I've absolutely heard serious complaints about tourism from Kyoto locals, although one of the biggest offenders (in their complaints) are the mainland Chinese tourists. I don't know what the solution is. I'd be interested in seeing the demographic breakdown of who is visiting Japan. I also have to wonder if the accessibility of machine/AI translation has made visiting Japan less intimidating and more enticing for Westerners.
Niseko, up in Hokkaido, is another place that has been transformed by tourism. I've even heard "Niseko-ization" used to describe what happens to popular spots once they're discovered.
The instagram tourist phenomenon. The engagement with the culture is very shallow. I have a vivid memory of overhearing an Aussie tourist in Kyoto loudly critiquing "geisha" that were actually tourists dressed in rental yukata.
In Niseko it's more like, the entire town has turned foreign. Which isn't to say foreign is bad, but rather that so many tourists & people who have bought property there that locals have been all but forced out.
Let's not make Kyoto residents passive victims here, it takes two to tango. Kyoto locals seem to enjoy the cash, and it often seems you have arrived in Waikiki.
Certainly (parts of) Kyoto have always been touristy, and some people are eagerly profiting off of the gold rush of inbounds, but I'm thinking more about how the influx of foreign tourists has impacted life there. The numbers are absolutely huge, and it's hard simply getting around downtown these days (buses packed, entire streets cheek to jowl with tourists, etc.) It's particularly jarring for those who remember when it WASN'T like this, which isn't all that long ago. (Or who had the ability to visit during pandemic, when inbound tourism dropped 99.9%.)
Two things. 1. I visited Kyoto for two weeks in 2002 and often went a whole day without seeing another foreign face. Granted, it was early January and the weather was appalling but I was surprised to see so few tourists. I'm sure many long-time visitors to Japan have a similar story.
2. I was in Tokyo last month and a bit of an epiphany. I was walking in the Yoyogi Station area and I became aware that I felt very at home. Looking around me I noticed that the ratio of ‘Western’ faces and ‘Asian’ faces was about the same as in my home city, Toronto. Maybe 50-50. That’s when the effects of Japan’s tourist boom really hit home. Also, I noticed that even small, out-of-the-way, family-run restaurants often offered me an English menu. I certainly didn’t see that back in 2002 – or even pre-pandemic, really.
Oh, and Matt, you touched on it in your article but I think it would be good to underline that, from a visitor’s perspective, the advantageous exchange rate has made Japan a very, very attractive place to visit recently – especially in the last year or two. I assume that has also dissuaded many Japanese from traveling overseas!
Worth noting that France (and I think Italy) get even more tourists that Japan - France got something like 100M last year and most of them seem to go to a few spots. France does OK and makes a ton of money from them, I think Japan can too
I am 100% in support of tourism, but the way in which it's unfolding isn't sustainable. The government unleashed the hordes on the population, but without any thought as to management or infrastructure. That's why we're seeing so much talk of charging tourists more for services, or setting entry restrictions (like the gate recently placed on Mt. Fuji), or limiting the numbers who can enter places (Ghibli was ahead of the curve on that one), etc. Honestly, I just feel bad for people who live near the most popular tourist destinations. Their lifestyles have been profoundly impacted by the influx.
Other places (e.g. Venice) put limits on numbers. I'm fine with that.
The other thing for Fuji and other mountains, in particular, is that they should charge tourists that need rescue for the cost of the rescue. Which is generally on the order of 10,000,000Y if it requires a helicopter. I've seen the signs saying health insurance required when entering Haneda, they probably ought to require something similar for people climbing mountains. Mind you the advantage of the gate though is that it will filter out the idiots who try to do the climb in flip flops, but that won't stop the idiots trying it on some other mountain or during the times when Fuji is "closed"
This is so true. Japan’s economy and infrastructure still seems oriented toward old fashioned infrastructures, without any thought to tourists, or even pedestrians.
No garbage cans, no benches, not enough pavements or pedestrianised streets, not much shade in the cities, big ugly roads alongside beaches, old fashioned crowd control, many weird rules or systems that are impenetrable, not much to do at night.
For sustainable success, there’s a lot they need to improve upon, but things normally take ten to twenty years to change here.
Meanwhile, Japanese TV and media continue to flag all the issues from foreigners and tourists.
I dunno -- I don't feel like Tokyo, the urban center anyway, is particularly anti-pedestrian. A lot of people don't have cars and entire streets are often turned into pedestrian-only boulevards on weekends. In what way specifically do you think the city isn't measuring up?
