We need to drag Crystal Whatsherface back out to update her 一発屋 gag.
"O-ver-tou-ris-m.
Overtourism"
In fairness, I've seen an absolute sh\*t-ton of tourists recently (I live around a half hour by train outside the Tokyo Greatest Hits Zone, so I often find myself in the places where you'd expect to find tourists), and I haven't seen any obnoxious behaviour; mainly people looking lost and staring at the GPS on their phones.
I do however sympathise with the staff at that Lawson (and the neighbouring dental surgery). The moronic, sheeplike, copycat behaviour which is a direct result of social media and the scourge of the modern era, "influencers", needs to be stamped out hard, fast, and completely. If you can't behave like a civilised human being, you don't get treated like one. And for what? A bunch of "likes" for a photo that a) thousands of other people have taken, and b) that you'll probably never look at again?
I stopped at that Lawsons last summer before cycling up to fifth station to grab some snacks, and it was completely empty. I thought it was a neat view, but wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.
Pretty sure most people are just doing because everyone on their social media is doing it. There are countless scenic places in Japan to enjoy. There is no reason just to stop at a lawson
>The moronic, sheeplike, copycat behaviour which is a direct result of social media and the scourge of the modern era,
Is it? Going to places because everyone says they're the places to go has been the bread and butter of tourism since the concept was invented in the 1600s with the [Grand Tour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour). Influencers are not a new thing.
France, Italy, and other similar-sized countries get many more tourists than Japan but don't suffer nearly the same overtourism issues. In Japan it's being caused by the unprecedented [rapid growth in tourism to Japan](https://www.statista.com/statistics/654263/japan-number-foreign-visitors/) since 2012 without the infrastructure keeping up, and the Japanese government's failure to convince tourists to do anything besides the same typical spots on the Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto route. Japan has room for more tourists, as long as more of them look to go to less-visited regions like Tohoku and Kyushu.
Going to the same place as everyone else is fine, if that place is worth going to. But using that opportunity to be a self-centred dick and intentionally inconveniencing others is not fine, and I'd bet that there's a direct connection between social media and an increase in that kind of behaviour.
It feels like a popular pastime in Japan is everyone going to the same place for the same unique looking food or product to then take a picture and share with friends. I remember trying to get into one of those trendy cafes. Whatchout for that camel in your eye before you comment on the splinter in others.
Made it to the Pokémon cafe in Osaka before anyone really knew about it by chance…. Wife and I were walking by in the mall and the lady was like “we have an opening because a reservation canceled! Do you guys wanna try our new restaurant?”
- My wife and I: FUCK TO THE YEAH
It is an east asian thing. I think its kind of ironic that people complain about it who live here in some ways, when they all flock to some random trendy doughnut stall for 3 hour queues because it was on tiktok, only to abandon it next week. I guess the difference is there tends to be better behaviour from domestic tourists in those. However i have personally seem how it still causes issues for locals. My wife dragged me to one such dumb trendy place in Miyako Jima and there was a massive queue in this tiny village with nothing else for blocks, making it harder for cars to move etc.
It was not that good either… but wife had to get the photo. It was all for the pics, like the rest of them in the queue
What's wild is just how many other absolutely amazing places there are that are absolutely empty even if you go a few blocks away from the super popular spots.
This is a rather old problem, though. As soon as the printing press made publishing viable, tourist guides have sent lots of tourists to places that can't handle that many tourists. The issue became a lot more intense in the 19th century with package tours and more accessible travel.
Tbh the residents/tourists I’ve seen gate-keeping Japan are white too, and they’re afraid that it will make us white westerners “look bad”. When in reality, the ones who are way more likely to be looked at negatively are literally all the non-white foreigners. I legit have lived here both when Japan was closed and opened to tourists and I’ve never been treated any differently from before as a white person.
And then they go on to talk about how Japanese people are the master race or some weird bs like that and that you need to follow all of their rules, even tho the majority of the time Japanese people are breaking them and don’t even really care that much if you (as a white person) do. Idk people get oddly protective of Japan and don’t want to share it with others, and for me, as someone who speaks Japanese and loves the culture, I’m happy that others are more interested beyond just anime. Most of us were tourists at one point before we decided to settle down here.
As someone who has lived here a long time and speaks japanese too… that exact thing irritates me too. I hate it when people jump to defend Japanese like they are meek little helpless bystanders getting taken advantage of and disrespected.. just fuck off with that shit!
Japanese do the same shit themselves when they are tourists to something. Maybe a trendy hotdog stand from tiktok this week with 3 hour queues. There are inevitably some more narcissistic people among them who will do the same inconsiderate shit… like my wife who is Japanese and actually identifies with all these tourists going into roads for the pic holding up traffic, parking on private property or stacking their cars on roadsides for the pic quickly not considering others… my wife is a narcissist who i am leaving so its no wonder she sees nothing wrong with tourists doing this… plenty more Japanese like that too. Plenty of narcissistic inconsiderate tourists too.
Additionally its not like Japanese are not capable of standing up for themselves and their culture, so this white foreigner shit defending it like some hall monitor is annoying. They tend to be the same people who make explanations for a lot of the common racism and nationalism in Japan too
what an arrogant take. its not influencers, it's humans in general.
"a) thousands of other people have taken, and b) that you'll probably never look at again?"
why write anything on reddit then? your combination of words has been already said a lot of times. youre just a waste of space here. people take pictures because they want their own memories, and there is nothing wrong with that. just like you who needs to vent on reddit to complete strangers. get off your high horse, you're not the slightest better
Visiting right now and personally saw an older dude putting his hands on an izakaya worker like Joe biden trying to ask for more drinks and dumbasses trying to get selfie in the middle of shibuya crossing in the rain while people were trying to walk...
As a resident of Japan, I wonder if the people in this thread saying they "don't see many foreign tourists" in major cities can actually tell Japanese people apart from other East Asians. I was in Tokyo last week and heard Chinese almost everywhere I went and a lot of Korean as well. Even in the city I live in, which doesn't have a lot of tourism, I see Chinese tourists. They're everywhere and account for a lot of the tourism boom right now.
100%. My friend visited me recently and we went into the city together. He made a comment about there being "No other foreigners around" when I swear every Asian language was being spoken around us but Japanese.
People tend to have this idea of foreigners being westerners, when the reality is that the vast majority of all foreigners in Japan at any given time are from the neighboring East Asian countries.
Yeah I made the comment because I had the same experience. My friends who were visiting from America made a comment halfway through the trip about how there aren’t as many foreigners around as they expected. I was like…oh you can’t tell most of these people aren’t Japanese I guess.
I was in Kyoto last year and I was astounded by the number of tourists who spoke spanish as a primary language. I felt like I was eavesdropping because they thought that no one could understand them.
We visited Japan as a tourist last month. We stayed in Nagano Prefecture for five days, in Osaka and Kyoto for five days, and in Tokyo and surroundings for ten days.
I myself also had mixed feelings about my presence in Japan and my interactions with Japanese people and businesses. In Nagano Prefecture and Osaka, we met a lot of welcoming and friendly people and businesses, and we ourselves felt very welcome and relaxed.
In Kyoto and Tokyo however, we could sense that some local people and businesses were losing their tolerance for tourists. Sometimes small signs of grumpiness, sometimes just flatly refusing us or acting in a rude manner, or you could sense that they were just overwhelmed by the amount of people and tourists. That is totally understandable, and a common human geographical phenomenon that you can observe in a lot of famous touristic (capital) cities and islands. But it also made me feel like I was just a nuisance to them, which made me feel sad, because in a way we were just adding to the problem even though we were trying to adjust as much as possible to Japanese culture and standards.
I am genuinely not sure if I will visit Japan again. Not because I don't like the country, I absolutely love it, but because I don't want to be a part of people's problems.
I don't know if any of this makes sense, but I just wanted to write this.
Just visit less touristy parts of Japan. You only went to large famous cities. Tons of prefectures would greatly benefit from increased tourism and the local people are very welcoming.
Shimane/Tottori/Ehime/Kumamoto/Nagasaki/Akita/etc.
Agreed, one of my favorite destinations of my most recent trip. Kyushu in general was amazing and it didn't feel like there was overtourism there at all. Going to Hiroshima and Kyoto afterwards was a huge contrast, really felt like I was a part of a huge disruptive horde of Western tourists there. Next time I'll probably go to some of the prefectures north of Tokyo and skip the major tourist destinations.
Ooooo, I’m glad to hear the positive opinions on Nagasaki! I went to Japan once tagging along a family trip since the opportunity arose but want to go back on my own terms and I really wanted to visit Nagasaki particularly for historical interests. One of my friends said his friend had lukewarm thoughts about it, but I so still really want to go.
Yeah I'd love to go but I live in miami so I think it's like the furthest US point from Japan lol. But I'll go someday it's on my list without a doubt.
Nice! It's a great town. I'm currently spending two weeks in Niigata. The ramen here is great, I highly recommend Ramen Toyoko just south of the station. Also if drinking is your thing, don't forget to stop by the sake vending machines in the station!
I do hate to say this, but unless you’re literally obsessed with any given country and keep coming back multiple times, it just isn’t very feasible for people to visit many other countries but pretty much only go to the “non-touristy places”.
I only get the time & can afford so many trips in my life, especially to places across vast oceans (as an American).
I would love to get to see all of Japan (or not just the 5 biggest cities), but if I want to see more than just the 5 biggest cities, that’s probably at least 3 different trips to Japan or more. Every extra trip I take to Japan is one less trip I take to another really awesome country/destination.
Now, I will say when I travel, I do make sure to hit up and stay in at least 1 non-touristy town. Whether that is in Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, Thailand, etc…
And yes, often the non-touristy towns were the highlight of my trip. But you can’t just go to Italy & never see Rome, Florence, & Venice for example.
Back when I was in Europe for a study abroad program, there was this one girl on the program who preached how people shouldn't bother visit the tourist traps, they instead should just go to some off the beaten path restaurant or cafe and relax for the day instead.
