Most tourists visiting Japan will tick off the usual sites and tours - a traditional shrine, a visit to the shopping districts of Tokyo and the obligatory ride on a bullet train, but here's an alternative destination.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
1 What does the Japanese term 'Kojo Moe' refer to?
2 What day of the week did the reporter take a tour?
3 How many people are on the tour?
4 What means of transport are they using on the tour?
5 What smells can they smell?
6 What's the main attraction for many Kojo Moe enthusiasts?
7 What seems to be the ultimate purpose of the tours?
You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.
Kojo Moe in Japanese literally translates to factory infatuation and it refers to the growing popularity of bleak, industrial areas as tourist attractions (1). Kojo Moe tours are different to the traditional factory tours that take you inside a plant. Instead, these trips take people around industrial compounds and areas to admire their eerie, science fiction like quality, especially at night. Keen to experience the atmosphere myself, I decided to book on a factory night view tour to south of Tokyo.
So this isn’t how I would ordinarily spend my Saturday night (2), going on a factory tour in Kawasaki. And I must admit I thought I would be the only other person on this tour but I’ve been told there are at least 40 others (3). Here it goes.
There are various bus tours but we’ve booked on a boat tour (4) of the industrial zone that spreads along the Tokyo Bay. Our tour guide tells us that this isn’t Disneyland, so don't expect bright neon lights. Many people will bring their dinner or some snacks and make an evening of it, enjoying the reflections of factory lights on the dark waters.
Obviously, this isn’t your average boat tour. I can smell the salty air but it is also mixed in with smoke and oil and gasoline smells (5). I've been told it's great for taking photographs, I’ve brought my camera but I don’t really seem to be doing it justice.
But for many Kojo Moe enthusiasts, photography is the main draw (6)and from these pictures, it’s easy to see why.
It’s difficult to shoot still photos but I feel that the orange flares, the beautiful orange lights, are nice and just by looking at them, we are away from our daily lives and routines.
I'm sure most people like ordinary night views but some feel that some things people generally don’t like could be really cool.
For many of the people here, bleakness is a big draw but the movement does have its detractors. The tourism officials are making the most of this factory fascination and taking it to the mainstream.
I think many corporations want their consumers or the general public to understand what they are actually doing, so it’s a kind of company’s corporate image strategy because if consumers like the image of the factory or the product, then they may buy their stocks or they may buy the products (7).
