Forum - View topicAnswerman - Is Overtourism in Japan Real and Why is Japan Mad at Tourists?
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meruru
Posts: 476 |
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It's not just Japan. I'm pretty sure people complain about bad tourists everywhere. I was literally just reading about how in England, they've had to create more separation of the royal guards on duty from tourists due to horrendous tourist behavior. There was even an incident where some tourist kept climbing the fence around Buckingham palace as if it were some kind of joke to the point where the guard was forced to aim his military rifle at the guy.
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2623 Location: Germany |
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The 2024 Tavel and Tourism Competitiveness Report had Japan ranked at No 3. Hence, tourism is a major part of the country's economy but 7 out of the top 10 nationalities that visit Japan are Asian neighbors themselves. The country being overrun by American Idiots Tm is vastly overblown. Those V Loggers are simply the kings of the algorithm.
Don´t book a trip around the typical I saw this in my anime locations as Kiyomizu-Dera if you want to escape foreign and local tourists. That´s my tip. Hokkaido should be the perfect location for a trip that isn´t just wall-to-wall people but Golden Kamuy tourists are currently overrunning it. The no photography signs at cons are also for the natives. They are the true paparazzi problem as they make up the majority of the visitors. |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2251 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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To be fair, there is like, one case when I think it's (sort of) culturally acceptable to drink and eat on the train, but it seems exceedingly specific...
I've seen like a group of old men with _golf clubs_ dirnking and snacking on beer snacks on the train coming home from a day of golf on some pretty rural train lines outside the city. I've seen this more than once when I lived in Chiba and I think it's kind of a thing. But yeah in general, and especially on any train with more than like 5 people on it, never eat on a train unless your seat has a tray/table. |
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omiya
 Posts: 1856 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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I would say in Japan, always leave your mobile on visual/vibration notification only, always silent.
Also change high currency notes at the ticket/smart card top-up machines at stations so you won't have to use 5,000/10,000 notes for smaller purchases, and be prepared to use your small change to minimise the amount of coins a shop-keeper would need to give you in change. Suica and related cards are handy for convenience store payments also. If you have a time sensitive transfer later on in an area where you are already, make yourself familiar with getting there. Example, catching the Azusa train from Shinjuku. Give yourself an earlier opportunity to just browse the route, take advantage of Google Maps / Navitime information like which end of the train to use and which exits for transfers (and possibly enable bluetooth/WiFi if trying to use a mobile navigation app when GPS coverage is limited). When travelling with luggage on commuter trains, look for the carriages with the extra space for wheelchairs/strollers - even if there is a wheelchair user or parent with stroller there, more space is available for not creating obstruction for other passengers. |
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ChirashiD
 Posts: 204 Location: WA |
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This tip may be a little cringy but for those tourists who enjoy visiting ofuro and onsen, I heard that if you find a larger bath house with multiple floors, the one on the top floor tends to be designated mixed bathing. If you decide to try it out, please don't stare (in fact avoid looking at others altogether). I just prefer going to mixed bathing onsen myself because I'm nonbinary (I found a really nice outdoor one in Hokkaido).
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14896 |
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This is for everyone - Mt. Fuji now has gates that close at certain times, a climbing fee, and a cap on daily climbers:
"Governor installs crowd control gate on Mount Fuji to limit tourists - Yamanashi prefecture brings in modest hiking fee to stop ‘bullet climbing’ and address safety concerns" There was also a photography barrier that was put up but later taken down because tourists where swarming certain areas to take photos of Mt. Fuji: "Barrier blocking Mount Fuji view removed - for now" Tourists were even blamed for eating too much rice causing a rice shortage: "Foreign tourists blamed for Japan rice shortage as “Reiwa Rice Riots” leaves shelves bare" But on the other hand, there are tourism campaigns that goes off the beaten path and even encourage online-streamers to show it off - like the tour of Japan's famous public toilets or becoming a Japanese high school student for a day (including putting on a cute school uniform and taking classes): 
"Niche Japanese experiences enter the tourism spotlight - Have you ever wanted to try being a Japanese student? What about taking a tour of Tokyo's public toilets? These kinds of quirky experiences are increasingly popular among tourists."
Like this guy trying to get an upskirt shot of a high school J-girl
Don't worry - if you're a Western foreigner, Japanese won't sit or stand near you inside the train like you're radioactive
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mdo7
 Posts: 6497 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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What the....??? How the hell do foreigners and tourists get blamed for rice shortages? This is just beyond stupid, and the allow foreign tourists to try on Japanese school uniform thing.... Let say you just left me  , I have no comment on that particular niche experience tour. What else did they include, the life experience of an otaku, life experience of a NEET?
