by Madeline Gentz
Shirakawa-Gō is a famous historical and agricultural village in Gifu near Kanazawa and Takayama with a population of about 1,600. Due to the cold, harsh winters and heavy snowfalls, the village developed a unique architecture for its farmhouses called Gasshō. The houses, built in the Gasshō style, are characterized by three-sided, gabled thatched roofs. The houses are surrounded by fields, forests and mountains, creating a unique setting that is an expression of the local culture.
Thanks to these farmhouses, Shirakawa-Gō was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, making the village a thriving tourist destination. In 2019, the village welcomed over 2.15 million tourists or about 5,890 tourists per day. In other words, for every villager, there are 3 to 4 tourists per day. This phenomenon has made tourism the largest source of income for this small agricultural village. However, Shirakawa-Gō still uses its agriculture.
Farming houses in Shirakawa-Gō
Copyright © Madeline Gentz 2020
The tourist landscape includes 59 houses built in the Gasshō style. Many of them are used for tourist purposes such as accommodation, restaurants, museums and souvenir stores. There are museums about silk production, Gasshō architecture and an open-air museum showing the unique architecture. There are also numerous hot springs, ryokan and western-style hotels. For a small fee of 300 yen (≈ 2.10 euros) per house, many of these farmhouses can be visited. I had the opportunity to visit Shirakawa-Gō in January 2020 and had the chance to take a guided tour of one of the houses. These tours are usually led by the owner of each house and can give one a glimpse into life there.
Another big touristic event that takes place each year in Shirakawa-Gō and draws in thousands of tourists is the Shirakawa-Gō Winter Light-Up. On selected Sundays, in January and February, the Gasshō houses will be illuminated and can be seen from the Shiroyama Viewpoint. In the past, there have been up to 8,000 visitors per event. However, this led to some serious overcrowding and the village decided to limit the number of visitors to 5,000 per Light-Up-Event. These 5,000 come in addition to the roughly 5,890-day visitors. Usually, the lottery for this will be held in October/November before the event takes place.
Gasshō Houses are used for various purposes
Copyright © Madeline Gentz 2020
Tourism has brought numerous benefits to Shirakawa-Gō. The biggest is undoubtedly the income that tourists bring to the village. In addition, tourism helps to keep the local traditions and culture alive. Visitors come to Shirakawa-Gō to learn more about the culture and the money they spend can be used to maintain the traditional houses. Furthermore, tourism creates jobs for receptionists, tour guides, interpreters, cleaning staff and more. However, tourism can also bring some negative side effects. Shirakawa-Gō has already experienced some of these. One of the negative effects mentioned is over-tourism. It can lead to inappropriate behavior by tourists, hostility between locals and visitors, the strain on infrastructure, loss of authenticity, reduction in the quality of life for locals, and a lower experience for tourists. This was the case in Shirakawa-Gō when about 8,000 visitors came to the light-up events, but thanks to the measures put in place, further escalation was prevented.
These gasshō houses are used as minshuku (left) and as a souvenir shop (right)
Copyright © Madeline Gentz 2020
A reservation system was set up for the Light-Up events. A private company with the relevant know-how was entrusted with the organization of this system. In addition, parking fees were increased from 500 yen (≈ 3.60 euros) to 1,000 yen (≈ 7.20 euros) per car to raise additional funds for the World Heritage Site. Similarly, there is no longer any bookable private parking for visitors in the village and access to the city center by buses and cars is closed to visitors between 9 am and 4 pm.
Shiroyama viewpoint
Copyright © Madeline Gentz 2020
Tourism is also affected by uncontrollable factors such as seasonality and unpredictable disasters like COVID-19. Although Shirakawa-Gō is a year-round destination and does not have strong seasonal fluctuations, it was severely affected by the pandemic and visitor numbers dropped to 710,000 in 2020 and 420,000 in 2021. Despite this setback, Shirakawa-Gō is performing well as a tourist destination, and while other villages in Japan are shrinking and slowly disappearing, the culture and traditions of Shirakawa-Gō are being kept alive thanks to the interest of tourists.
Madeline Gentz is a BA student in Japanese Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. She completed her German-French double degree in international tourism management at the Harz University of Applied Sciences and La Rochelle Business School in 2020. After an internship at a travel agency in Tokyo, she moved to Berlin to pursue additional education in Japanese Studies.