The lack of garbage cans used to annoy me -- I lived here for a while when there were still public cans on the streets -- but I have yet to encounter a public garbage can that isn't overflowing in an American city. You bring it in, you take it back is a great system if most follow the rules (and the flip side of that cultural resistance to change is that most people do.)
The secret to finding a public trash can (for cans, vending machines often have a disposal slot, but are usually full) for men anyway, is to go to a train station or other public restroom, because they will usually have a trash can inside just to prevent guys from throwing trash into the urinals.
The overly strict garbage rules probably are what limit public trash cans (although the reason will often be stated to be an “anti-tero” measure), but in small towns this leads to lots of litter along roadways.
Illegal dumping is a major, major issue, especially in the countryside. But I wonder how much of that is dumped by individuals and how much by shady businesses. There's probably a study out there...
Where I work the pavements are super narrow, and filled with bikes and scooters, whilst cars have the good fortune to have three or four lanes of luxury. The balance seems wrong.
The case study for me would be Kamakura. That struck me as somewhere where they really could reorient their infrastructure to make it more tourist friendly.
Well, Kamakura has been a tourist spot for locals since the Edo era so I guess you could say they got a head start. But even still, these days the areas between station and Hachimangu and Kotoku-in can be literal walls of people on weekends, really difficult to navigate. That's the "over" part of the tourism equation -- even spots used to attracting sightseers never anticipated getting THIS many of them. And that's not even counting the wave of expat relocations in recent years.
Which brings up a total sidetrack sort of question, not directed at you but more hypothetical: what IS it with Kamakura's vice-like grip on the foreign imagination? It seems everyone wants to live there these days. Is it simply the fact it's the closest traditional-culture-centric city to Tokyo?
"Can a country sustain its image as a leader in youth culture even as its population grows old?" One of the most universal patterns across human cultures around the world and throughout history is elderly people telling stories to children while younger adults are working. If Japan wants to focus the economy on storytelling and culture, people over 65 may want to retire, but people between about 50 and 65 are perfect for telling stories about living through decades of change, and about which human behaviors are fleeting fads and which are perennial human nature, and doing the sort of work Miyazaki did with Studio Ghibli.
"Can Japan keep packing in visitors in without sacrificing its cultural sites and angering its citizens?" Park Güell in Barcelona sells a limited number of tickets to foreign visitors at set times, while reserving a second set of times for locals. If demand exceeds supply, auctions or lotteries can be used, and additional attractions, hotels, and transit can be built. Some destinations like Bangkok are known for nightlife, but Japan is known more for temples, castles, museums, pop culture, shopping, food, parks, hot springs, mountains, and nature, which attracts an older crowd that spends more and makes less noise.
Tourism is always fickle, and had big drops after 9/11 and in 2020. Staying home and doing everything online is increasingly tough competition for many things, including shops, offices, and travel. But Japan is probably wise to be investing in culture and tourism for at least the next 15 years.
Surely it is (mostly) the weak yen? Japan is now cheaper or much cheaper than other destinations, and there is likely penny up demand from when it was more expensive.
Absolutely the yen is playing a major role. No question. It's kind of a perfect storm: the gov't welcoming with open arms, the (relative) cheapness, and the love for Japan because of having grown up on it, all of it coming together right when they need it.
This is very interesting. Japanese culture is very, very popular and I must admit that my dream trip is to Japan for similar reasons T.T I just like Japan a lot.
But it is also interesting to see how integral tourism is to a country's GDP, and kinda explains why a lot of European countries aren't serious about curbing tourism. It's strange to think that an extra charge will hinder trips to Venice, for example. Or these other minor inconveniences that countries have tried to impose.
No shame in wanting to visit! I certainly did after my first encounters with pop culture.
And yeah, the government is not going to do anything to jeopardize the industry. This is why there's so much debate happening right now. I think the government's dream is that citizens come up with their own solutions, but that seems a little unfair.
The government should promote other areas more to relieve the stress on Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. In Kyushu I love Fukuoka, Kagoshima and Nagasaki, which have more tourists now, but nothing like the crowds in Kyoto, although Yufuin is pretty overcrowded now. Yamaguchi and Hiroshima ( and Miyajima ) are also nice, and not as crowded. Other nice destinations are Hokkaido, Nagano, Kanazawa, Nagoya and Karuizawa, which all seem to have fewer tourists.
I've absolutely heard serious complaints about tourism from Kyoto locals, although one of the biggest offenders (in their complaints) are the mainland Chinese tourists. I don't know what the solution is. I'd be interested in seeing the demographic breakdown of who is visiting Japan. I also have to wonder if the accessibility of machine/AI translation has made visiting Japan less intimidating and more enticing for Westerners.