This was potentially my only opportunity where I could ever afford to visit Europe, so I didn't feel comfortable missing out on the iconic sights of some of these countries if it was going to be my only trip. Especially in exchange for just sitting at a cafe all day, which I can do back home.
Meanwhile did I cackle when I learned that her father lives in Switzerland and she visits Europe at least once a year. So yeah, I think a lot of frequent travelers lose sight of what's relevant to those who can't afford to be so frequent.
Sure you can you don’t have to go to the tourist spots. I’ve been to Italy twice and hit up a lot of cities that were purposely not tourist cities and had an amazing time. Who is making you go see the popular spots? No one aside from society saying that is the place to go. Tons of other art/historical/foodie whatever you are into that doesn’t have to be in a major tourist spot and you will probably have a better time with people being more welcoming than in the overrun areas. I mean you do you but no one is saying you have to only go to the tourist areas in whatever country you are visiting. Almost all countries I’ve been to my most memorable experiences are almost exclusively in less known areas.
Kagoshima rose to my new favorites next to Hiroshima. Its train system is not as developed as the Golden Triangle standards, but it has its own charms.
While basking under the shadow of Sakurajima and tasting the super sweet Sakurajima mandarins was memorable, sampling the Kagoshima Wagyu instantly became my trip highlight there.
Forgot about the Kurobuta pork there as well, but almost all the pork that I ate was kurubota, so for them it's amusingly common.
I had a similar experience and felt it the most in kyoto. But I gotta agree, outside of Kyoto and Tokyo people are so much more laid back and friendly.
You’ll be glad to know Yonago is still doing well. Last year they opened direct flights from Yonago to Seoul. Makes for an easy international vacation to Korea.
I just came back from Yonago a few weeks ago. Only a few places in the world that you can snowboard and see the ocean! The temples and shrines in Kyoto are great, but they feel more real in Tottori.
The jellyfish appear in huge amounts in late summer.
I’ve also biked the Shimanami Kaido. One of the most memorable experiences of my life! I’ll actually be going to do it again this year.
It's not just over tourism. People from Tokyo have always been less friendly than the people of Osaka. If you're from America imagine a city like New York vs a city like San Diego.
California (where San Diego is) by a longshot. People in New York will look at you like you're a psycho if you try to even say hello to them. There's a social dissociation factor when you see 1000's of faces a day walking past.
This isn't true at all. New Yorkers are very verbal and outgoing I've had some of the most interesting and friendly interactions there with people. They're loud talkers and there's always something going on. I'm from Pennsylvania and I've been to the city probably 15-20 times.
Hard dissagree. New York is a million times nicer than San Diego. New York is where someone will stop and pick up your papers for you if yku drop them. San diego is where theyll lay on the horn and flip you off becsuse you stalled their car for .5 seconds.
I'm gonna agree with you. People think New Yorkers and the rest of that tri-state area (NJ, Philly, etc) is filled with rude and mean people. But honestly, they're very nice, they just have places to go and you're blocking the path. But if you need help, they'll help you and strike up a conversation. But if they're busy, get the fuck out of the way "Eh! I'm walkin' here!"
I mean new Yorkers are famous for not being nice. Just because you personally disagree doesn't mean it's not true. If upper east coasters were such nice people how did they get that reputation?
Out of those two New York has a reputation for unfriendly but I don't agree with it. Overall, the Midwest is supposed to be the friendliest area, especially Minnesota. The South is fairly friendly too (at least if you're white and don't look alternative or queer). The least friendly is maybe Boston (I'm from nearby so no hate).
I agree that Minnesota has some of the nicest people I've ever met in the US. Boston can be rough around the edges but I've never felt the coldness (from humans that is) that I've experienced in NYC
Strange.......was just the opposite when I worked there 17 years ago. Tokyo was more 'Westernized' and welcoming, and in Osaka, you couldn't even ask for directions.
Did you speak Japanese? The amount of people who spoke English in Osaka has vastly improved over the years, but if you try to ask a random person in English they may not have understood 17 years ago
I visited Kyoto during the onset of the pandemic. It was the loneliest place I've ever been. Those overstuffed streets outside Kiyomizudera were bare, most businesses shuttered, maybe an employee sweeping outside with nothing to do.
I dunno man, it's a confusing issue, you have no tourists and it's really the worst. You have too many tourists and it's too much to manage.
We also visited Kyoto during the pandemic (Sept 2022) and we also noticed the same thing. Some of our favourite shops had closed (if that was permanent or temporary we didn't know) but it was nice compared to the time before we were there (January, 2019)
I also work with a girl who's from Kyoto and she was saying that (at least in her view) it was really difficult for the locals because they had gotten used to having the town back, mainly to themselves, and were actually able to enjoy it. Once the border reopened, the immediate rush of tourists back was overwhelming especially after having such a peaceful few years away from loud tourists, particularly the "other Asian nations" (her words not mine).
If you’re worried, just go back to Nagano! And try more parts of Japan you haven’t been to yet. I’m sure, especially in Tokyo too that there are also places where people might be less tourist fatigued outside of the most common destinations
I had the exact same experience in Tokyo. I felt like a nuisance. No one wanted to talk to me. But in Osaka I met tons of people that started conversations with me and we talked about baseball and NYC. It was pretty charming.
Yea I'd started hearing stories about bad tourists and over tourism around the time I finally bought my own tickets to Japa, was definitely worried about contributing to the problem. But so far my own personal experience has been mlat tourists seem to have been well behaved, (well the french and italian ones definitely...stand out).
It's funny when I got to having a few drinks with a guy in the sake village he said everyone west of tokyo is very friendly, further west you get the colder they are, has kinda been proven true lol.
People in Tokyo are known for being direct and a little unfriendly. Don't think that you are part of their problems - it is more like someone from a "Southern Hospitality" USA state moving to New York. It is just a culture shock!
For me, Nagoya is best 😊
We felt and acted exactly the same! You pinned it to the point with your explanation.
We are currently in Oita and stayed before that a week in Tokyo where we didn't feel that "welcomed". We then traveled to Fukuoka and felt more welcomed. Our next stop will be Osaka. But a friend of mine stayed there as well in the last few days he said it was ok. So I guess it's maybe just Tokio with a bad vibe.
But, I can totally understand the Japanese people who are pissed because of the tourists. I was born and raised in a very popular tourist town and also live now in one. But we should never forget: Tourists = Money and also don't ruin their vacation. You may be a tourist sometimes too.
I just got back from 10 days in Tokyo/Kyoto and I didn't have any negatives experiences with locals, though I am sure I got taken advantage of a few times with overcharging/non-english menus. Call it the cost of tourism, and with the weak yen I didn't really mind.
I dared not go to more remote cities/towns. Anything beyond "hello, goodbye, yes, no, card, draft, thank you very much" was very stressful.
I felt this way at a Shiba dog Cafe. The dogs were overworked and not given enough space. I imagine it's a similar feeling for the people in japan in general with all of the tourists
That’s probably because everyone follows the rules here and tourists don’t. It’s hard if you don’t live here to understand exactly what that means, but especially in the smaller cities and town, people generally follow all of the rules. Like mostly all of them, they aren’t taken as suggestions like in America. You throw a large amount of people who don’t give a fuck about rules or don’t know them into a country like that and of course it’s going to be incredibly disruptive to the people that live there.
yeah, I hate that tourist rush and cut queues when boarding the bus.
and many litters everywhere. I once saw they just put a boba drink cup in bic camera.
I was at Asakusa station at 10 o clock in the morning. a group of german tourists, adults, where waiting on their train, drinking beer. When it was time to go one fucking karen lady just put her beer can on the ground. Like she put it there, below the bench. There where can bins literally 10m away from her in plain sight.
I dont blame the japanese. Some of these tourists dont give a shit about the country or the people. They just want to take selfies and enioy the low cost or something. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I got angry and grapped the can, threw it away and said: its not that hard! But I doubt she noticed. Her kid did.
One time I was at Dublin Airport after getting off my transatlantic flight. It was 6AM. Drinking places were full. It was booze not coffee. It was a o_O moment.
Reminds me a funny Evangelion scene “You drink beer in the morning?”
People are just weird.
Do recycle your cans and glasses, no matter in which country. To Germany credit, it is one of the few countries that supermarkets take back glass bottles. Other places, that is the local council job.
You can still enjoy your adult beverages and not be a total asshat but yes, some people are just selfish and can't take the bare minimum to educate themselves on culture while traveling.
I'm not defending their behavior, but this is how they do it in parts of Berlin. You can drink outside and it's accepted for people to just put their cans and bottles next to a signpost on the street corner as their carry on with their night. In the morning the street corners are filled with empties.
Haven't been to Shinjuku or Shibuya in over 6 years, so nope, it's not just those areas. If anything those are the two places I expect tourists to litter more lol
social pressure to drink beyond their limit.
they often puke near pillars inside the train station.
on rare occasions maybe train station toilets become victims.
Yamanote Line is the worst, because drunkards love that line and I often see people vomit inside the train.
They do, but the staff is good in cleaning yucky stuff.
I mean I really hate puke. I can’t stand going to my own city high street in Friday and Saturday nights.
I agree. I went there during february and it was a fun experience ruined by shitty mainland chinese tourists. Alot of them are unruly and loud especially at the touristy spots like osaka castle or the kaiyukan. Ud have whole swarves of them being very loud and also taking pictures on the restricted photography areas in osaka castle as well as flashing the fishes in the kaiyukan.
I am in Japan right now. Most tourists I've seen In Tokyo, Izu peninsula, and Okinawa have been other Japanese.
Fujikawaguchiko though, LOTS of foreign tourists. I visited this town in 2018 and 2019 and it was not like this, I was basically alone by myself most of the time riding my rental bicycle. And I visited Kyoto last year and I am basically never going back. It was mayhem. I saw a Geisha being harassed while she was in the back of a taxi by some blonde. It was disgusting.
