Chapter Seven. Cultural Commodities And Local Revitalization

The contents of this book focuses on the cultural commodities of a peripheral area of an advanced nation state, examines the aim of illuminating the role these commodities can play in the revitalization of that area. The research site is the Tsugaru District of Aomori Prefecture and the cultural commodities were Tsugaru nuri lacquerware and Tsugaru shamisen music. This chapter first takes up the applied question of Tsugaru District revitalization and cultural commodities, in the form of a culture economy, in Tsugaru District revitalization and the specific future of the two cultural commodities. It then highlights a linking of cultural commodities and local revitalization - first through an examination of the importance of historical trajectory for the cultural commodities and second through identification of the potential of these cultural commodities in their conceptual and operational spaces.Keywords: cultural commodities; local revitalization; Tsugaru nuri lacquerware; Tsugaru shamisen music