Niseko, up in Hokkaido, is another place that has been transformed by tourism. I've even heard "Niseko-ization" used to describe what happens to popular spots once they're discovered.
The instagram tourist phenomenon. The engagement with the culture is very shallow. I have a vivid memory of overhearing an Aussie tourist in Kyoto loudly critiquing "geisha" that were actually tourists dressed in rental yukata.
In Niseko it's more like, the entire town has turned foreign. Which isn't to say foreign is bad, but rather that so many tourists & people who have bought property there that locals have been all but forced out.
Ah! Yes, I can see that being extremely divisive.
I wrote a post about how to be a good tourist, unfortunately the people who need to read that won't - https://lessknownjapan.substack.com/p/being-a-good-tourist
Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it?
Let's not make Kyoto residents passive victims here, it takes two to tango. Kyoto locals seem to enjoy the cash, and it often seems you have arrived in Waikiki.
Certainly (parts of) Kyoto have always been touristy, and some people are eagerly profiting off of the gold rush of inbounds, but I'm thinking more about how the influx of foreign tourists has impacted life there. The numbers are absolutely huge, and it's hard simply getting around downtown these days (buses packed, entire streets cheek to jowl with tourists, etc.) It's particularly jarring for those who remember when it WASN'T like this, which isn't all that long ago. (Or who had the ability to visit during pandemic, when inbound tourism dropped 99.9%.)
Two things. 1. I visited Kyoto for two weeks in 2002 and often went a whole day without seeing another foreign face. Granted, it was early January and the weather was appalling but I was surprised to see so few tourists. I'm sure many long-time visitors to Japan have a similar story.
2. I was in Tokyo last month and a bit of an epiphany. I was walking in the Yoyogi Station area and I became aware that I felt very at home. Looking around me I noticed that the ratio of ‘Western’ faces and ‘Asian’ faces was about the same as in my home city, Toronto. Maybe 50-50. That’s when the effects of Japan’s tourist boom really hit home. Also, I noticed that even small, out-of-the-way, family-run restaurants often offered me an English menu. I certainly didn’t see that back in 2002 – or even pre-pandemic, really.
Oh, and Matt, you touched on it in your article but I think it would be good to underline that, from a visitor’s perspective, the advantageous exchange rate has made Japan a very, very attractive place to visit recently – especially in the last year or two. I assume that has also dissuaded many Japanese from traveling overseas!
Worth noting that France (and I think Italy) get even more tourists that Japan - France got something like 100M last year and most of them seem to go to a few spots. France does OK and makes a ton of money from them, I think Japan can too
I am 100% in support of tourism, but the way in which it's unfolding isn't sustainable. The government unleashed the hordes on the population, but without any thought as to management or infrastructure. That's why we're seeing so much talk of charging tourists more for services, or setting entry restrictions (like the gate recently placed on Mt. Fuji), or limiting the numbers who can enter places (Ghibli was ahead of the curve on that one), etc. Honestly, I just feel bad for people who live near the most popular tourist destinations. Their lifestyles have been profoundly impacted by the influx.
That's fair.
Other places (e.g. Venice) put limits on numbers. I'm fine with that.
The other thing for Fuji and other mountains, in particular, is that they should charge tourists that need rescue for the cost of the rescue. Which is generally on the order of 10,000,000Y if it requires a helicopter. I've seen the signs saying health insurance required when entering Haneda, they probably ought to require something similar for people climbing mountains. Mind you the advantage of the gate though is that it will filter out the idiots who try to do the climb in flip flops, but that won't stop the idiots trying it on some other mountain or during the times when Fuji is "closed"
This is so true. Japan’s economy and infrastructure still seems oriented toward old fashioned infrastructures, without any thought to tourists, or even pedestrians.
No garbage cans, no benches, not enough pavements or pedestrianised streets, not much shade in the cities, big ugly roads alongside beaches, old fashioned crowd control, many weird rules or systems that are impenetrable, not much to do at night.
For sustainable success, there’s a lot they need to improve upon, but things normally take ten to twenty years to change here.
Meanwhile, Japanese TV and media continue to flag all the issues from foreigners and tourists.
I dunno -- I don't feel like Tokyo, the urban center anyway, is particularly anti-pedestrian. A lot of people don't have cars and entire streets are often turned into pedestrian-only boulevards on weekends. In what way specifically do you think the city isn't measuring up?
