TRANS-ASIAN BUDDHIST CIRCUIT

In line with the emergent scholarly focus on religious circuits for tourism and development, this research grows out of my current post-doctoral project about Yogascapes in Japan and my previous project in India, Imagining Sanskrit Land. It explores the connections between these countries and expands the analytical frame to include the Chinese Yogascape (中国 zhōngguó 瑜伽 yújiā 景观 jǐngguān). The aim is to quantify and qualify the dynamics of soft power narratives situating Yoga-inflected and Buddhist-inspired tourism and development along the Trans-Asian Buddhist Circuit (TABC).

First unveiled in 2013, the TABC is an international collaboration between India and Japan. It continues to form part of the larger Japan and India Vision 2025 Special Strategic and Global Partnership. Part of this includes the VAKYO Initiative, which further cements the Japan-India connection through developing tourism at the two end points of the TABC, namely, Varanasi, India and Kyoto, Japan. Hence, the name, VA-KYO. This capitalizes on the historical transmission and expansion of Buddhism across Asia through merging cultural heritage with modernity, development and tourism. Part of Yoga’s appeal in Japan and other Asian countries relates to how it cultivates a Pan-Asian sentiment. The same can be said of Yoga with the cultural exchange of Jiu Jitsu and Yoga teachers between the two nations dating back to independence…