卒業論文詳細 | 同志社大学社会学研究科

学科	社会学科	ゼミ教員名	MATTIAS VAN OMMEN	年度	2025年度
タイトル	The Staging of Tea Ceremony for Foreign Visitors: How Expectations and Interaction Shape “Authenticity” in Contemporary Kyoto

内容	This study aims to understand how tourist tea ceremony experiences in Kyoto are shaped by both the adjustments made by hosts and the expectations brought by foreign visitors. To explore this , semi-structured interviews were conducted with five tea ceremony hosts and sixteen international tourists right after their experience. The results show that many tourists joined with only a vague image of tea ceremony , mostly formed by guidebooks and social media , rather than deep knowledge. What made the experience feel “authentic” for them was not the exact rules or steps , but the calm atmosphere: things like silence , slow movements , and the peaceful setting. On the other hand , the hosts often simplified the steps and adjusted their explanations due to time limits and language barriers. However , tourists usually didn’t notice these changes. Using ideas from Urry , MacCannell , and Goffman , the study suggests that in tourism settings , the feeling of authenticity comes more from the atmosphere and interaction than from following traditional procedures perfectly.

内容

This study aims to understand how tourist tea ceremony experiences in Kyoto are shaped by both the adjustments made by hosts and the expectations brought by foreign visitors. To explore this , semi-structured interviews were conducted with five tea ceremony hosts and sixteen international tourists right after their experience. The results show that many tourists joined with only a vague image of tea ceremony , mostly formed by guidebooks and social media , rather than deep knowledge. What made the experience feel “authentic” for them was not the exact rules or steps , but the calm atmosphere: things like silence , slow movements , and the peaceful setting. On the other hand , the hosts often simplified the steps and adjusted their explanations due to time limits and language barriers. However , tourists usually didn’t notice these changes. Using ideas from Urry , MacCannell , and Goffman , the study suggests that in tourism settings , the feeling of authenticity comes more from the atmosphere and interaction than from following traditional procedures perfectly.

講評	I appreciated the thoughtful conceptualization of this project , initially based on the author’s own experiences dealing with foreign visitors. While the thesis direction was changed a few times over the course of the project , in the end , the author was able to come up with a specific setting (tea ceremony experiences for foreigners in Kyoto) that proved to be fruitful for exploring conceptual ideas about tourism , such as staged authenticity. The literature engagement with such ideas , which started a bit abstract , became more finetuned and concrete by the end of the project. I do think that some of the interviewee transcripts read a bit polished , and I would like to invite the author to perhaps embrace a bit more some of the “messiness” that we encounter while doing such empirical research. Otherwise , I am happy with the level of analytic depth and methodological sophistication (interviewing both Japanese tea ceremony hosts and foreign visitor groups) this thesis was able to achieve.

講評

I appreciated the thoughtful conceptualization of this project , initially based on the author’s own experiences dealing with foreign visitors. While the thesis direction was changed a few times over the course of the project , in the end , the author was able to come up with a specific setting (tea ceremony experiences for foreigners in Kyoto) that proved to be fruitful for exploring conceptual ideas about tourism , such as staged authenticity. The literature engagement with such ideas , which started a bit abstract , became more finetuned and concrete by the end of the project. I do think that some of the interviewee transcripts read a bit polished , and I would like to invite the author to perhaps embrace a bit more some of the “messiness” that we encounter while doing such empirical research. Otherwise , I am happy with the level of analytic depth and methodological sophistication (interviewing both Japanese tea ceremony hosts and foreign visitor groups) this thesis was able to achieve.

キーワード1	tourist gaze
キーワード2	staged authenticity
キーワード3	tea ceremony
キーワード4
キーワード5