The lack of garbage cans used to annoy me -- I lived here for a while when there were still public cans on the streets -- but I have yet to encounter a public garbage can that isn't overflowing in an American city. You bring it in, you take it back is a great system if most follow the rules (and the flip side of that cultural resistance to change is that most people do.)
The secret to finding a public trash can (for cans, vending machines often have a disposal slot, but are usually full) for men anyway, is to go to a train station or other public restroom, because they will usually have a trash can inside just to prevent guys from throwing trash into the urinals.
The overly strict garbage rules probably are what limit public trash cans (although the reason will often be stated to be an “anti-tero” measure), but in small towns this leads to lots of litter along roadways.
Or a conbini.
Illegal dumping is a major, major issue, especially in the countryside. But I wonder how much of that is dumped by individuals and how much by shady businesses. There's probably a study out there...
Thanks very much for replying.
Where I work the pavements are super narrow, and filled with bikes and scooters, whilst cars have the good fortune to have three or four lanes of luxury. The balance seems wrong.
The case study for me would be Kamakura. That struck me as somewhere where they really could reorient their infrastructure to make it more tourist friendly.
Well, Kamakura has been a tourist spot for locals since the Edo era so I guess you could say they got a head start. But even still, these days the areas between station and Hachimangu and Kotoku-in can be literal walls of people on weekends, really difficult to navigate. That's the "over" part of the tourism equation -- even spots used to attracting sightseers never anticipated getting THIS many of them. And that's not even counting the wave of expat relocations in recent years.
Which brings up a total sidetrack sort of question, not directed at you but more hypothetical: what IS it with Kamakura's vice-like grip on the foreign imagination? It seems everyone wants to live there these days. Is it simply the fact it's the closest traditional-culture-centric city to Tokyo?
"Can a country sustain its image as a leader in youth culture even as its population grows old?" One of the most universal patterns across human cultures around the world and throughout history is elderly people telling stories to children while younger adults are working. If Japan wants to focus the economy on storytelling and culture, people over 65 may want to retire, but people between about 50 and 65 are perfect for telling stories about living through decades of change, and about which human behaviors are fleeting fads and which are perennial human nature, and doing the sort of work Miyazaki did with Studio Ghibli.
"Can Japan keep packing in visitors in without sacrificing its cultural sites and angering its citizens?" Park Güell in Barcelona sells a limited number of tickets to foreign visitors at set times, while reserving a second set of times for locals. If demand exceeds supply, auctions or lotteries can be used, and additional attractions, hotels, and transit can be built. Some destinations like Bangkok are known for nightlife, but Japan is known more for temples, castles, museums, pop culture, shopping, food, parks, hot springs, mountains, and nature, which attracts an older crowd that spends more and makes less noise.
Tourism is always fickle, and had big drops after 9/11 and in 2020. Staying home and doing everything online is increasingly tough competition for many things, including shops, offices, and travel. But Japan is probably wise to be investing in culture and tourism for at least the next 15 years.
Surely it is (mostly) the weak yen? Japan is now cheaper or much cheaper than other destinations, and there is likely penny up demand from when it was more expensive.
The weaker yen certainly helps. Japan is now inexpensive and safe, which other inexpensive places generally aren't.
Absolutely the yen is playing a major role. No question. It's kind of a perfect storm: the gov't welcoming with open arms, the (relative) cheapness, and the love for Japan because of having grown up on it, all of it coming together right when they need it.
This is very interesting. Japanese culture is very, very popular and I must admit that my dream trip is to Japan for similar reasons T.T I just like Japan a lot.
But it is also interesting to see how integral tourism is to a country's GDP, and kinda explains why a lot of European countries aren't serious about curbing tourism. It's strange to think that an extra charge will hinder trips to Venice, for example. Or these other minor inconveniences that countries have tried to impose.
No shame in wanting to visit! I certainly did after my first encounters with pop culture.
And yeah, the government is not going to do anything to jeopardize the industry. This is why there's so much debate happening right now. I think the government's dream is that citizens come up with their own solutions, but that seems a little unfair.
The government should promote other areas more to relieve the stress on Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. In Kyushu I love Fukuoka, Kagoshima and Nagasaki, which have more tourists now, but nothing like the crowds in Kyoto, although Yufuin is pretty overcrowded now. Yamaguchi and Hiroshima ( and Miyajima ) are also nice, and not as crowded. Other nice destinations are Hokkaido, Nagano, Kanazawa, Nagoya and Karuizawa, which all seem to have fewer tourists.