will still stay at places that have services, which means that person will be in contact with someone else. This is why the question of “is it possible to be completely by yourself when traveling?” arises.
　
This is a tangent, but I think the most difficult thing to overcome when solo traveling is food. There aren’t many places that cater to people by themselves overseas, you’re limited by what you can order and how much you can order. I would personally be thankful for a matching service where people who are by themselves can enjoy a meal together whether that’s someone there locally or someone through social media. I think there’s a potential market there.

The “Bud” We Found in this Exploration

When you think you want to connect with someone, you also want to be free from peer pressure. In this exploration, we saw the possibilities of being able to flexibly choose between “individual spaces” or spaces you spend time with someone.
In the second half of the exploration, we learned that we have the “right to get lost,” even in a world that’s become more convenient by the day. Although we desire for efficiency like the word “time performance” symbolizes, we also realized that the right to get lost is a special privilege we as humans hold. We, as explorers, will continue looking for what travel will be like in the next five years as we enjoy getting lost on our way.