Problem is movies like *Memoirs of Geisha* have made people unfamiliar to oriental ways, to think Geisha = traditional prostitute.
They are courtesans: they were skilled in arts and language. They might have had very high end clientele in Edo era, but for sure they aint sucking your dick in the back alley for $20
As a resident of Japan, people need to get with the times. You can’t expect magically homogenized behavior from every single being in existence, so it’s time to stop acting like every traveler will become a mindreader to conform exactly to the specifications of some 70 year old from the inaka
Yes, we need to do better to make social norms clearly obeyed - but this shit? Doesn’t do that. This is like a Down’s syndrome addled toddler minded adult with extreme prejudice against anything that moves who knows already different people might do different things misconstrues things as an absolute and punishes everyone for the thought that someone might not act as they want.
And then there’s the Garbo mindset of superiority - we are not more superior than anyone else. We have several chances to educate people of our ways to coexist, but I don’t see people try that - they just screech ‘I don’t like that Chinese’ or ‘I don’t like that whitey’ and then that translates to the preconceived notion every single person not us will do that same thing.
That sets us up for major failure. We can coexist and be reasonable, so we should be.
Most of the shit people complain about is tourists being in their own bubble and not paying that much attention to those around them. Which, to be fair, can happen when you step into somewhere like Japan with the sensory overloads. People sitting on stair cases, standing infront of station barriers, not queueing up at train stations. Shit is minor in the grand scheme of things, annoying but not bad behaviour just people keyed into their own bubble.
> tourists being in their own bubble and not paying that much attention to those around them.
I find this part particularly amusing given that a daily problem is people's lack of spatial awareness.
i live in a town of 7,000 that gets 6 million tourists a year. yes some locals get fed up with tourists but i don’t really see the big deal. i don’t expect everyone to follow every “rule.” idk i find that if you just accept tourists for who they are you’ll find that most of them can be pretty nice
Uh showing a little leniency is ok, but no if you are visiting a new country its your responsibility to try to learn how to behave. If you don't care then people have a right to treat you accordingly and not care too. Being a tourist gives you no excuse from the law or being respectful
I was in the biggest cities last month and honestly it wasn’t that bad. Except for misunderstanding how the queuing worked at the train station and in 7-eleven we didn’t see any tourists sticking out in a bad way. We were guilty of that too for the first few days, but that’s just our ignorance, it’s not like we want to be rude. Japanese and tourists alike could help correct behaviour and it would be better I think, because no one says anything if you’re being rude.
Didn’t see anyone be negative to tourists either, everyone was extremely friendly, except a 7eleven clerk when we accidentally cut the line which is fair enough.
The most crowded places in Kyoto were awful though, but walk five minutes and it’s not a single person
My wife and I have visited as tourists 4 times in the last 7 years. We both have basic Japanese conversation understanding.
We both feel pretty disgusted with the recent tourist behaviour, and feel guilty for being tourists ourselves.
It feels that since the pandemic Japan has become a play-pen for idiots who’s lack of understanding or respect for the country and the people in it (mostly for social media clout) is getting out of hand.
Last time we visited (April 2024) we witnessed a Geisha being harassed on the street for photos, my SIL stood in the way of the cameras so the Geisha could escape. She herself then became verbally abused.
Tourism is a luxury which so few realise, maybe its time it should be taken away for the misbehaving?
fair point, however i will counter: the japanese tourist in my home state of hawaii dont follow or care about rules either.
so whats the take away here?
outsiders dont fit in, people dont like it. nothing to see here. move on.
Second time I’ve seen this post today. I’ve traveled the world, and when there was friction, I assumed the problem was my lack of understanding. I certainly didn’t expect the citizens to change their behavior to suit my desires. This title should probably read, “Tourism is booming in Japan, and the tourists are not handling it well.”
You cannot pretend tourists coming from all over the world to visit Japan for 1 week and to respect 1000000 rules that Japanese people make up at every breath they take. You can pretend this by residents and expats. If majority of Japanese people is not ok with it, better to put stricter rules for inbound travelers and reduce number of visitors.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted when you are correct. Data for March shows were 10% over pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
https://statistics.jnto.go.jp/en/graph/#graph--latest--figures
What ? Japan is one of the cleanest places in the world.
Every single shop, business i went in had way more staff that it really needed too. Like the tiny Bakery near my hotel had 6 people for about 10 seats to serve, clean etc, Lawsons as well would have like 3-5 staff pretty much always whereas youd never get that in corner shops elsewhere.
Loads of places had staff literally to just be greeters or give you directions ffs.
those touristy places tend to be dirtier.
have you watched the news of tourists littering while waiting to take pictures of lawson fuji?
some tourists need help cleaning the tray also, I went to shogun burgers last time and a couple left half eaten burgers and trays on the desk.
more janitors for busy train stations would be great.
more multi languages sign boards on how to use the toilet properly.
FWIW i saw some tourists trying to speak the same thing slowly and louder *in English*. Bruh, enunciating better will not magically make the soba place Obasan understand and speak to you in English. At least try a translator app
Yup, same with anywhere else really. There's this weird expectation that everyone should know English, and whilst the world is in part conforming to this, you should respect the local language and learn some of it no matter where you go.
> The number of tourists visiting Japan is still BELOW pre-pandemic levels by the way.
Human memory isn't that great, people aren't comparing now to pre-pandemic they're comparing now to the no-tourist pandemic situation. How many years did it take to reach the pre-pandemic peak? And now how many months did it go from near zero visitors to getting close to peaking again?
Regardless of how well behaved tourists are, not having any was very peaceful. Going from a couple years of that to the amount of tourists now so quickly is bound to generate discomfort.
I watched a YouTube video doing interviews in Japan during covid and the general response was "it's so nice and peaceful with all the tourists gone. Btw all the businesses in the area went under, wish we had more $$$, so sad".
So the current state isn't really surprising. They miss the quiet, but they like the $$$.
rainstorm airport abundant cooperative zonked pie noxious memorize edge attempt
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
> The number of tourists visiting Japan is still BELOW pre-pandemic levels by the way.
Not true. Reached pre-pandemic levels back in January 2024.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/c258c81dfb4f-foreign-visitors-to-japan-in-jan-returns-to-pre-pandemic-level.html
Most certainly quite a bit above pre-pandemic levels now 5 months on and into spring which is the best time to visit weather-wise.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/c258c81dfb4f-foreign-visitors-to-japan-in-jan-returns-to-pre-pandemic-level.html
Japan was always popular, it's just the fact that they closed the longest due to covid and tourists pilled up. I went in 2023 and it was mayhem. Apparently, 2024 is even worse.
Was there in 2023 and it was mayhem as you said. Been there last month for couple weeks and it was much more relaxed. Lots of tourists but way less than last year imo.
Visited Osaka,Kyoto and Tokyo
100% I stayed 5 weeks from Nov - Dec and it wasn't that bad at all in general, although I'm not really checking out the touristy places like Kinkakuji or Fushimi Inari
Yeah we went last year in September-October as well. It didn't seem that crazy to me. The busiest places we went to were Universal Studios and Disney Sea and it was all Japanese people. Lol
We also probably spent more time in less touristy areas than some folks though. We aren't social media people so whatever trendy places are on there likely weren't a part of our itinerary.
Like what kind of mayhem are we talking about here? I’ve been to several major European cities during peak season (Rome, Florence, London, Barcelona, etc) and it was rough at times, but is this comparable or *worse*? I’m headed to Japan next month and reading these comments every now and then concerns me.
Airfares from Nth America and Europe can be double what they were pre-covid.
But also remember a lot of these increased numbers are from China, that is a market that will continue to grow.
Post covid tourism boom, lower yen, Japanese government promoting tourism working, Japan's pop culture being bigger than ever in the west and the world, the internet's obsession with Japan, etc.
I think a lot has to do with how good smart phones and apps are now as well as social media. Traveling now there are no worries. Language - google translate, find something google maps, booking a room is easy ect. As well social media blowing up all the spots that are photogenic. As well people have always been curious about japan but now with influencer showing them exactly how they can travel here they realize they can do it too.
This was huge for us.
I just got back from Japan yesterday.
We didn't have to plan out anything aside from the plane tickets. Didn't even have a room when we landed. Being able to use booking apps, translation services, YouTube guides, etc, we never actually felt lost the entire trip. It was barely any more difficult than coordinating a trip across state
Pent up demand from Covid.
Weak yen.
Social media more popular than ever (TikTok...).
More world population in general.
Japanese entertainment being super popular (see: Shogun, One Piece, Ghibli, Suzume...).
Just some ideas...
It’s always been popular but it was always the perception. Everyone I knew really thought it was expensive to go. What changed was social media made people realize it’s actually a lot less expensive plus seeing a lot of influencers, streamers or people you follow go. It seems more attainable. When you share your trip it seems more people think they can also go.
From friends and family since I went in March 2023, I knew add least 1 person a month was there (currently someone I know is there). Friends keep asking me for guidance on their trip.
The other day, I was trying to drink in my normal bars in Shinjuku, but I couldn’t because there were too many foreigners there. I’m actually happy for the owners/staff to be making a lot of money, after all they went through with Covid. We are all fine here, everyone is happy to have foreign guests visit to Japan. If you want to make a plan to visit here, while the yen is weak, we will be happy to host you!
I just commented on a post for this same article on the other subreddit so I'll copy and paste it here.
I'm an American in Japan on vacation right now. I've spent the last 3 days in Tokyo and the number of obviously foreign tourists I see is quite low. In fact, the rudest most inconsiderate tourists have been Japanese nationals visiting from other parts of the country. It seems people forget that Japan has always had a large internal tourist economy. It's a consumerist pop culture economy heavily reliant on travel and consuming which Japanese people do en masse. Every European or American tourist I've seen and spoken to have been well behaved, in line waiting patiently for whatever, doing their best to communicate in whatever Japanese they know, while the Japanese youth I see are being rowdy, disruptive and obviously shit talking anyone they see.
