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Answerman - Is Overtourism in Japan Real and Why is Japan Mad at Tourists?

Eating in parking lots

Don't eat on the street, sidewalk, or inside the convenience store or fast food restaurant. Take-out means you take it home or to your office.

As for those do's and don'ts: It's all about using common sense and not being an a**hole. Which unfortunately is pretty hard for some people. It would probably help a lot if they would just ban all tourists from one certain country...

Why do we then see so many of the Japanese Anime People buying or bringing food and eating it in public places?

to beat the 2019 record of 31 million visitors [in Japan]

Jerome Mazandarani in Article wrote:

Don't eat on the street, sidewalk, or inside the convenience store or fast food restaurant. Take-out means you take it home or to your office.

Why do we then see so many of the Japanese Anime People buying or bringing food and eating it in public places?

WizardOfOss wrote:

As for those do's and don'ts: It's all about using common sense and not being an a**hole. Which unfortunately is pretty hard for some people. It would probably help a lot if they would just ban all tourists from one certain country...

Which would be wholly impractical since bad tourists come from all countries not just one. Which would also include native tourists.

As you said the problem here is people not bothering to use proper common sense or not reconciling with customs and the like, that if something is okay in your country that doesn’t mean it’s okay in another. Or if something is disallowed in your country it’s likely to be disallowed in another country,

Carving initials into historical monuments or private property is something that should be pretty obvious as something you shouldn’t do. As is jumping or wading into fountains or or other bodies of water because you want to fill up your water bottle or do something awesomely, cool, epic. Among other examples of dumb behavior amount tourists.

Quote:

to beat the 2019 record of 31 million visitors [in Japan]

Laughs at 85.1 million visitors in Spain
We also have rude, loud, disrespectful, clogging up main roads and even neighbours, eating what you shouldn't where you shouldn't, NO HABLO SPANOL... tourists. Much more than Japan. It's just that the Japanese aren't used to it... yet Japanese agencies at all levels of government are launching tourist campaigns all over the world. (Anecdote: The staff at the Expo 2025 Osaka stand at Manga Barcelona claimed: "We want lots of tourists to come to Osaka").
Should foreign visitors behave in other countries? Absolutely. The other question is whether Japan wants tourists at all and if they are ready to deal with them.
And also, we're at ANN, it's obvious that everything happening at Japan is gonna get overblown.

Anyone remember that case from the 90s where an American in Singapore was sentenced to a caning for chewing gum? That's a bit extreme, but some people only learn to act civilized after seeing consequences for not doing so.

Some of the "Do's & Don'ts" list comes down to different standards of etiquette, but most of this stuff isn't ok to do at home. There seems to be something about paying to be somewhere that makes people go a bit crazy. Airplanes, restaurants, fan conventions, other countries, there've been a lot of stories the last few years about people just not controlling themselves when they leave the house.

Anyone remember that case from the 90s where an American in Singapore was sentenced to a caning for chewing gum? That's a bit extreme, but some people only learn to act civilized after seeing consequences for not doing so.

Some of the "Do's & Don'ts" list comes down to different standards of etiquette, but most of this stuff isn't ok to do at home. There seems to be something about paying to be somewhere that makes people go a bit crazy. Airplanes, restaurants, fan conventions, other countries, there've been a lot of stories the last few years about people just not controlling themselves when they leave the house.

In 1994, a court in Singapore sentenced an American teenager, Michael Fay, to be lashed six times with a cane for violating the Vandalism Act. This caused a temporary strain in relations between Singapore and the United States.[1]

Fay was arrested for stealing road signs and vandalizing 18 cars over a ten-day period in September 1993.

5. If you're heavily tattooed or have large tattoos, a lot of onsen/spas still won't accommodate you.

Anyone remember that case from the 90s where an American in Singapore was sentenced to a caning for chewing gum?

Military personnel, business contractors, and government employees and their families are giving briefings and orientations for working in foreign countries. They and their families are warned what not to do, how to act, and what to do in incidents. Like getting involved in a vehicular accident. Which saved my butt, and resulted in a much friendlier reception with Japanese local and his family. Sad truth is that a lot of people just don't give a damn, and the kids are worse. And I am not talking about tourists, but American's that live in Japan due to the U.S. military, U.S. government workers, and business contractors. I was stationed in Japan for four years, and have made repeated visits as a contractor. I have seen young U.S. military personnel yell and scream at Japanese elementary school girls to scare them, like it was a big joke. So it is not just a tourist problem, but endemic across the spectrum of all visitors. Just no respect. Hell, we Americans destroy our own National Monument Parks for views or whatever. Don't think it is a problem that can be fixed abroad, but needs done at home. If you don't respect yourself, you sure aren't going to respect anybody else.