type:Departmental Bulletin Paper

Some tourism capitalists have acquired entirehot spring towns consisting of more than a fewaccommodation facilities and undertaken tourismdesign and full management of those towns. Noboribetsu, Dake, Ogawa and Hanamaki are good examples of such cases. Matsunoyama Hot Spring located in the western part of Niigata Prefecture has a long history and is well-known throughout the country for its strong medicinal effects. Thispaper will take a close look at the roles and limitations of a local bank and a trust companyoutside the prefecture that ventured into themanagement of a hot spring town from the perspective of tourism design. After a long trial contesting the ownership of the hot spring, the plaintiff and the defendant–both of whom had received loans from a local landowner, the Tanabe family – were forced to give up the lands and buildings that they had placed liens on, and Tanabe assumed ownership of the hot spring. The family boasted great prosperity, bringing local financial institutions under its control and opening its magnificent garden for public viewing. Yet, when the economy collapsed in the Taisho period, they lost their financial power as a negative result of massive speculation in oil development in the region. In the process of disposing of their assets, the first step was a general assignment of all rights in the hot spring to Chuo Tochi Shintaku (Central Land Trust) Co., Ltd., in Matsumoto City, Nagano, in 1919. It is believed that the trust company was founded as a private real estate fund by the Akabane family, a renowned fertilizer business owner. In response to local demand, Akabane assigned all rights of the hot spring to the municipality after a great fire in 1954. Both the Tanabe family and the Akabane family once owned the hot spring, but ownership led them to different fates : The former was forced against their will to withdraw from the management of the local bank that they ran, whereas the latter managed to overcome difficulties and maintain their properties.

identifier:彦根論叢, 第394号, pp. 58-71

identifier:The Hikone Ronso, No.394, pp. 58-71