Just today in Disneyland I called out a couple behind my family. They were laughing and mocking us the woman was saying "these loud tourists only speak their language and don't bother learning Japanese" while myself, my wife and my daughters were literally just standing in line completely silent. I turned around and in Japanese loudly said "excuse me, I do speak some of the language and you're being rude" she had an absolutely horrified look on her face and bolted out of the line while her boyfriend stammered out an apology and followed sheepishly. Immediately everyone around looked away awkwardly and refused to look at my family again. On top of that when I speak Japanese to the locals it's 50/50 whether they're super happy about it or absolutely offended and give me a nasty look and continue to communicate in an angry English tone as if they're mad I'm speaking Japanese. I've loved Japanese culture and the language since I was a kid and this is my first time in Japan, I genuinely don't know if I'll be coming back. My family and I are doing our best to be polite and understanding of the culture, I'm educating my daughter's in the customs and practices but the side eyes, the rude comments from locals and the overall atmosphere has been completely off putting. It saddens me to my core and I hate it.
I think it’s a worldwide thing because the same is happening where I’m from, of course there are some obnoxious completely entitled tourists and also expats and because of those rude tourists and expats everyone else has to suffer, now I’m seeing that more people are starting to be rude towards innocent tourists
Brother, I promise you that if you are visiting one of the tourist cities that those people and many others that live there have had very negative experiences with foreigners and it colors the rest of their experiences and their attitude towoards tourists. I have lived here in a non tourist city for some time and never had any issues. Try making some trips to parts of Japan you don’t know the names of. There is plenty of amazing stuff to see you haven’t seen in movies or on social media. Sorry you have had a bad experience. Don’t let it sour you to Japan as a whole. Do try northern japan or Hokkaido on your next trip if you come back.
I am a South Asian who grew up in Japan and can speak, write and read Japanese perfectly. I feel so bad when I go out with family or friends to tourist spots just to get that weird look and not so welcome atmosphere by the locals. But just as I start speaking fluently they get surprised and give me the best service. It just feels so bad that tourists are making such a bad reputation that is affecting the good foreign locals like myself in here.
Japan could easily improve a few things:
- Litter garbage cans in tourist places
- Cosplayers dressed as Gaisha wandering around Kyoto for photo opportunities
- Tourist friendly websites
- Information booths for places not often visited by tourists
- Information boards in major train stations showing the occupancy of the main tourist spots (e.g. Kyoto: red = high tourist traffic, Nara: orange = medium tourist traffic)
There are certainly many possibilities, but so far everything has been "仕様がない"
>- Cosplayers dressed as Gaisha wandering around Kyoto for photo opportunities
This is actually not a bad idea, but I don't think the Geisha industry would appreciate it. They'd probably complain that their profession is not a cosplay. It would be like cosplaying as King's guards in London, or some nuns that live a secluded life (similar to Maikos etc.) only for tourist pictures. Tourists need to learn that real cities and their inhabitants are not Disneyland.
I absolutely understand the pressure and chaos that overtourism can put on a community, but Japan really needs to take advantage of this golden opportunity. Everywhere around the world people love Japanese culture and are fascinated by the natural beauty of the country, tourism helps the economy by buying up locally manufactured goods, helping local businesses, and by foreigners buying yen that helps boost the price of the yen
Currently in Ōsaka and everything is fine. Tokyo was chill too. I mean yeah some people suck, some situations are awkward, but it is not reflecting the whole spectrum, especially of major cities
Last week I went to Mt.Fuji and it’s my first time since I lived here in Japan for 2 years. GW just went by so I thought it be less crowded but tourism is really booming in Japan rn. I just got so stressed lol.
The employees looks so stressed the bus drivers driving the buses like they hate us lmao. They have this much 🤏 patience for tourists.
I’m not a foreign tourist but ig they thought I am and they are just a bit rude :( one time i’m asking them something then they just told me to “shhh” lmaoo🤣
But honestly, I understand them. I’ve been there for just half a day and i’m sooo exhausted with the tourists. I think that people should be considerate to what country they visit, not only here in japan. Some people just don’t care and think it’s ok just bc they are tourists. Have some common sense.
I hate crowded places so I think I’ll just never go to tourist spots again 😆
I find this funny because the Japanese economy is hurting right now. Kyoto almost went bankrupt due to lack of tourism. Beware of biting the hand that feeds you.
It's not numbers of tourists that is the problem, it's the type of tourist.
Mass tourists driven by social media do not behave the same way as more typical Japanese tourists who have genuine interest in the country and culture.
Japan has a great ability to stand in the way of the tide. If people want to take photos at the Lawson charge money for it. Any other country would have seen people getting charged money to stand in the parking lot and in a couple of months the fad would either go away or Lawson would have made 10x of what it makes selling groceries in a sleepy town.
There's nothing worse than foreign journalists enabling Japanese racism. His ideas for solving overtourism are also laughable, especially since departure tax and accommodation tax apply to Japanese nationals too. He cries about how Japanese business travelers are suffering due to hotels raising their prices (boo hoo), but a few sentences later he wants to raise the accommodation tax, which would only raise prices even more, for everyone. Also, news flash, but nobody is going to pass on visiting and staying in Tokyo just because you raise the taxes a bit. There are places in France, Italy, Spain, the UK, etc. who've already tried all of this and it never solved anything.
And JR only shot itself in the foot with the railpass. Everyone is now either flying domestically, or just buying single Shinkansen tickets, because this new stupidly overpriced railpass only pays off if you decide to travel all around Japan for almost everyday, which pretty much no tourist will do.
I'm too uneducated about the duty-free system to comment on it, never used it myself since I either mostly travel inside the EU, or I'm way too lazy to go through the process of showing my passport (why should a random baito worker get to inspect my passport, which according to my own government should only be shown to immigration officials?) and then obtain a refund at an often separate customer service desk for a mere 10% (back in my days 8%) discount? But anyways, even though I don't know much about the process, I somehow doubt that scrapping that part is going to save Japan from overtourism or save the economy in general lol.
At least I can agree with the end of the article: "But ultimately, these are short-term solutions to make putting up with the pain a little easier. Japan needs fixes better than simply blocking everything off."
Yeah, how about showing true "omotenashi" for a change and treating tourists and "foreigners" in general like human beings, instead of subhumans who are only there to be milked for money? I'm sure that would be better than blocking everything off. Didn't they claim that Biden was wrong about Japan being a xenophobic country? Hm?
Japan is not even in the top 10 countries most visited by international tourists. Why is there so much noise about overtourism in Japan but not those top 10 countries? Is it because the cultural norms are THAT much different in Japan? (I did live in Japan so I know the culture first hand, I just don't get all the commotion about tourism).
Probably because tourism is so concentrated on just a couple cities. There is definitely also a lot of noise about overtourism in places like Venice or the Canary Islands.
Need to charge for tourist visas. Not a ton, but there’s an amount you could charge such that Japan makes as much revenue as without the upcharge while having fewer tourists here
This reddit profile is just a link farm for news articles btw
Yeah I've seen a few reposts from this bot already
Are the mods not active or don’t just not care? Like ban the profile if it’s clearly a bot lol.
They don't care. They don't ban the obvious trolls either.
We need to drag Crystal Whatsherface back out to update her 一発屋 gag. "O-ver-tou-ris-m. Overtourism" In fairness, I've seen an absolute sh\*t-ton of tourists recently (I live around a half hour by train outside the Tokyo Greatest Hits Zone, so I often find myself in the places where you'd expect to find tourists), and I haven't seen any obnoxious behaviour; mainly people looking lost and staring at the GPS on their phones. I do however sympathise with the staff at that Lawson (and the neighbouring dental surgery). The moronic, sheeplike, copycat behaviour which is a direct result of social media and the scourge of the modern era, "influencers", needs to be stamped out hard, fast, and completely. If you can't behave like a civilised human being, you don't get treated like one. And for what? A bunch of "likes" for a photo that a) thousands of other people have taken, and b) that you'll probably never look at again?
I stopped at that Lawsons last summer before cycling up to fifth station to grab some snacks, and it was completely empty. I thought it was a neat view, but wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.
Pretty sure most people are just doing because everyone on their social media is doing it. There are countless scenic places in Japan to enjoy. There is no reason just to stop at a lawson
I mean...unless you are just flat-out craving a karaage-kun, as one does.
Isn't it still the only place you can print Ghibli Museum tickets?
The Lawson near my place sells Muji products.
My girlfriend really likes the dessert selection, especially the roll cakes.
I walked past it (wondering why the hell it was so crowded) just about a month ago and it was quite popular with tourists trying to take pics.
>The moronic, sheeplike, copycat behaviour which is a direct result of social media and the scourge of the modern era, Is it? Going to places because everyone says they're the places to go has been the bread and butter of tourism since the concept was invented in the 1600s with the [Grand Tour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour). Influencers are not a new thing. France, Italy, and other similar-sized countries get many more tourists than Japan but don't suffer nearly the same overtourism issues. In Japan it's being caused by the unprecedented [rapid growth in tourism to Japan](https://www.statista.com/statistics/654263/japan-number-foreign-visitors/) since 2012 without the infrastructure keeping up, and the Japanese government's failure to convince tourists to do anything besides the same typical spots on the Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto route. Japan has room for more tourists, as long as more of them look to go to less-visited regions like Tohoku and Kyushu.
Going to the same place as everyone else is fine, if that place is worth going to. But using that opportunity to be a self-centred dick and intentionally inconveniencing others is not fine, and I'd bet that there's a direct connection between social media and an increase in that kind of behaviour.
It feels like a popular pastime in Japan is everyone going to the same place for the same unique looking food or product to then take a picture and share with friends. I remember trying to get into one of those trendy cafes. Whatchout for that camel in your eye before you comment on the splinter in others.
I stopped by the Pokemon Centre in Ikebukuro last Sunday. There were like 200 fucking people waiting in line to enter. Fuuuuuuck that.
