Wayfinding under uncertainty in a winter city: a self-reflexive video study of digital, spatial, and human cues in Asahikawa

This research note examines how tourists navigate uncertainty by cross-checking digital, spatial, and human cues in a winter city. Drawing on wearable video and self-reflexive video-stimulated recall in Asahikawa, Japan, it reconstructs episodes of hesitation, route change, and information reassessment. From 22 decision-making episodes, four contrasting cases are used to show how trust in different cues was adjusted in movement. The findings show that tourist wayfinding in urban settings is not simply a matter of accessing information, but of checking one source against another under changing on-site conditions. Digital guidance was reassessed against physical conditions, visible cues were filtered through prior expectations, and human presence functioned as an immediate source of orientation. The note suggests that tourist navigation in winter cities can be understood as a situated process of adjusting trust across multiple cues. Although based on a single self-reflexive case, it shows how micro-level navigation decisions can be made visible through wearable video and recall. It also suggests that visitor information should support on-site verification between digital guidance, walkable conditions, and visible cues.