For all the official rhetoric about the need for Kansai's prefectures to set themselves apart from each other, let alone from the rest of the country, the local bureaucracies too often have a herd mentality when it comes to planning and promoting tourism campaigns.
One formula for success, as Kansai officialdom defines it (i.e. continued funding for ever-bigger local tourism budgets), begins with the concept of "bunkazukuri," or "culture creation."
Ideally, the targeted culture is pegged to local characteristics or ideas that can be turned into reasons to visit. But how do you grab the attention of jaded tourists once the bureaucrats, politicians and corporate types decide what constitutes profitable local culture?