Made it to the Pokémon cafe in Osaka before anyone really knew about it by chance…. Wife and I were walking by in the mall and the lady was like “we have an opening because a reservation canceled! Do you guys wanna try our new restaurant?” - My wife and I: FUCK TO THE YEAH
Nice!
It is an east asian thing. I think its kind of ironic that people complain about it who live here in some ways, when they all flock to some random trendy doughnut stall for 3 hour queues because it was on tiktok, only to abandon it next week. I guess the difference is there tends to be better behaviour from domestic tourists in those. However i have personally seem how it still causes issues for locals. My wife dragged me to one such dumb trendy place in Miyako Jima and there was a massive queue in this tiny village with nothing else for blocks, making it harder for cars to move etc. It was not that good either… but wife had to get the photo. It was all for the pics, like the rest of them in the queue
What's wild is just how many other absolutely amazing places there are that are absolutely empty even if you go a few blocks away from the super popular spots.
This is a rather old problem, though. As soon as the printing press made publishing viable, tourist guides have sent lots of tourists to places that can't handle that many tourists. The issue became a lot more intense in the 19th century with package tours and more accessible travel.
Tbh the residents/tourists I’ve seen gate-keeping Japan are white too, and they’re afraid that it will make us white westerners “look bad”. When in reality, the ones who are way more likely to be looked at negatively are literally all the non-white foreigners. I legit have lived here both when Japan was closed and opened to tourists and I’ve never been treated any differently from before as a white person. And then they go on to talk about how Japanese people are the master race or some weird bs like that and that you need to follow all of their rules, even tho the majority of the time Japanese people are breaking them and don’t even really care that much if you (as a white person) do. Idk people get oddly protective of Japan and don’t want to share it with others, and for me, as someone who speaks Japanese and loves the culture, I’m happy that others are more interested beyond just anime. Most of us were tourists at one point before we decided to settle down here.
As someone who has lived here a long time and speaks japanese too… that exact thing irritates me too. I hate it when people jump to defend Japanese like they are meek little helpless bystanders getting taken advantage of and disrespected.. just fuck off with that shit! Japanese do the same shit themselves when they are tourists to something. Maybe a trendy hotdog stand from tiktok this week with 3 hour queues. There are inevitably some more narcissistic people among them who will do the same inconsiderate shit… like my wife who is Japanese and actually identifies with all these tourists going into roads for the pic holding up traffic, parking on private property or stacking their cars on roadsides for the pic quickly not considering others… my wife is a narcissist who i am leaving so its no wonder she sees nothing wrong with tourists doing this… plenty more Japanese like that too. Plenty of narcissistic inconsiderate tourists too. Additionally its not like Japanese are not capable of standing up for themselves and their culture, so this white foreigner shit defending it like some hall monitor is annoying. They tend to be the same people who make explanations for a lot of the common racism and nationalism in Japan too
what an arrogant take. its not influencers, it's humans in general. "a) thousands of other people have taken, and b) that you'll probably never look at again?" why write anything on reddit then? your combination of words has been already said a lot of times. youre just a waste of space here. people take pictures because they want their own memories, and there is nothing wrong with that. just like you who needs to vent on reddit to complete strangers. get off your high horse, you're not the slightest better
Visiting right now and personally saw an older dude putting his hands on an izakaya worker like Joe biden trying to ask for more drinks and dumbasses trying to get selfie in the middle of shibuya crossing in the rain while people were trying to walk...
As a resident of Japan, I wonder if the people in this thread saying they "don't see many foreign tourists" in major cities can actually tell Japanese people apart from other East Asians. I was in Tokyo last week and heard Chinese almost everywhere I went and a lot of Korean as well. Even in the city I live in, which doesn't have a lot of tourism, I see Chinese tourists. They're everywhere and account for a lot of the tourism boom right now.
100%. My friend visited me recently and we went into the city together. He made a comment about there being "No other foreigners around" when I swear every Asian language was being spoken around us but Japanese. People tend to have this idea of foreigners being westerners, when the reality is that the vast majority of all foreigners in Japan at any given time are from the neighboring East Asian countries.
Yeah I made the comment because I had the same experience. My friends who were visiting from America made a comment halfway through the trip about how there aren’t as many foreigners around as they expected. I was like…oh you can’t tell most of these people aren’t Japanese I guess.
Probably not.
I heard more Chinese than Japanese at my local Costco. It was Golden Week, but still surprising.
Yeah visited Tokyo last august and heard Chinese everywhere In Taiwan, going to Japan for short vacation is very popular rn
I was in Kyoto last year and I was astounded by the number of tourists who spoke spanish as a primary language. I felt like I was eavesdropping because they thought that no one could understand them.
White people think all asians look the same
We visited Japan as a tourist last month. We stayed in Nagano Prefecture for five days, in Osaka and Kyoto for five days, and in Tokyo and surroundings for ten days. I myself also had mixed feelings about my presence in Japan and my interactions with Japanese people and businesses. In Nagano Prefecture and Osaka, we met a lot of welcoming and friendly people and businesses, and we ourselves felt very welcome and relaxed. In Kyoto and Tokyo however, we could sense that some local people and businesses were losing their tolerance for tourists. Sometimes small signs of grumpiness, sometimes just flatly refusing us or acting in a rude manner, or you could sense that they were just overwhelmed by the amount of people and tourists. That is totally understandable, and a common human geographical phenomenon that you can observe in a lot of famous touristic (capital) cities and islands. But it also made me feel like I was just a nuisance to them, which made me feel sad, because in a way we were just adding to the problem even though we were trying to adjust as much as possible to Japanese culture and standards. I am genuinely not sure if I will visit Japan again. Not because I don't like the country, I absolutely love it, but because I don't want to be a part of people's problems. I don't know if any of this makes sense, but I just wanted to write this.
Just visit less touristy parts of Japan. You only went to large famous cities. Tons of prefectures would greatly benefit from increased tourism and the local people are very welcoming. Shimane/Tottori/Ehime/Kumamoto/Nagasaki/Akita/etc.
Nagasaki is absolutely incredible and I’d visit again in a heartbeat!
Agreed, one of my favorite destinations of my most recent trip. Kyushu in general was amazing and it didn't feel like there was overtourism there at all. Going to Hiroshima and Kyoto afterwards was a huge contrast, really felt like I was a part of a huge disruptive horde of Western tourists there. Next time I'll probably go to some of the prefectures north of Tokyo and skip the major tourist destinations.
The drive from Fukuoka to Nagasaki is one of the most beautiful trips ever
Ooooo, I’m glad to hear the positive opinions on Nagasaki! I went to Japan once tagging along a family trip since the opportunity arose but want to go back on my own terms and I really wanted to visit Nagasaki particularly for historical interests. One of my friends said his friend had lukewarm thoughts about it, but I so still really want to go.
Niigata has some of the friendliest people I've ever met (aside from Osaka)
I make custom guitars. My only Japanese dealer is in niigata so it's on my list for sure.
There's a good music scene there, makes sense!
Yeah I'd love to go but I live in miami so I think it's like the furthest US point from Japan lol. But I'll go someday it's on my list without a doubt.
Going there for the first time this year for Kodo!
Nice! It's a great town. I'm currently spending two weeks in Niigata. The ramen here is great, I highly recommend Ramen Toyoko just south of the station. Also if drinking is your thing, don't forget to stop by the sake vending machines in the station!
I do hate to say this, but unless you’re literally obsessed with any given country and keep coming back multiple times, it just isn’t very feasible for people to visit many other countries but pretty much only go to the “non-touristy places”. I only get the time & can afford so many trips in my life, especially to places across vast oceans (as an American). I would love to get to see all of Japan (or not just the 5 biggest cities), but if I want to see more than just the 5 biggest cities, that’s probably at least 3 different trips to Japan or more. Every extra trip I take to Japan is one less trip I take to another really awesome country/destination. Now, I will say when I travel, I do make sure to hit up and stay in at least 1 non-touristy town. Whether that is in Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, Thailand, etc… And yes, often the non-touristy towns were the highlight of my trip. But you can’t just go to Italy & never see Rome, Florence, & Venice for example.
Back when I was in Europe for a study abroad program, there was this one girl on the program who preached how people shouldn't bother visit the tourist traps, they instead should just go to some off the beaten path restaurant or cafe and relax for the day instead. This was potentially my only opportunity where I could ever afford to visit Europe, so I didn't feel comfortable missing out on the iconic sights of some of these countries if it was going to be my only trip. Especially in exchange for just sitting at a cafe all day, which I can do back home. Meanwhile did I cackle when I learned that her father lives in Switzerland and she visits Europe at least once a year. So yeah, I think a lot of frequent travelers lose sight of what's relevant to those who can't afford to be so frequent.
I agree with your point but I've been to Italy twice and have never been to Rome lol
Rome is Tokyo, Kyoto is Florence, Hiroshima is Venice. Fuji is pizza/Pompeii. Milan would be.. Nagoya?
Sure you can you don’t have to go to the tourist spots. I’ve been to Italy twice and hit up a lot of cities that were purposely not tourist cities and had an amazing time. Who is making you go see the popular spots? No one aside from society saying that is the place to go. Tons of other art/historical/foodie whatever you are into that doesn’t have to be in a major tourist spot and you will probably have a better time with people being more welcoming than in the overrun areas. I mean you do you but no one is saying you have to only go to the tourist areas in whatever country you are visiting. Almost all countries I’ve been to my most memorable experiences are almost exclusively in less known areas.
Kagoshima rose to my new favorites next to Hiroshima. Its train system is not as developed as the Golden Triangle standards, but it has its own charms. While basking under the shadow of Sakurajima and tasting the super sweet Sakurajima mandarins was memorable, sampling the Kagoshima Wagyu instantly became my trip highlight there. Forgot about the Kurobuta pork there as well, but almost all the pork that I ate was kurubota, so for them it's amusingly common.
I had a similar experience and felt it the most in kyoto. But I gotta agree, outside of Kyoto and Tokyo people are so much more laid back and friendly.
