Villages in Japan among World Tourism Organization’s Best Tourism Villages 2023

Four villages in Japan were announced as being among the Best Tourism Villages in 2023 by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) at an awards ceremony held during the organization’s general assembly in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Thursday. 

Biei (Hokkaido), Hakuba (Nagano), Oku-Matsushima (Miyagi) and Shirakawa (Gifu) were among 54 villages selected for the award in 2023 from 260 applicants from across the world in what was the third edition of the award. 

The Best Tourism Villages award started as an initiative which aimed to put the spotlight on villages as tourist destinations that might otherwise go unnoticed. The award recognizes those villages that are leading the way in nurturing rural areas and preserving landscapes, as well as cultural diversity, local values, and culinary traditions. It is regarded as the most valued of the UNWTO’s initiatives by member states. 

Applicants for the award were evaluated according to key factors that included economic, social, and environmental sustainability, as well as cultural and natural resources and their promotion and conservation, among others. 

Oku-Matsushima in the city of Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, refers to an area around Miyato Island in Matsushima Bay.

The village was recognized for its progress in women’s empowerment achieved through using the city’s Nadeshiko Kaisei Juku seminars to promote empowerment and entrepreneurship in local industries, including tourism.

Also highlighted by the UNWTO was the work of local agricultural production corporation Agriead Naruse which established an agricultural processing facility making Nobiru Baum, a baumkuchen cake made from homegrown rice flour and wheat flour.

The village of Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture is probably best known on these shores as a center for outdoor activities, particularly in winter for its popular ski resorts.

For the Best Tourism Villages award Hakuba was highlighted by the UNWTO for its forward-thinking approach to sustainable tourism management, in particular a commitment to achieving 100-percent energy self-sufficiency through renewable sources. 

The village of Shirakawa in central Japan’s Gifu Prefecture was highlighted for the efforts of the village to secure the financial resources needed for the conservation of the iconic Gassho-zukuri houses of Shirakawa-go. Maintenance of the houses’ thatched roofs costs between EUR 47,000 to EUR 100,000 per roof, according to the UNWTO. 30 percent of revenues from tourist parking is allocated by the village to a dedicated fund for the preservation of the World Heritage-listed site.   

On Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido the village of Biei is widely known for its agricultural landscape of colorful patchwork fields. For the Best Tourism Villages award the UNWTO drew attention to the village’s unique approach to crop rotation which helps to ensure fertile soil and promotes biodiversity, among other merits. 

Biei was also recognised for its Realizing Sustainable Destination ordinance, enacted in April, which the UNWTO describes as “visionary.” Through this ordinance the village can collect accommodation and entry taxes from tourists which it uses to fund support for businesses involved in tourism.  

The Best Tourism Villages award is part of the UNWTO’s larger Rural Development Program which, through tourism, aims to foster development and inclusion in rural areas and combat depopulation, among other sustainable development goals.

With the latest round of awards the UNWTO has increased its network of Best Tourism Villages to 190 since the initiative began in 2021. The organization hopes to add another 500 villages in the next three to five years.

“We were always thinking that we have to support the people who are working there, who are waiting for the tourists, to be ready to receive tourists, and to give them the opportunity to promote their destinations and their villages,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili told the audience at the awards ceremony on Thursday. 

“I don’t think there are many UN or international organizations who are as close as we are with villages and with the people,” he said.