Island tourism in Japan : can the diversity of islands create diversity in tourism?

Islands offer some of the most attractive destinations in worldwide tourism through their unique combination of natural and cultural factors. However, the focus is mainly on their potential for sun, sea, and sand tourism. Research on islands in Japan, on the other hand, has traditionally focused on the uniqueness of each island and the challenges they face as less-favoured areas. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of specialized tourism forms like art tourism, cycling tourism and ecotourism, each restricted to individual islands or island groups. Among the success stories, the involvement of actors from outside the islands appears as a decisive factor, but a closer look reveals dense and multifaceted networks between different actors on and off the islands. The pandemic posed a special threat to these new developments, but also new chances for islands as ideal destinations for microtourism. Can the uniqueness and diversity of islands in Japan become a model for diverse and possibly sustainable island tourism after the pandemic?