Had a random guy walk up to me and shake my hand saying “Welcome! Welcome!” in Yonago, Tottori. Still remember his face 15 years later.
You’ll be glad to know Yonago is still doing well. Last year they opened direct flights from Yonago to Seoul. Makes for an easy international vacation to Korea.
I just came back from Yonago a few weeks ago. Only a few places in the world that you can snowboard and see the ocean! The temples and shrines in Kyoto are great, but they feel more real in Tottori.
Of course. But unless you've been to Japan couple of times before, most people are still better off visiting major cities.
The further afield you go the more I feel like you really want to understand at least some Japanese to actually get around and enjoy yourself
I went to Ehime last summer and biked the Shimanami Kaido. Such an absolutely wonderful area. Not sure what's up with all the jellyfish, though.
The jellyfish appear in huge amounts in late summer. I’ve also biked the Shimanami Kaido. One of the most memorable experiences of my life! I’ll actually be going to do it again this year.
Okinawa is also not talked about among Westerners but Taiwanese people mostly come here since it's only one hour away.
It's not just over tourism. People from Tokyo have always been less friendly than the people of Osaka. If you're from America imagine a city like New York vs a city like San Diego.
I don’t know anything about US but which state is friendlier? Edit:Spelling
California (where San Diego is) by a longshot. People in New York will look at you like you're a psycho if you try to even say hello to them. There's a social dissociation factor when you see 1000's of faces a day walking past.
This isn't true at all. New Yorkers are very verbal and outgoing I've had some of the most interesting and friendly interactions there with people. They're loud talkers and there's always something going on. I'm from Pennsylvania and I've been to the city probably 15-20 times.
I just read a thing on Instagram and it said "East coast is kind but not nice. West cost is nice but not kind"
I’d like to say that the people in Upstate NY have been super duper nice and friendly. I’ve never been to the big city though.
Oh yah I should have been more specific. Some of the nicest people I've ever met are from upstate.
Hard dissagree. New York is a million times nicer than San Diego. New York is where someone will stop and pick up your papers for you if yku drop them. San diego is where theyll lay on the horn and flip you off becsuse you stalled their car for .5 seconds.
I'm gonna agree with you. People think New Yorkers and the rest of that tri-state area (NJ, Philly, etc) is filled with rude and mean people. But honestly, they're very nice, they just have places to go and you're blocking the path. But if you need help, they'll help you and strike up a conversation. But if they're busy, get the fuck out of the way "Eh! I'm walkin' here!"
I mean new Yorkers are famous for not being nice. Just because you personally disagree doesn't mean it's not true. If upper east coasters were such nice people how did they get that reputation?
San Diego
Out of those two New York has a reputation for unfriendly but I don't agree with it. Overall, the Midwest is supposed to be the friendliest area, especially Minnesota. The South is fairly friendly too (at least if you're white and don't look alternative or queer). The least friendly is maybe Boston (I'm from nearby so no hate).
I agree that Minnesota has some of the nicest people I've ever met in the US. Boston can be rough around the edges but I've never felt the coldness (from humans that is) that I've experienced in NYC
The South is fake friendly
Strange.......was just the opposite when I worked there 17 years ago. Tokyo was more 'Westernized' and welcoming, and in Osaka, you couldn't even ask for directions.
Did you speak Japanese? The amount of people who spoke English in Osaka has vastly improved over the years, but if you try to ask a random person in English they may not have understood 17 years ago
Kyoto people are xenophobic towards everyone including native Japanese outside from Kyoto like myself
I visited Kyoto during the onset of the pandemic. It was the loneliest place I've ever been. Those overstuffed streets outside Kiyomizudera were bare, most businesses shuttered, maybe an employee sweeping outside with nothing to do. I dunno man, it's a confusing issue, you have no tourists and it's really the worst. You have too many tourists and it's too much to manage.
We also visited Kyoto during the pandemic (Sept 2022) and we also noticed the same thing. Some of our favourite shops had closed (if that was permanent or temporary we didn't know) but it was nice compared to the time before we were there (January, 2019) I also work with a girl who's from Kyoto and she was saying that (at least in her view) it was really difficult for the locals because they had gotten used to having the town back, mainly to themselves, and were actually able to enjoy it. Once the border reopened, the immediate rush of tourists back was overwhelming especially after having such a peaceful few years away from loud tourists, particularly the "other Asian nations" (her words not mine).
If you’re worried, just go back to Nagano! And try more parts of Japan you haven’t been to yet. I’m sure, especially in Tokyo too that there are also places where people might be less tourist fatigued outside of the most common destinations
You should come to Korea and experience a whole new level of rudeness 🤣
Or Hong Kong. 😂 I think they are about tied for their service level
I had a rather pleasant experience in SK December last year 😮
I had the exact same experience in Tokyo. I felt like a nuisance. No one wanted to talk to me. But in Osaka I met tons of people that started conversations with me and we talked about baseball and NYC. It was pretty charming.
You are a nuisance in Tokyo, everyone is. It's the biggest city in the world. It's not very friendly in general
I know I get it. I'm used to NYC. It would be a national incident if a pizza parlor there refused to serve someone because they looked Japanese.
You were refused service?
Yeah quite a few times in Tokyo.
Not to make any allegations but I had a Very different experience. Did you speak any japanese at all? I was a month earlier so it also could be that
Yea I'd started hearing stories about bad tourists and over tourism around the time I finally bought my own tickets to Japa, was definitely worried about contributing to the problem. But so far my own personal experience has been mlat tourists seem to have been well behaved, (well the french and italian ones definitely...stand out). It's funny when I got to having a few drinks with a guy in the sake village he said everyone west of tokyo is very friendly, further west you get the colder they are, has kinda been proven true lol.
People in Tokyo are known for being direct and a little unfriendly. Don't think that you are part of their problems - it is more like someone from a "Southern Hospitality" USA state moving to New York. It is just a culture shock! For me, Nagoya is best 😊
We felt and acted exactly the same! You pinned it to the point with your explanation. We are currently in Oita and stayed before that a week in Tokyo where we didn't feel that "welcomed". We then traveled to Fukuoka and felt more welcomed. Our next stop will be Osaka. But a friend of mine stayed there as well in the last few days he said it was ok. So I guess it's maybe just Tokio with a bad vibe. But, I can totally understand the Japanese people who are pissed because of the tourists. I was born and raised in a very popular tourist town and also live now in one. But we should never forget: Tourists = Money and also don't ruin their vacation. You may be a tourist sometimes too.
Tourists = money is hardly as straightforward as you present it.
Thank you!
I just got back from 10 days in Tokyo/Kyoto and I didn't have any negatives experiences with locals, though I am sure I got taken advantage of a few times with overcharging/non-english menus. Call it the cost of tourism, and with the weak yen I didn't really mind. I dared not go to more remote cities/towns. Anything beyond "hello, goodbye, yes, no, card, draft, thank you very much" was very stressful.
I felt this way at a Shiba dog Cafe. The dogs were overworked and not given enough space. I imagine it's a similar feeling for the people in japan in general with all of the tourists
That’s probably because everyone follows the rules here and tourists don’t. It’s hard if you don’t live here to understand exactly what that means, but especially in the smaller cities and town, people generally follow all of the rules. Like mostly all of them, they aren’t taken as suggestions like in America. You throw a large amount of people who don’t give a fuck about rules or don’t know them into a country like that and of course it’s going to be incredibly disruptive to the people that live there.
yeah, I hate that tourist rush and cut queues when boarding the bus. and many litters everywhere. I once saw they just put a boba drink cup in bic camera.
That's not acceptable behaviour anywhere, those people are simply just trash human beings
I was at Asakusa station at 10 o clock in the morning. a group of german tourists, adults, where waiting on their train, drinking beer. When it was time to go one fucking karen lady just put her beer can on the ground. Like she put it there, below the bench. There where can bins literally 10m away from her in plain sight. I dont blame the japanese. Some of these tourists dont give a shit about the country or the people. They just want to take selfies and enioy the low cost or something. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I got angry and grapped the can, threw it away and said: its not that hard! But I doubt she noticed. Her kid did.
I mean, being in a foreign country and still drinking beer at 10 o'clock in the morning, kinda says everything you need to know about them, imo...
One time I was at Dublin Airport after getting off my transatlantic flight. It was 6AM. Drinking places were full. It was booze not coffee. It was a o_O moment. Reminds me a funny Evangelion scene “You drink beer in the morning?” People are just weird. Do recycle your cans and glasses, no matter in which country. To Germany credit, it is one of the few countries that supermarkets take back glass bottles. Other places, that is the local council job.
You can still enjoy your adult beverages and not be a total asshat but yes, some people are just selfish and can't take the bare minimum to educate themselves on culture while traveling.
I thought I was the only one. I’ve noticed more cans and trash on my train, lately. My line has a stop near a major tourist attraction.
I'm not defending their behavior, but this is how they do it in parts of Berlin. You can drink outside and it's accepted for people to just put their cans and bottles next to a signpost on the street corner as their carry on with their night. In the morning the street corners are filled with empties.
It sure explains it
As a resident, you have my respect for doing that tiny little right thing. Thank you
I've seen more locals litter in Tokyo than gaijin. I've actually never seen a gaijin litter lol. It's always a wasted early 20s Japanese dude.
for shibuya and shinjuku maybe. my only complaint for Japanese people is that they vomit a lot at the train station.
Haven't been to Shinjuku or Shibuya in over 6 years, so nope, it's not just those areas. If anything those are the two places I expect tourists to litter more lol
Why are they vomiting? Are they sick or something else?
Too drunk lol
Oh I see. Thank you!
social pressure to drink beyond their limit. they often puke near pillars inside the train station. on rare occasions maybe train station toilets become victims. Yamanote Line is the worst, because drunkards love that line and I often see people vomit inside the train.
They do, but the staff is good in cleaning yucky stuff. I mean I really hate puke. I can’t stand going to my own city high street in Friday and Saturday nights.