Man, this is some crazy stuff you're sharing enurtsol, and I don't know what other thing I could say here. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 3053 Location: Email for assistance only |
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I have personally not experienced this problem at all. |
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WizardOfOss
 Posts: 98 Location: Oss, Netherlands |
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I don't pro-actively change the big bills for smaller ones, but I will generally try to use them at bigger businesses like a 7-Eleven. Those big notes are coming from their ATMs anyway.... On a side note, I just returned from my 20th trip to Japan, and for the first time ever I encountered the 2000 yen note! I had a meet with someone I knew from a Discord, and he got cash beforehand from his own bank....and somehow they gave him a whole stack of those 2k bills. You hardly ever see those in circulation, and many machines that do accept bigger denominations, still don't accept those 2k bills.... |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5958 Location: Virginia, United States |
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At least in Tokyo, the trains are usually so full that wouldn't be an real option. I think most Japanese could make an educated guess on whether or not a particular foreigner would be safe of comfortable to sit or stand next too. I never noticed anyone avoiding me on the trains to the outlying areas. On that note, even Americans make those educated guesses against other Americans on trains and subways. |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1770 |
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If you can afford it, I recommend using Yamato to ship your bags around. It'll save you the hassle of trying to lug your bags around and they'll get their safely (usually a 1-2 day delay depending on the location). The service was pretty cheap - I would usually pay about 5000 yen for 2-3 bags. I've been going to Japan off and on since 2008. I just returned from Japan in November after spending 3 weeks there. This time, I brought my mom with me, who has a lot of mobility issues and was always traveling with her cane. While I had traveled with a friend years ago with some mobility issues, I've noticed a sharp decline in the amount of people willing to offer their seats up on trains to the elderly and frail. More often than not, I encountered a lot of young people sitting in the elderly/disabled/pregnant/travel with small kids priority seats and in all but 2 cases, none of the young people sitting in these seats would give up their chair to my mom. I understand that not all disabilities are visible, but I felt hard pressed to believe that the majority of people on each train car had a disability. Instead, people were glued to their smartphones and used those to ignore everyone and everything around them. The group of people who routinely gave up their seats - Middle age Japanese individuals. In some cases, they were older than my mom. I also routinely gave up my seat to many individuals who looked like they needed it more than I did, but in many cases they didn't want it. Didn't feel right to complain about how others treated my mom if I was unwilling to give up the seat to others as well. People in Tokyo were not very accommodating to those with disabilities. My mom asked staff if she could sit in a chair while waiting in line and their staff had to have a 5 minute conversation if this should even be allowed when they had nearby chairs inside. For those of you who have health issues that might make it difficult to get around, I recommend Kanazawa. I really enjoyed my week long stay there. It wasn't crowded at all. The shinkansen connects to Kanazawa and you can easily navigate to many other cities nearby. Uber works ok in large cities, but I used the GO Taxi app the most as it was slightly cheaper and worked in more cities. I also recommend hitting the Costco in Nonoichi (near Kanazawa) if you enjoy experiencing US businesses in foreign countries. It was very enjoyable and my mom really enjoyed herself there. Make sure to try the beef bulgogi bake! |
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WizardOfOss
Posts: 98 Location: Oss, Netherlands |
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I have considered doing so a few times, but while that can be a good option if you only stay at maybe 2 or 3 places for a longer time, not so much if you change hotels every few days. I just returned from a 20 day trip through mostly Tottori and Shimane, and I had 10 different hotels for those. Not only does it add up then, but you'll recieve your bagage right when you're about to leave for the next place..... I'd say the best way is just try not too carry too much....which I'm no good at at all. Even when I leave home with a light and mostly empty bag, somehow it's always filled to the brim and way too heavy whenever I leave Japan 
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Gilles Poitras
Posts: 482 Location: Oakland California |
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A book I recommend to anyone going to Japan:
Amy’s Guide to Best Behavior in Japan by Amy Chavez When I wrote Tokyo Stroll I put a section on etiquette to help people avoid being rude. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2581 |
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I'm surprised to hear "eating in parking lots" is something considered a faux pas.
re: "eating on public transportation" -- this is prohibited by subway regulation in my city in the US, but people do it all the time anyway. So, uh, I guess many Americans ignore the same rules when they're not visiting other countries, little consolation though that is.
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4830 |
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Yeah, obvious anime is hardly an authentic depiction of everyday life, but I've seen enough anime teens sitting on the curb outside a convenience store that I assumed it was a regular thing. |
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