Takamitsu Jimura

Biography

Dr Takamitsu Jimura is Programme Manager for MSc International Tourism Management and Senior Lecturer in Tourism at Liverpool John Moores University. Takamitsu holds a PhD in Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management and an MSc in Tourism, Conservation and Sustainable Development. His key research interests include heritage and tourism, tourism marketing and sustainable tourism. Takamitsu is especially interested in exploring the interrelationships amongst World Heritage, tourism and local communities and those between tourism and Japan’s heritage and tourism, and the latter has developed into his new monograph. He is the author or co-editor of four books, including Cultural Heritage and Tourism in Japan and Tourism Ethnographies both published from Routledge, and many journal articles and book chapters. He has also been invited to international conferences and workshops and has delivered a keynote speech or public lecture on World Heritage, tourism and/or Japan in Lithuania, Poland, Italy and Bahrain. He is currently working on his third monograph that looks at sustainability management in heritage and tourism in the context of Japan.

Education

LLB, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan, 1994
PhD, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, 2008
MSc, University of Greenwich, London, 2003
PG Cert, York St John University, York, 2009

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Takamitsu's main research interests are heritage and tourism, and their relationships. He is particularly interested in tourism at cultural World Heritage Sites (WHSs). Other relevant research themes he is interested in are as follows.
• The impact of WHS designation on tourism development, local communities, and heritage management and conservation activities
• Relationships between heritage and identity-creation/enhancement
• Tourism management plans and conservation policies for heritage sites, especially those for WHSs
• Politics of WHSs and concepts relevant to WHSs (e.g. Historic Urban Landscape)
• Interrelationships between heritage, urban regeneration and tourism
• Tangible and intangible heritage and its meaning for tourists and local people
• Tourists’ motivation to visit heritage sites
• Industrial heritage sites in the UK and Japan - from places for production into places for consumption
• WHSs as destinations of educational tourism
• Dark tourism and peace-learning tourism at WHSs
• Cultural heritage and cultural tourism in the UK and Japan
• Religious tourism and tourism at sacred sites
• Tourism planning and development at regional and local level
• Niche tourism, especially cultural tourism, heritage tourism, urban tourism and rural tourism
• Movements and approaches in tourism, especially sustainable tourism and responsible tourism
• Community development and tourism as a sustainable development tool
• Relationships between destination image and tourists expectation/experience
• Tourism marketing, especially online marketing, including social network sites and e-word-of-mouth
• Tourism education in the UK and Japan

Personal Interests

Travelling

Websites

• Google Scholar

• Liverpool John Moores University

• ResearchGate

Books