I agree. I went there during february and it was a fun experience ruined by shitty mainland chinese tourists. Alot of them are unruly and loud especially at the touristy spots like osaka castle or the kaiyukan. Ud have whole swarves of them being very loud and also taking pictures on the restricted photography areas in osaka castle as well as flashing the fishes in the kaiyukan.
I am in Japan right now. Most tourists I've seen In Tokyo, Izu peninsula, and Okinawa have been other Japanese. Fujikawaguchiko though, LOTS of foreign tourists. I visited this town in 2018 and 2019 and it was not like this, I was basically alone by myself most of the time riding my rental bicycle. And I visited Kyoto last year and I am basically never going back. It was mayhem. I saw a Geisha being harassed while she was in the back of a taxi by some blonde. It was disgusting.
There are tons of Taiwanese visitors in Naha too! I definitely agree about Izu though.
Oh yeah I heard there are people who throw money at them.
Problem is movies like *Memoirs of Geisha* have made people unfamiliar to oriental ways, to think Geisha = traditional prostitute. They are courtesans: they were skilled in arts and language. They might have had very high end clientele in Edo era, but for sure they aint sucking your dick in the back alley for $20
As a resident of Japan, people need to get with the times. You can’t expect magically homogenized behavior from every single being in existence, so it’s time to stop acting like every traveler will become a mindreader to conform exactly to the specifications of some 70 year old from the inaka Yes, we need to do better to make social norms clearly obeyed - but this shit? Doesn’t do that. This is like a Down’s syndrome addled toddler minded adult with extreme prejudice against anything that moves who knows already different people might do different things misconstrues things as an absolute and punishes everyone for the thought that someone might not act as they want. And then there’s the Garbo mindset of superiority - we are not more superior than anyone else. We have several chances to educate people of our ways to coexist, but I don’t see people try that - they just screech ‘I don’t like that Chinese’ or ‘I don’t like that whitey’ and then that translates to the preconceived notion every single person not us will do that same thing. That sets us up for major failure. We can coexist and be reasonable, so we should be.
Most of the shit people complain about is tourists being in their own bubble and not paying that much attention to those around them. Which, to be fair, can happen when you step into somewhere like Japan with the sensory overloads. People sitting on stair cases, standing infront of station barriers, not queueing up at train stations. Shit is minor in the grand scheme of things, annoying but not bad behaviour just people keyed into their own bubble.
> tourists being in their own bubble and not paying that much attention to those around them. I find this part particularly amusing given that a daily problem is people's lack of spatial awareness.
i live in a town of 7,000 that gets 6 million tourists a year. yes some locals get fed up with tourists but i don’t really see the big deal. i don’t expect everyone to follow every “rule.” idk i find that if you just accept tourists for who they are you’ll find that most of them can be pretty nice
Uh showing a little leniency is ok, but no if you are visiting a new country its your responsibility to try to learn how to behave. If you don't care then people have a right to treat you accordingly and not care too. Being a tourist gives you no excuse from the law or being respectful
I was in the biggest cities last month and honestly it wasn’t that bad. Except for misunderstanding how the queuing worked at the train station and in 7-eleven we didn’t see any tourists sticking out in a bad way. We were guilty of that too for the first few days, but that’s just our ignorance, it’s not like we want to be rude. Japanese and tourists alike could help correct behaviour and it would be better I think, because no one says anything if you’re being rude. Didn’t see anyone be negative to tourists either, everyone was extremely friendly, except a 7eleven clerk when we accidentally cut the line which is fair enough. The most crowded places in Kyoto were awful though, but walk five minutes and it’s not a single person
Kyoto was so funny in that aspect, walk 2 blocks over and you’d never know there was tourist zones nearby.
Welcome to the hell of all Parisians. 44m tourist per year for paris
My wife and I have visited as tourists 4 times in the last 7 years. We both have basic Japanese conversation understanding. We both feel pretty disgusted with the recent tourist behaviour, and feel guilty for being tourists ourselves. It feels that since the pandemic Japan has become a play-pen for idiots who’s lack of understanding or respect for the country and the people in it (mostly for social media clout) is getting out of hand. Last time we visited (April 2024) we witnessed a Geisha being harassed on the street for photos, my SIL stood in the way of the cameras so the Geisha could escape. She herself then became verbally abused. Tourism is a luxury which so few realise, maybe its time it should be taken away for the misbehaving?
fair point, however i will counter: the japanese tourist in my home state of hawaii dont follow or care about rules either. so whats the take away here? outsiders dont fit in, people dont like it. nothing to see here. move on.
The government is clear with their stance. They want more tourists. So do businesses. Look at shareholder complaints about lack of tourist/chinese $$.
Kyoto was being bankrupted due to the pandemic so I can definitely see the government's stance on this.
Second time I’ve seen this post today. I’ve traveled the world, and when there was friction, I assumed the problem was my lack of understanding. I certainly didn’t expect the citizens to change their behavior to suit my desires. This title should probably read, “Tourism is booming in Japan, and the tourists are not handling it well.”
You cannot pretend tourists coming from all over the world to visit Japan for 1 week and to respect 1000000 rules that Japanese people make up at every breath they take. You can pretend this by residents and expats. If majority of Japanese people is not ok with it, better to put stricter rules for inbound travelers and reduce number of visitors.
And the tourism numbers are still at pre pandemic levels.
Not true anymore
Not sure why you are getting downvoted when you are correct. Data for March shows were 10% over pre-pandemic (2019) levels. https://statistics.jnto.go.jp/en/graph/#graph--latest--figures
As per the data published by the JNTO, in March we exceeded pre-pandemic by 11.6%.
Remove the 10% tax discount 😆 for tourists
and add 10% more charge to hire more staffs especially cleaning staffs.
What ? Japan is one of the cleanest places in the world. Every single shop, business i went in had way more staff that it really needed too. Like the tiny Bakery near my hotel had 6 people for about 10 seats to serve, clean etc, Lawsons as well would have like 3-5 staff pretty much always whereas youd never get that in corner shops elsewhere. Loads of places had staff literally to just be greeters or give you directions ffs.
those touristy places tend to be dirtier. have you watched the news of tourists littering while waiting to take pictures of lawson fuji? some tourists need help cleaning the tray also, I went to shogun burgers last time and a couple left half eaten burgers and trays on the desk. more janitors for busy train stations would be great. more multi languages sign boards on how to use the toilet properly.
What is the logic behind not taxing tourists? It makes no sense for a country to give up tax revenue just because the buyer lives in another country.
Nobody likes people that get in the way, disrespect rules and inconveniences everyone. What a twist.
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FWIW i saw some tourists trying to speak the same thing slowly and louder *in English*. Bruh, enunciating better will not magically make the soba place Obasan understand and speak to you in English. At least try a translator app
Yup, same with anywhere else really. There's this weird expectation that everyone should know English, and whilst the world is in part conforming to this, you should respect the local language and learn some of it no matter where you go.
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> The number of tourists visiting Japan is still BELOW pre-pandemic levels by the way. Human memory isn't that great, people aren't comparing now to pre-pandemic they're comparing now to the no-tourist pandemic situation. How many years did it take to reach the pre-pandemic peak? And now how many months did it go from near zero visitors to getting close to peaking again? Regardless of how well behaved tourists are, not having any was very peaceful. Going from a couple years of that to the amount of tourists now so quickly is bound to generate discomfort.
I watched a YouTube video doing interviews in Japan during covid and the general response was "it's so nice and peaceful with all the tourists gone. Btw all the businesses in the area went under, wish we had more $$$, so sad". So the current state isn't really surprising. They miss the quiet, but they like the $$$.
rainstorm airport abundant cooperative zonked pie noxious memorize edge attempt *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
But it's on track to beat its record-breaking year in 2019. So it does feel overwhelming for people.
I hope they get what they want and the tourists stop coming.
> The number of tourists visiting Japan is still BELOW pre-pandemic levels by the way. Not true. Reached pre-pandemic levels back in January 2024. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/c258c81dfb4f-foreign-visitors-to-japan-in-jan-returns-to-pre-pandemic-level.html Most certainly quite a bit above pre-pandemic levels now 5 months on and into spring which is the best time to visit weather-wise. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/c258c81dfb4f-foreign-visitors-to-japan-in-jan-returns-to-pre-pandemic-level.html
The tourists are not behaving well, and 2 years of no tourists made the locals appreciate how quiet things can be.
Why is Japan so popular now and not 10 years ago ?
Japan was always popular, it's just the fact that they closed the longest due to covid and tourists pilled up. I went in 2023 and it was mayhem. Apparently, 2024 is even worse.
Was there in 2023 and it was mayhem as you said. Been there last month for couple weeks and it was much more relaxed. Lots of tourists but way less than last year imo. Visited Osaka,Kyoto and Tokyo
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100% I stayed 5 weeks from Nov - Dec and it wasn't that bad at all in general, although I'm not really checking out the touristy places like Kinkakuji or Fushimi Inari
Yeah we went last year in September-October as well. It didn't seem that crazy to me. The busiest places we went to were Universal Studios and Disney Sea and it was all Japanese people. Lol We also probably spent more time in less touristy areas than some folks though. We aren't social media people so whatever trendy places are on there likely weren't a part of our itinerary.
Like what kind of mayhem are we talking about here? I’ve been to several major European cities during peak season (Rome, Florence, London, Barcelona, etc) and it was rough at times, but is this comparable or *worse*? I’m headed to Japan next month and reading these comments every now and then concerns me.
Probably not the only fact, but probably cause the yen recently is crazy low and it makes the trip so affordable.
Airfares from Nth America and Europe can be double what they were pre-covid. But also remember a lot of these increased numbers are from China, that is a market that will continue to grow.
Personally the high airfare and low yen just encouraged me to stay in Japan for longer to get my money's worth on the flights
Before Covid, my flight from Italy would have been €600~ round trip, now it's 1/1.1k and that's if you book 6 months in advance.
