Proximatising community-based learning programme in Japan: Rethinking local-university collaboration for transformative tourism education

The number of tourism programmes in Japan has increased over the last two decades. With this development, community-based learning (CBL) has become particularly popular in rural regions, where tourism is often used as a tool for revitalisation. In the Japanese context, the role of CBL is frequently ‘measured’ by how students contribute to rural areas or in terms of the skills they gain as a result of their learning. While the shortterm outcomes of CBL in rural communities and amongst students have been studied, limited research exists on how students themselves transform through these forms of education. As such, this study examines two bodies of literature, on relational pedagogy and proximity tourism, to provide a nuanced understanding of the role of CBL in tourism education. By conceptualising CBL as proximity tourism, this study theoretically discusses how CBL contributes to the mutual transformation of students and local communities.