Ph.D. candidate Joseph Decker shared his initial dissertation research at the Japan Foundation’s JF-GJS Initiative: Japan Foundation Fellow Conference 2024 held at Tokyo University’s Ito International Research Center on November 8, 2024. His presentation coincided with the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Kumano Kodo, one of only two officially recognized UNESCO pilgrimage routes.
Decker’s ethnographic research examines the globalization of pilgrimage through the formal linking of Japan’s Kumano Kodo and Spain’s Camino de Santiago. By walking both pilgrimage routes and becoming a “Dual Pilgrim” himself, as well as volunteering in guesthouses and interviewing locals, Japanese travelers, and the growing number of international visitors, he investigates the rise of “pilgro-tourism” and its cultural and economic impacts on rural communities in Wakayama Prefecture.
Joe’s dissertation research is generously supported by the Japan Foundation and Saitama Prefectural University, where Decker is a visiting student researcher under the guidance of Professor Asakawa Yasuhiro.
The College of Arts