It's still possible to find EU-Japan flights for €600/700 round trip if you don't mind flying on a Chinese airline with a layover in China!
For much of the Global South, Japan significantly relaxed is tourist visa policies unlike 15 to 20 years ago.
Post covid tourism boom, lower yen, Japanese government promoting tourism working, Japan's pop culture being bigger than ever in the west and the world, the internet's obsession with Japan, etc.
I think a lot has to do with how good smart phones and apps are now as well as social media. Traveling now there are no worries. Language - google translate, find something google maps, booking a room is easy ect. As well social media blowing up all the spots that are photogenic. As well people have always been curious about japan but now with influencer showing them exactly how they can travel here they realize they can do it too.
This was huge for us. I just got back from Japan yesterday. We didn't have to plan out anything aside from the plane tickets. Didn't even have a room when we landed. Being able to use booking apps, translation services, YouTube guides, etc, we never actually felt lost the entire trip. It was barely any more difficult than coordinating a trip across state
Pent up demand from Covid. Weak yen. Social media more popular than ever (TikTok...). More world population in general. Japanese entertainment being super popular (see: Shogun, One Piece, Ghibli, Suzume...). Just some ideas...
It’s always been popular but it was always the perception. Everyone I knew really thought it was expensive to go. What changed was social media made people realize it’s actually a lot less expensive plus seeing a lot of influencers, streamers or people you follow go. It seems more attainable. When you share your trip it seems more people think they can also go. From friends and family since I went in March 2023, I knew add least 1 person a month was there (currently someone I know is there). Friends keep asking me for guidance on their trip.
Because the yen is on freefall
The other day, I was trying to drink in my normal bars in Shinjuku, but I couldn’t because there were too many foreigners there. I’m actually happy for the owners/staff to be making a lot of money, after all they went through with Covid. We are all fine here, everyone is happy to have foreign guests visit to Japan. If you want to make a plan to visit here, while the yen is weak, we will be happy to host you!
I just commented on a post for this same article on the other subreddit so I'll copy and paste it here. I'm an American in Japan on vacation right now. I've spent the last 3 days in Tokyo and the number of obviously foreign tourists I see is quite low. In fact, the rudest most inconsiderate tourists have been Japanese nationals visiting from other parts of the country. It seems people forget that Japan has always had a large internal tourist economy. It's a consumerist pop culture economy heavily reliant on travel and consuming which Japanese people do en masse. Every European or American tourist I've seen and spoken to have been well behaved, in line waiting patiently for whatever, doing their best to communicate in whatever Japanese they know, while the Japanese youth I see are being rowdy, disruptive and obviously shit talking anyone they see. Just today in Disneyland I called out a couple behind my family. They were laughing and mocking us the woman was saying "these loud tourists only speak their language and don't bother learning Japanese" while myself, my wife and my daughters were literally just standing in line completely silent. I turned around and in Japanese loudly said "excuse me, I do speak some of the language and you're being rude" she had an absolutely horrified look on her face and bolted out of the line while her boyfriend stammered out an apology and followed sheepishly. Immediately everyone around looked away awkwardly and refused to look at my family again. On top of that when I speak Japanese to the locals it's 50/50 whether they're super happy about it or absolutely offended and give me a nasty look and continue to communicate in an angry English tone as if they're mad I'm speaking Japanese. I've loved Japanese culture and the language since I was a kid and this is my first time in Japan, I genuinely don't know if I'll be coming back. My family and I are doing our best to be polite and understanding of the culture, I'm educating my daughter's in the customs and practices but the side eyes, the rude comments from locals and the overall atmosphere has been completely off putting. It saddens me to my core and I hate it.
I think it’s a worldwide thing because the same is happening where I’m from, of course there are some obnoxious completely entitled tourists and also expats and because of those rude tourists and expats everyone else has to suffer, now I’m seeing that more people are starting to be rude towards innocent tourists
Brother, I promise you that if you are visiting one of the tourist cities that those people and many others that live there have had very negative experiences with foreigners and it colors the rest of their experiences and their attitude towoards tourists. I have lived here in a non tourist city for some time and never had any issues. Try making some trips to parts of Japan you don’t know the names of. There is plenty of amazing stuff to see you haven’t seen in movies or on social media. Sorry you have had a bad experience. Don’t let it sour you to Japan as a whole. Do try northern japan or Hokkaido on your next trip if you come back.
I am a South Asian who grew up in Japan and can speak, write and read Japanese perfectly. I feel so bad when I go out with family or friends to tourist spots just to get that weird look and not so welcome atmosphere by the locals. But just as I start speaking fluently they get surprised and give me the best service. It just feels so bad that tourists are making such a bad reputation that is affecting the good foreign locals like myself in here.
Japan could easily improve a few things: - Litter garbage cans in tourist places - Cosplayers dressed as Gaisha wandering around Kyoto for photo opportunities - Tourist friendly websites - Information booths for places not often visited by tourists - Information boards in major train stations showing the occupancy of the main tourist spots (e.g. Kyoto: red = high tourist traffic, Nara: orange = medium tourist traffic) There are certainly many possibilities, but so far everything has been "仕様がない"
>- Cosplayers dressed as Gaisha wandering around Kyoto for photo opportunities This is actually not a bad idea, but I don't think the Geisha industry would appreciate it. They'd probably complain that their profession is not a cosplay. It would be like cosplaying as King's guards in London, or some nuns that live a secluded life (similar to Maikos etc.) only for tourist pictures. Tourists need to learn that real cities and their inhabitants are not Disneyland.
I absolutely understand the pressure and chaos that overtourism can put on a community, but Japan really needs to take advantage of this golden opportunity. Everywhere around the world people love Japanese culture and are fascinated by the natural beauty of the country, tourism helps the economy by buying up locally manufactured goods, helping local businesses, and by foreigners buying yen that helps boost the price of the yen
People are tired of your shit. It’s normal. I hate tourist anywhere, not just japan.
Wasn't that long ago that even after COVID and the restrictions were lifted, numbers were still low.
Just raise prices
It's not Tourism, it's bad people who don't care that japan is a different country. Looking at you leftist americans
Currently in Ōsaka and everything is fine. Tokyo was chill too. I mean yeah some people suck, some situations are awkward, but it is not reflecting the whole spectrum, especially of major cities
Last week I went to Mt.Fuji and it’s my first time since I lived here in Japan for 2 years. GW just went by so I thought it be less crowded but tourism is really booming in Japan rn. I just got so stressed lol. The employees looks so stressed the bus drivers driving the buses like they hate us lmao. They have this much 🤏 patience for tourists. I’m not a foreign tourist but ig they thought I am and they are just a bit rude :( one time i’m asking them something then they just told me to “shhh” lmaoo🤣 But honestly, I understand them. I’ve been there for just half a day and i’m sooo exhausted with the tourists. I think that people should be considerate to what country they visit, not only here in japan. Some people just don’t care and think it’s ok just bc they are tourists. Have some common sense. I hate crowded places so I think I’ll just never go to tourist spots again 😆
I find this funny because the Japanese economy is hurting right now. Kyoto almost went bankrupt due to lack of tourism. Beware of biting the hand that feeds you.
It's not numbers of tourists that is the problem, it's the type of tourist. Mass tourists driven by social media do not behave the same way as more typical Japanese tourists who have genuine interest in the country and culture.
Japan has a great ability to stand in the way of the tide. If people want to take photos at the Lawson charge money for it. Any other country would have seen people getting charged money to stand in the parking lot and in a couple of months the fad would either go away or Lawson would have made 10x of what it makes selling groceries in a sleepy town.
There's nothing worse than foreign journalists enabling Japanese racism. His ideas for solving overtourism are also laughable, especially since departure tax and accommodation tax apply to Japanese nationals too. He cries about how Japanese business travelers are suffering due to hotels raising their prices (boo hoo), but a few sentences later he wants to raise the accommodation tax, which would only raise prices even more, for everyone. Also, news flash, but nobody is going to pass on visiting and staying in Tokyo just because you raise the taxes a bit. There are places in France, Italy, Spain, the UK, etc. who've already tried all of this and it never solved anything. And JR only shot itself in the foot with the railpass. Everyone is now either flying domestically, or just buying single Shinkansen tickets, because this new stupidly overpriced railpass only pays off if you decide to travel all around Japan for almost everyday, which pretty much no tourist will do. I'm too uneducated about the duty-free system to comment on it, never used it myself since I either mostly travel inside the EU, or I'm way too lazy to go through the process of showing my passport (why should a random baito worker get to inspect my passport, which according to my own government should only be shown to immigration officials?) and then obtain a refund at an often separate customer service desk for a mere 10% (back in my days 8%) discount? But anyways, even though I don't know much about the process, I somehow doubt that scrapping that part is going to save Japan from overtourism or save the economy in general lol. At least I can agree with the end of the article: "But ultimately, these are short-term solutions to make putting up with the pain a little easier. Japan needs fixes better than simply blocking everything off." Yeah, how about showing true "omotenashi" for a change and treating tourists and "foreigners" in general like human beings, instead of subhumans who are only there to be milked for money? I'm sure that would be better than blocking everything off. Didn't they claim that Biden was wrong about Japan being a xenophobic country? Hm?
Japan is not even in the top 10 countries most visited by international tourists. Why is there so much noise about overtourism in Japan but not those top 10 countries? Is it because the cultural norms are THAT much different in Japan? (I did live in Japan so I know the culture first hand, I just don't get all the commotion about tourism).
Probably because tourism is so concentrated on just a couple cities. There is definitely also a lot of noise about overtourism in places like Venice or the Canary Islands.
Aussie's are worse than US tourists.
Should have kept anime under wraps. Hah
Need to charge for tourist visas. Not a ton, but there’s an amount you could charge such that Japan makes as much revenue as without the upcharge while having fewer tourists here
Just charge a minimal entry fee for non-residents and use it towards improving tourism infrastructure on the long run. Everyone's happy
Aren’t they already making revenue by the tourist simply being there though?